Taking Time To Remember Series

TITLE: Taking time to Remember

TEXT: Exodus 13:1-22

INTRO:

- We’re continuing our study through the book of Exodus.

- As we study each passage, we’re asking the question, “What can I learn from this passage about honoring God?”

- Last week, we looked at the perfect deliverance, as Pharaoh finally let God’s people go and they started their journey out of Egypt.

- We saw that they didn’t leave empty handed because God provided for them through the Egyptian people.

- So, the Israelites left at the beginning of their journey with gold, silver, and clothes.

- Then, God provided more instructions to them about how to celebrate Passover.

- Today, we’re going to see God give Israel some instructions about the importance of taking time to remember what He’d done for them.

- The other day, I was thinking back to my childhood, remembering the church we went to when we lived in Brockport, NY.

- Walker Bible Baptist Church.

- I’ve got some good memories from that church.

- There was the time my Sunday School teacher taught us about the sweetness of God’s Word by giving us all pure honey as a treat.

- There was the time she taught us about the Judgment seat of Christ by handing out different sized trophies to all of us.

- There was the time the church had an outreach event on Halloween.

- We were all given bags of popcorn and candy and they showed a movie in the sanctuary, the Little Rascals Scary Spooktacular.

- There was the time my family had our picture taken in the front of the church for our missionary deputation cards.

- Then I remember every service, we’d have a time for shaking hands, so folks would go around in a big circle all around the sanctuary, greeting one another along the way.

- It got quite loud in there as everyone was having conversations, and it always lasted at least 10 minutes.

- I remember Vacation Bible School, and how much fun we had.

- They had all sorts of candy downstairs for prizes, and I remember my favorite was the giant pixie sticks.

- I’ve also got some not-so-good memories from that church.

- My brother Steven was about 2 or 3 and he had to go to the bathroom.

- My mother was helping with Sunday School, so she asked me to go help him.

- Well, at the time, I didn’t realize that you weren’t supposed to flush paper towels down the toilet.

- So, I flushed them, then went back to class.

- Not too long after that, the Pastor’s wife walked in and proceeded to yell at me for flushing paper towels down the toilet!

- So, I learned my lesson that day, but it also stuck with me as a bad memory.

- Then I remember the time my sister Zena was singing in the choir, and I was sitting in the pew, bored, looking up at the lights, pretending the shade from my eyelids was the visor of a hat.

- Apparently, the other kids started making fun of me and teasing Zena, so she was pretty embarrassed and got mad at me.

- Then there was the fact that our church was King James Version only.

- So, I was taught it was the only version I should use, and the others were fake and changed things, and took words out.

- It took me a long time to get past that.

- Anyways, taking time to remember things in our lives from the past is a good thing.

- Oftentimes, it brings our thoughts back to what God has done in our lives, and how far He’s brought us.

- And that’s what we see here in Exodus 13 with the Children of Israel.

- God is giving them some instructions for things that will help them to remember what He has done for them.

- So, let’s look at three ways the Israelites were supposed to take time to remember what God did for them.

FIRST: REMEMBER GOD BY DEDICATING- VS 1-2, 11-16

- Years ago, when I was about 10 or 11 years old, I remember going to my father to speak to him about something very important.

- At the time, he had been pastoring a church he planted called King James Bible Baptist Church.

- I remember feeling a deep calling in my heart to serve the Lord in the ministry.

- At the time, I wasn’t sure if God wanted me to be a missionary or a pastor or what exactly He had planned for me, but I knew He wanted me to go in the ministry.

- So, I went to my father and I told him, “Dad, I believe God is calling me to the ministry. I’d like to re-dedicate my life to the Lord and say yes to His call on my life.”