For the sake of freedom

Happy for the sake of freedom

Intro: In April 1863, in Columbus, Mississippi, after decorating graves of her two sons who died representing their beloved south-land, an elderly woman walked to two mounds of dirt at the corner of the cemetery to place memorial flowers there also. "What are you doing?" friends shouted, "Those are the graves of two union soldiers." Softly that compassionate mother said, "I know. I also know that somewhere in the North, a mother or a young wife mourns for them as we do for ours."

      That loving deed set in motion our celebration which has become known as Memorial Day. We honor these once a year, but their sacrifice is evident every single day of the year! Today, we want to honor the memory of all those who have sacrificed their lives on the altar of freedom.  Those sacrificed lives were not given in vain! We are free today and have the right to assemble ourselves together and worship our God.

Over 1.1 million men and women have died to guarantee our freedom as Americans. They gave their all so that we might enjoy all the blessings of this great land. Today, we honor their memory and their sacrifice.

Memorial Day is all about remembering and honoring the ultimate sacrifice that has been paid by so many brave men and women of the United States Armed Forces.

•   I am so grateful to those who have sacrificed and sacrifice, and those who will sacrifice so much to have obtained freedom and to protect our freedom.

•   As we join together today in these great freedoms I would ask you stand with me to honor and commemorate every one of those fallen soldiers in a moment of silence as we reflect, pray and contemplate.

•   Take the moment of silence.

We remember the things we should forget and we so easily forget the things we should remember that's why all through scripture from the front to back God says, "Remember, remember, remember."

1.      Remember what faith feels like.

Deuteronomy 8:6 "So obey the commands of the LORD your God by walking in His ways and fearing Him. 7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land of flowing streams and pools of water, with fountains and springs that gush out in the valleys and hills. 8 It is a land of wheat and barley; of grapevines, fig trees, and pomegranates; of olive oil and honey. 9 It is a land where food is plentiful and nothing is lacking. It is a land where iron is as common as stone, and copper is abundant in the hills. 10 When you have eaten your fill, be sure to praise the LORD your God for the good land He has given you. 11 "But that is the time to be careful! Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the LORD your God and disobey His commands, regulations, and decrees that I am giving you today. 12 For when you have become full and prosperous and have built fine homes to live in, 13 and when your flocks and herds have become very large and your silver and gold have multiplied along with everything else, be careful! 14 Do not become proud at that time and forget the LORD your God, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt."

1.      We should thank God for the quiet blessings in our lives.

1.      We seldom take notice or thank God when work is going well, our lives are healthy, and our relationships seem to be fine.

1.      God's people have been doing this to Him for centuries.

1.      They seemed to not take notice that in 40 years of wandering around in the desert that their clothes didn't wear out, and their feet didn't blister and swell.

2.      This is why we give thanks before every meal, to remember God's provision and thank Him individually and publicly.

1.      I'm not afraid of my faith.

2.      I'm not afraid to display it.

3.      I'm not afraid to share it.

4.      I'm not afraid to walk in it.

1.      It is part of my every day I can't forget to remember it. 

2.      We can get into a place of safety, a place of salvation, a place of blessing, a place of privilege, a place of faith so comfy, so cozy, and so relaxing that we forget what got us there.

1.      I'm declaring to you today that we can't forget our faith.

2.      Remember your faith.

3.      Faith is your confidence in Christ, your calling out to God, your trust in His plan of salvation and eternal hope.

1.      Your moment in God, your encounter with the Creator of the universe and the Savior of the world, your rescuing moment.

1.      Connect to your eternal rescuing moment.

1.      Sin has given us all an eternal death sentence.

2.      Jesus paid our penalty.

1.      I want all people to know Him & accept His pardon.

John 3:15 "so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life. 16 "For God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him."

4.      It's insane to me how after hearing the Message of Jesus Christ and hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ humanity would be so blind as to not see His love.

1.      That they would be so selfish as to hang onto their rights and completely disregard His sacrifice.

2.      Choosing to find a way to work to fix it themselves, carry it out on their own terms and conditions, therefore rejecting God's perfect plan.

1.      In times of plenty, we often take credit for our prosperity and become proud that our own hard work, our own clever minds have made us blessed.

2.      So busy collecting and managing things that we push God right out of our lives.

1.      I want to manage His things with purpose, manage His things with gratefulness, manage His things with confidence and manage His things with faith.

5.      In spite of all that God has revealed in, through, with, and by His word, there are many Christians who still refuse to live by faith, but choose to live by facts.

Illustrate here: Tape Measure. The African Impala: The impala is one of the most common and most graceful of all Africa’s antelopes.

1.      A slender, agile creature, it can clear formidable obstacles and run at speeds faster than 37 mph.

2.      They are extremely fast runners who can leap up to 10 feet high and 30 feet long in one leap.

1.      In spite of this great ability, an impala can be kept in an enclosure with a solid fence no more than 3 feet high.

1.      Impalas will not jump if they can't see where their feet will land.

1.      Impalas walk by sight and not by faith.

6.      What about you my friend?

1.      Do you remember what faith feels like?

1.      Remember what it was to operate in faith?

1.      Faith is not fear.

2.      It sure seems real close.

3.      But faith is not a feeling, it's a belief.

Remember when the Roman soldier said in, Luke 7:7b "Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. 8 I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, 'Go,' and they go, or 'Come,' and they come. And if I say to my slaves, 'Do this,' they do it." 9 When Jesus heard this, He was amazed. Turning to the crowd that was following Him, He said, "I tell you, I haven't seen faith like this in all Israel!" 10 And when the officer's friends returned to His house, they found the slave completely healed."

4.      Faith is taking Jesus at His Word. 

1.      Remember. Remember. Remember.

7.      What about Hebrews 11 with all its references to the phrase “by faith,” all the people mentioned had one thing in common: they each took God at His Word.

1.      For example, God told Noah to build an ark because He was going to bring a massive flood. Noah took God at His word and built the ark.

2.      God told Abraham to go to a place that he would receive as an inheritance.

1.      Abraham took God at His word, left his familiar surroundings, and he went.

3.      God indicated to Sarah, who was long past the age of childbearing, that she would conceive a son.

1.      The Scripture states: “She considered Him faithful who had promised.”

2.      She took God at His word.

4.      Regardless of circumstances, despite arguments of logic and reason, regardless of feelings, each believed God, His word and chose to be obedient.

2.      Remember what freedom feels like.

Exodus 13:3 "So Moses said to the people, "This is a day to remember forever—the day you left Egypt, the place of your slavery. Today the LORD has brought you out by the power of His mighty hand."

5 You must celebrate this event in this month each year after the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites. (He swore to your ancestors that he would give you this land—a land flowing with milk and honey.)

14 "And in the future, your children will ask you, 'What does all this mean?' Then you will tell them, 'With the power of His mighty hand, the LORD brought us out of Egypt, the place of our slavery.

16 This ceremony will be like a mark branded on your hand or your forehead. It is a reminder that the power of the LORD's mighty hand brought us out of Egypt."

1.      Many of us have never lived one day in the life of slavery, experienced one day in the life of a prisoner of war, or spent one day without the freedoms we so inherently complain about and disregard.

1.      The church is not about inflicting more pain.

2.      We're not about inflicting more shame.

1.      We don't exist to imprison but to empower.

2.      We don't exist to extinguish fire but to set it free that makes me happy!

Hebrews 12:2-3 NLT "[2] We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now He is seated in the place of honor beside God's throne. [3] Think of all the hostility He endured from sinful people; then you won't become weary and give up."

3.      Because of the joy set before Him.

4.      He endured the cross, disregarding it's shame.

1.      The cross was for the worst of the worst of criminals and we deserved that not Him.

1.      The coming joy disarmed the cross of its sting and it's present pain.

2.      Seeing past it to the freedoms in and through the blood of Jesus Christ.

2.      He was a man of like passions and was  tempted in every way that we are yet lived His life without sin therefore being  perfect.

5.      Knowing that His accomplished mission would have the potency to rescue and redeem all mankind.

6.      Jesus preached as no other man did, and exhibited miracles, as none else could.

1.      Christ's goal was to bring freedom from the chains, freedom from the sin, freedom from the current scenario and helping us walk in that freedom.

7.      Residing in that freedom.

1.      Freedom always costs someone something and sometimes freedom costs someone everything.

1.      Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price for all mankind.

2.      Remember. Remember. Remember.

2.      I believe many times Christians especially forget what the bondage of sin feels like.

1.      We have been free for so long that we have forgotten the strangle hold the Devil has on many of those around and about us.

1.      Many new Christians don't make it to a greater depth in Christ because they have no one to disciple and encourage them along.

2.      They don't stay connected to God's House and God's people because they don't see the importance and the relevance of it.

1.      We must remedy that with truth.

2.      I want to be so busy and focused accomplishing the purposes of God that the Devil has no idea what to do with me.

1.      So connected to the purposes of God and the mission of Jesus Christ.

2.      I think that the church has to connect their freedoms to that mindset.

1.      Connecting every person possible to freedom in Christ.

1.      Remembering our faith and remembering our freedom.

3.      We remember because of the great sacrifice.

1.      We remember because of the great freedom that's been offered to mankind.

2.      We remember because of the life that has been given, the blood that's been shed, and the grace that has been offered.

1.      Remember:

John 15:12-13 NLT [12] "This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. [13] There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends."

2.      Mercy is our mandate and remembering our faith and remembering our freedom will help us extend it to the world.