Sermon Memorial Day 2020
- Tomorrow we celebrate Memorial Day. It is a day that we look back at all that have
fallen in past wars.
- It’s seems our war with Iraq has become as distant as our civil war. As we are
currently fighting such a war as this virus today.
- So many have died on the frontlines, & yet it still doesn’t take away from what
this day stands for.
- Many are alive, many are free, because of the people who are willing to risk, &
even lay down, their lives for others.
- Now think of our faith.
Q- How many lives have been lost for the sake of the gospel?
- Today, I want to give yo an example.
- John The revelator was captured in Ephesus, & was to be martyred for his faith.
Q- Do you know how he was to be martyred?
- He was thrown into a boiling basin of oil!
- He survived being boiled!!!
- He later was sentenced to the island of Patmos. Probably to work as a slave
in the mines.
Q- Why do you think he was miraculously spared?
- God had a vision for His beloved disciple.
- In Revelation 1:18-19 sums up God’s Word for John.
Revelation 1:18-19
18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
19 Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;
- The message that John was given, was one that confirmed the Joy of our salvation,
but it also confirmed the terrible truth that judgement must come upon mankind.
- John was the vessel God used to awaken us to this great truth.
- Think of the lives that are changed by the people who are willing to set
themselves aside for another.
Q- Do you think John ever thought he would be thrown into a basin of boiling oil, much
less survive it?
- I know that sounds contrary to us now, but this was common in John’s time.
- Think of what is happening today.
- A Church was burned to the ground, because they violated the stay at home
order.
- I disagree with violating the order, for the sake of keeping everyone safe.
Q- Here’s the question though. Because 40 of these people assembled for
church study, & Easter, you burn their church down?
- The arsonist also graffitied on the parking lot, “bet you stay home now
you hypokrites”
Q- If There’s something going against our faith, could we stand up against it?
Q- Can we be that type of person, like John was?
- Before we pray, let’s think of the fallen soldiers.
Q- How many of them do you think were the die hard Mavericks?
Q- Now, How many of them took a bullet, or blast, because they saw it was going to
hurt someone else?
- We may see ourselves as the shy, sheepish, people, but in the day God has
called to use us. Well, He will use us.
Prayer
- A soldier enlists, many times, because he sees the greater good he can do.
- Listen as Jesus calls out the roll, & the requirements to serve.
John 15:13-17
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
Q- Did you catch the last verse, Love one another?
- This is what drove the Apostles to die for others, Listen.
- John was boiled!
- Paul, James, & John the Baptist were beheaded!
- Matthew was killed by a sword wound!
- James, Jesus’ brother, (not an apostle) was thrown from the southeast pinnacle of
the temple. That’s over a hundred feet! He survived & was beaten to death with
clubs!
- James The Son of Zebedee, put to death by king Agrippa I.
- Jude was martyred in Armenia.
- Bartholomew (Nathanael) was flayed to death with a whip.
- Peter was crucified upside down.
- Andrew was crucified on an X shaped Cross
- Thomas was stabbed by a spear
- Phillip, arrested & cruelly put to death by Rome.
- Simon The Zealot refused to worship the sun god in Persia, & was killed.
- Matthias was stoned, & then beheaded.
- The Apostles, Christians, we receive Christ as a friend, but His Love spills over on us.
- Then, we must, we have to pour out that same kind of love on everyone else.
Q- Is this Why Soldiers are driven to give their lives up?
- The way I see it, deep inside them is the feeling of, I want this & I want you to
have this too.
- We are driven by the same theme of love, & as a result this equals suffering, &
loss.
- For The Apostles this was something they didn’t always grasp. They will
suffer for Christ.
- Here’s the example. James & John the son’s of Zebedee are fighting over
who will sit on Jesus’ left & right side.
- Listen to Jesus’ response.
Mark 10:38-39
38 But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?
39 And they said unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized:
- The cup they will drink of is suffering.
- James was killed, & John boiled, but lived with the agony of it.
- Jesus was showing them & us that in love there is always a price we have to pay.
- Often times that price hurts!
Q- If Love hurts, why should we show it?
- Look at what it achieves!
- America has it’s freedom because of those willing to lay down their lives, & those
willing to stand up for what they believe in.
- When Christians stand up people receive a freedom that they never knew existed.
- Freedom from sin, & death.
Q- Would we want to see our loved ones suffer because of, Let’s say substance
abuse?
- We can see it’s affects. We want that to change.
Q- Would you be willing to give up everything to rescue them?
- This is our calling, & this is why we honor our fallen warriors.
- They have changed lives, not just in their generation, but for generations to come.
- This is what Paul talks about when he says we are surrounded about with such
a cloud of witnesses.
Hebrews 12:1-2
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,
2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
- The cloud is the fallen soldiers of our faith.
- They stood up, just like Jesus did!
- So our calling today, in honor of Memorial Day, comes in the form of continuing to
show God’s Love.
- Our Soldiers did it, & our Heroes of the Faith did it.
- My last scriptures come from Hebrews 13:1-8.
Hebrews 13:1-8
1 Let brotherly love continue.
2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
3 Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.
4 Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
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.
6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
7 Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.
8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
- Our Love must stretch farther than just who we know.
- We can’t deem ourselves better than someone else.
Q- What are we?
- Sinners Who have fallen short of the glory of God!
- We have to hold on to what we know is right.
- We must show the world God is my supplier, the Author & finisher.
- What a time it is to be thinking about showing our love to others.
- The same thing was thought during war.
Q- How could I show love to someone else, when this war is going on all around
me?
Q- How could I risk doing something for someone else, when I could be killed?
- Those are powerful words.
Q- Can we answer the call like our Soldiers, or the cloud of witnesses?
- This is what we are made for, to mirror Jesus’ Love.
Prayer
