Lest We Forget
Deuteronomy 4:9 Only
take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things
which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of
thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;
A. Notice
the Heeding – Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest
thou forget the things
B. Notice
the Heart – lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life… (Mine
eye affecteth my heart)
C. Notice
the Heritage – but teach them to thy sons, and thy sons’ sons:
I. The Sacrifice
of the Soldiers
·
John
15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for
his friends.
Memorial Day, an American holiday observed on the last
Monday of May, honors men and women who died while serving in the U.S.
military. Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years
following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971.
News headlines this
morning:
VENICE, Ca. (AP) - Vandals defaced a
memorial to Vietnam war veterans in Venice – an awful sight on this Memorial
Day weekend. It was covered in graffiti from end to end. The memorial was
dedicated to service members who were listed as missing in action during the
Vietnam War. The Los Angeles Police Department said it is not investigating the
case.
HENDERSON, Ky. (AP) -- Residents of a
Kentucky county are rallying and working frantically to repair and replace a
Memorial Day cross display that was vandalized by a driver accused of plowing
through the crosses. Police got a call just before 6 a.m. Saturday, Richmond
said, alerting them that someone had driven through the display at the park. An
estimated 160 crosses need to be repaired or replaced.
PETERSBURG, Va. (AP) -- Virginia's
National Park Service says a portion of the Petersburg National Battlefield has
been declared a crime scene after looting.
NORTH PORT, Fla. (AP) - As a staff
sergeant flying in bombing raids over Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II,
Michael Nicholas Tristano flirted with death on a recurring basis. The former ball-turret gunner cheated the
reaper again last week, but instead of dodging German anti-aircraft guns' flak
from inside a B-17 “Flying Fortress” bomber, police say the 91-year-old veteran
survived a savage attack inside his North Port home by the caregiver entrusted
with his welfare. Police say Tristano's caregiver, whom he had
known for at least a decade, clubbed him in the head multiple times with an
aluminum oxygen tank and left him on the floor of his home to die on the night
of May 15.
There are well over 50,000 homeless veterans on the streets
of our nation.
To Them We Owe
© Don Nielsen
Happened today, and in the past;
Sacrifice made, for ours to last.
Wives to widows, families torn;
Gave their lives, for them we mourn.
Gone forever, souls are lost;
Freedom comes, with this cost.
Enjoy the life, they did preserve;
Fate they suffered, did not deserve.
On this day, lest we forget;
To them we owe, our life in debt.
II. The Sacrifice
of the Saints
·
Hebrews
12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are
compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every
weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience
the race that is set before us,
The statistics vary, depending on the sources.
I was researching for this message, and came across these
numbers:
70 million Christians martyred since the time of Christ.
Every five minutes a Christian is martyred for their faith,
an organization for persecuted Christians has claimed. According to Christian
Freedom International, more than 200 million followers around the world
currently face persecution, making Christians the most persecuted faith group
on the planet.
Christians currently face persecution in 105 of the world’s
196 countries in a geographic sweep which extends across northern and western
Africa, across the Middle East, throughout Asia and down into Indonesia.
The early church, starting in the book of Acts lists the
intense persecution against the followers of Christ.
·
John
15:20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than
his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they
have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
For centuries, Christians have been hunted down, persecuted,
accused of everthing under the sun and put to death in some of the most cruel
and horrible fashions.
SEE Hebrews 11:32-40
The author of Hebrews wanted the Christian to be motivated
by the sacrifice of the martyred saints.
John, on the Isle of Patmos, saw in his vision in Rev. 17 a
woman drunken with the blood of the martyrs.
·
Revelation
17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the
blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great
admiration.
The sacrifice of the saints of God should motivate us to
live for Jesus Christ in our generation.
III. The Sacrifice
of the Savior
·
Ephesians
5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself
for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
A. It should prompt us to Salvation
·
Hebrews
2:1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we
have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by
angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just
recompence of reward; How shall we
escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken
by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
B. It should prompt us to Serve
·
Romans
12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is
your reasonable service.
