Sermon Tone Analysis

I FORGOT

 

*TEXT: Daniel 2:1-8* */    /*/The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, the thing is gone from me: if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill.

*(v5*/ */)/*

        In our scripture reading, Nebuchadnezzer forgot his dream.

Thankfully, I forget nearly ALL of my dreams, so they don't bother me.

However, there are OTHER things that I forget, but I want to remember.

Do you have trouble remembering the things you should?

People tend to be forgetful of what they NEED to remember, and they tend to be mindful of what they WANT to remember.

Our memory starts doing tricks on us as we get older.

We remember the details of something that happened at a birthday party twenty years ago, but we can't remember what happened last week!

People do all kinds of things to jog their memory.

The most famous trick is to tie a string around the finger.

That wouldn't help me unless a note were attached!

I try to always carry something to make a note on, not because I'm so organized, but because my memory is so bad!

If I don't write it down, I will forget it!

Even if I write it down, sometimes I forget to look at it!

A few years ago Michelle got me an electronic note taker for Christmas.

I make a note on it and then I forget that I have made a note on it.

The wife of an undistinguished writer once approached French poet and dramatist Francois Coppee, a member of the French Academy, asking him to support her husband's candidacy for a place in the Academy.

"I beg you, vote for my husband," she pleaded.

"He'll die if he's not elected."

Coppee agreed, but the writer failed in his bid.

When another Academy seat became vacant a few months later the woman returned, hoping Coppee would be gracious and vote for her husband again.

"Ah, no," he replied.

"I kept my promise but he did not keep his.

I consider myself free of any obligation."

We have to smile at the witty way Coppee avoided being forced into making a promise he didn't want to keep.

Thankfully, God did not need to be forced into making His great promise to save sinners who had no claim on His grace.

I want us to think of some very important things God would have us to remember.

These are all things we sometimes tend to forget.

I.

PEOPLE FORGET THEIR PROMISES 

*/Genesis 40:14/*/ But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and shew kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house: /

*/Genesis 40:23/*/ Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.

/

!! A.       People forget their promises to God

!!! 1.

Some folks make promises that they never intend to follow through on.

!!! 2.      Others will make promises that they are unable to keep.

(unrealistic)

!!! 3.

But often we make promises that we could keep, but we don't.

!!! 4.      Somehow we dismiss them from our minds thinking that God will not care.

*/Ecclesiastes 5:2 /*/Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.*

*/

*/Ecclesiastes 5:4-5 /*/When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.

Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.

/

!! B.        People forget their promises to our fellowship.

Anyone ever invite someone to church and have them promise that they will be there?

!!! 1.

It happens all the time.

!!! 2.      But there are also church members who forget their promises to the fellowship

!! C.       People forget their promises to their family

!!! 1.      Probably nothing hurts quite as much as a mom or dad who forgets a promise made to their child.

!!! 2.      No, we usually do not deliberately break those promises, but it doesn't hurt any less.

!!! 3.      Husbands and wives make promises to each other when they marry.

!!! 4.      Don't forget those promises.

!

II.

PEOPLE FORGET THE PROMISES OF GOD

A poor old widow, living in the Scottish Highlands, was called upon one day by a gentleman who had heard that she was in need.

The old lady complained of her condition and remarked that her son was in Australia and doing well.

"But does he do nothing to help you?" inquired the visitor.

"No, nothing."

was the reply.

"He writes to me regularly once a month, but only sends me little picture with his letter."

"The gentleman asked to see one of the pictures that she had received, and found each of them to be a draft of ten pounds.

All the old lady needed was to be able to recognize those "pictures" and she could have had the bodily comforts she needed so much.

That is the condition of many of God's children.

Our Heavenly Father has given us many "exceeding great and precious promises" of which we are either ignorant or which we fail to take as our own.

--The Sunday Circle

 

During the pioneer era in America, a poverty-stricken old man found his way into a settlement on the western frontier.

He had run out of supplies, so he was looking for food.

As he walked through the camp, someone stopped to talk with him and noticed that he wore a small pouch on a ribbon around his neck.

The old man explained that it was a charm given to him many years before.

He opened it, removed a crumpled paper, and handed it to his inquirer.

Upon examining it, the villager discovered that it was a regular discharge from the federal army.

It was signed by General George Washington himself, and it entitled the man to a pension for life.

How surprised the old soldier was to find out that all these years he had been carrying a bona fide promise that his needs would be met!

Because he had not claimed it, though, he had been a wandering, hungry, penniless man.

We too sometimes wander around in the wilderness of spiritual poverty while God's ample provision goes unused.

* *

*/ Psalm 119:11/*/ Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee./

!! A.       Some forget the promise of His abundant pardon.

*/Nehemiah 9:17 /*/And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not.

/

*/Jeremiah 33:8 /*/And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me.

/

!! B.        Some forget the promise of His abiding presence

*/Isaiah 41:10 /*/Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.*

*/

*/Matthew 18:20 /*/For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

/

*/Hebrews 13:5 /*/Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

/

!! C.       Some forget the promise of His amazing power

*/Matthew 28:18 /*/And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

/

*/Acts 1:8 /*/But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

/

*/ /*

*/Philipppians/**/ 4:13 /*/I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

/

!! D.       Some forget the promise of His absolute protection

   In the early days of our country a weary traveler came to the banks of the Mississippi River for the first time.

There was no bridge.

It was early winter, and the surface of the mighty stream was covered with ice.

Could he dare cross over?

Would the uncertain ice be able to bear his weight?

Night was falling, and it was urgent that he reach the other side.

Finally, after much hesitation and with many fears, he began to creep cautiously across the surface of the ice on his hands and knees.

He thought that he might distribute his weight as much as possible and keep the ice from breaking beneath him.

About halfway over he heard the sound of singing behind him.

Out of the dusk there came a man, driving a horse-drawn load of coal across the ice and singing merrily as he went his way.

Here he was--on his hands and knees, trembling lest the ice be not strong enough to bear him up!

And there, as if whisked away by the winter's wind, went the man, his horses, his sleigh, and his load of coal, upheld by the same ice on which he was creeping!