05-30-2021 - Forgetting Something Important?

THOSE WHO DIED IN THE SERVICE

A boy stopped before a large marble plaque in the church. "What are all those names for?" he asked the minister.

"Sonny," said the minister, "those are in memory of all the people who died in the service."

The boy replied: "WHICH service, Reverend? The morning or the evening service?" - Author Unknown

Memorials are important. They establish a Time and Place where people reflect on the acts of others, good or bad.

Christians need Memorials. We too often forget what Great Works One other did on our behalf. Today We shall learn “How to Keep a Proper Perspective” by setting up Memorials in our Life.

Establishing Memorials Requires that You Clarify Your Relationship with God

Hosea 12:1-6

1 The people of Israel feed on the wind; they chase after the east wind all day long. They multiply lies and violence; they make alliances with Assyria and cut deals with the Egyptians.

2 Now the Lord is bringing a lawsuit against Judah. He is about to punish Jacob for all his deceitful ways. 3 Before Jacob was born, he struggled with his brother; when he became a man, he even fought with God. 4 Yes, he wrestled with the angel and won. He wept and pleaded for a blessing from him. There at Bethel he met God face to face, and God spoke to him—5 the Lord God Almighty, the Lord is his name! 6 So now, come back to your God! Act on the principles of love and justice, and always live in confident dependence on your God.

The New Living Translation

Establishing Memorials Requires You to Commission a Significant Reminder

Genesis 28:18-22

18 The next morning he got up very early. He took the stone he had used as a pillow and set it upright as a memorial pillar. Then he poured olive oil over it. 19 He named the place Bethel—“house of God”—though the name of the nearby village was Luz.

20 Then Jacob made this vow: “If God will be with me and protect me on this journey and give me food and clothing, 21 and if he will bring me back safely to my father, then I will make the Lord my God. 22 This memorial pillar will become a place for worshiping God, and I will give God a tenth of everything he gives me.”

The New Living Translation

The old men and the sea

Their hair had grayed long ago and their ship, a rusty antique, was battered by the winter Atlantic. But Joe Sadlier and the grandfatherly crew of LST-325, a World War II troop transport decommissioned 55 years ago, knew this was their last chance to relive their youth–and to preserve it for future generations. Ignoring warnings from the U.S. Coast Guard, which deemed the journey unsafe, they stubbornly sailed the vessel from Greece to Mobile, Ala., arriving [early January 2001] The ship will serve as a memorial to the heroic role of amphibious landing craft in World War II.

The crew, mainly WWII vets, came to Crete, where the ship was moored, in July of last year. They battled ancient equipment, 110-degree heat, and cockroaches to transform LST-325 from a scrapheap candidate to a seaworthy vessel. One man suffered heart problems and left for home, where he died. Securing rights to the ship, which had disgorged troops on Normandy's beaches, was another battle. Sadlier, 74, a veteran of the Pacific war who served as cook and barber on the 30-day trans-Atlantic voyage, says the men "bonded together as if we were 18 years old." He'll return to his job as a bus driver in Ketchikan, Alaska, spent but content. "They tried to stop us, at times to discourage us," he says. "But we knew we could do it."- Warren P. Strobel

Great acts of bravery and deliverance cry out for a perpetual reminder for future generations.

The More Significant the Memorial to us, The Greater the possible Impact it will have in the future.

You Need to Connect the Message to a Clear Reminder

Joshua 4:6-9

6 We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future, your children will ask, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ 7 Then you can tell them, ‘They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the Lord’s covenant went across.’ These stones will stand as a permanent memorial among the people of Israel.”

8 So the men did as Joshua told them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan River, one for each tribe, just as the Lord had commanded Joshua. They carried them to the place where they camped for the night and constructed the memorial there.

9 Joshua also built another memorial of twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, at the place where the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant were standing. The memorial remains there to this day.

The New Living Translation

Memorials Create a Viable Method of Passing Truth to Future Generations

Establishing Memorials Requires You to Congratulate Those Who Served Well

Mark 14:6-9

6 But Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. Why berate her for doing such a good thing to me? 7 You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. But I will not be here with you much longer. 8 She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time. 9 I assure you, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be talked about in her memory.”

The New Living Translation

There is no better illustration of commitment to principle and honor than is seen in a letter written by Major Sullivan Ballou of the Union Army. He penned it to his wife, Sarah, a week before the battle of Bull Run, July 14, 1861. They had been married only six years.

My Very Dear Sarah:

The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days - perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write again, I feel impelled to write a few lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more....

I have no misgivings about or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American civilization now leans on the triumph of the Government, and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution. And I am willing, perfectly willing, to lay down all my joys in this life to help maintain this Government and to pay that debt....

Sarah, my love for you is deathless: it seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break, and yet my love for country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistible yon, with all these chains to the battle-field.

The memories of all the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most deeply grateful to God, and you, that I have enjoyed them so long. And how hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when, God willing, we might still have lived and loved together and seen our sons grown up to honorable manhood around us.

If I do not [return], my dear Sarah, never forget ho w much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battle-field, it will whisper your name. Forgive my many faults and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless, how foolish I have often-times been....

O Sarah, if the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you in the gladdest day and in the darkest night, amidst your happiest scenes and gloomiest hours - always, always: and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath, or the cool air cools your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by.

Sarah, do not mourn me dead: think I am gone, and wait for me, for we shall meet again.... Sullivan

Major Ballou was killed one week later at the first battle of Bull Run.

Establishing Memorials Requires You to Cultivate Dependence on God in Every Aspect of Your Life

Exodus 3:14-16

14 God replied, “I Am the One Who Always Is. Just tell them, ‘I Am has sent me to you.’ ” 15 God also said, “Tell them, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This will be my name forever; it has always been my name, and it will be used throughout all generations.

16 “Now go and call together all the leaders of Israel. Tell them, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—appeared to me in a burning bush. He said, “You can be sure that I am watching over you and have seen what is happening to you in Egypt.

The New Living Translation

Hosea 12:6

6 So now, come back to your God! Act on the principles of love and justice, and always live in confident dependence on your God.

The New Living Translation

All Lasting Memorials in the Life of the Christian Begin and End with Jesus Christ, The Author and Finisher of Our Faith