MEMORIAL DAY: REMEMBRANCE
REVELATION 22:12-21
MAY 25, 2003
INTRODUCTION: Where the Stars and Stripes and the Eagle Fly by Aaron Tippen
Well if you ask me where I come from Here’s what I tell everyone
I was born by God’s dear grace In an extra-ordinary place
Where the stars and stripes and the eagle fly...
It’s a big old land with countless dreams. Happiness ain’t out of reach
Hard work pays off the way it should Yea, I’ve seen enough to know that we got it good
Where the stars and stripes and the eagle fly... There’s a lady that stands
in a harbor for what we believe And there’s a bell that still echoes
the price that it cost to be free
I pledge allegiance to the flag And if that bothers you, well that’s too bad
But if you’ve got pride, and you’re proud to do Hey, we can use more like me and you
Where the stars and stripes and the eagle fly... Yes, There’s a lady that stands
in a harbor for what we believe And there’s a bell that still echoes
the price that it cost to be free No, it ain’t the only place on earth
It’s the only place that I prefer To love my wife and raise my kids
(Hey) The same way my daddy did Where the stars and stripes and the eagle fly...
Where the stars and stripes and the eagle fly...
Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue (The Angry American)
(Toby Keith)
©2002 Tokeco Tunes (BMI)
This was written a few days after the September 11th terrorist attacks. My father was a soldier in the Army in the ‘50s and always flew a flag to show his patriotism. I had just lost him in a car wreck six months before the attacks took place, so I wrote my feelings down. I never really intended for this to be a song. It was originally titled “Angry American.”
American Girls and American Guys We’ll always stand up and salute We’ll always recognize When we see Old Glory Flying There’s a lot of men dead So we can sleep in peace at night When we lay down our head
My daddy served in the army Where he lost his right eye But he flew a flag out in our yard
Until the day that he died He wanted my mother, my brother, my sister and me
To grow up and live happy In the land of the free.
Now this nation that I love Has fallen under attack A mighty sucker punch came flyin’ in
From somewhere in the back Soon as we could see clearly Through our big black eye
Man, we lit up your world Like the 4th of July
Hey Uncle Sam Put your name at the top of his list And the Statue of Liberty
Started shakin’ her fist And the eagle will fly Man, it’s gonna be hell When you hear Mother Freedom Start ringin’ her bell And it feels like the whole wide world is raining down on you
Brought to you Courtesy of the Red White and Blue
Justice will be served And the battle will rage This big dog will fight When you rattle his cage
And you’ll be sorry that you messed with The U.S. of A. `Cause we`ll put a boot in you’re a@# It`s the American way Hey Uncle Sam Put your name at the top of his list And the Statue of Liberty Started shakin’ her fist And the eagle will fly Man, it’s gonna be hell When you hear Mother Freedom Start ringin’ her bell And it feels like the whole wide world is raining down on you Brought to you Courtesy of the Red White and Blue
I CAN’T ALWAYS REMEMBER EVERYTHING
Remembering is sometimes hard work. There were three old sisters who lived together. One sister got up to go to bed, and half way up the stairs she stopped and asked "was I going up or was I coming down"
One sister replied with a hint of aggravation, "you were going up to bed."
A second sister headed into the kitchen to make herself a sandwich. Once in the kitchen she hollered back to her sister who was still down stairs: "What did I come in here for?"
The sister responded again, this time a little more annoyed than the last: "You went in to make yourself a sandwich.
"I’m so glad I am not as forgetful as the both of you are" she said as she ’knocked on the wood’ of the end table.
Then she got up, walked over to the door, and said "Who is it?"
SOURCE: Steve Malone
TRANSITION THOUGHT: As we gather on this day before Memorial Day, we celebrate our heritage, the truth that we are free today because many died for our freedom. We celebrate sacrifice. We remember that we have what we have because of the ultimate sacrifice of lives laid down so that we could be free. Memorial Day is also a time to remember the Gospel story, to remember the ultimate sacrifice of the perfect life laid down so that we might be eternally free.
THESIS SENTENCE: Remembering the past enables us to live in the present and have life for the future.
I. REMEMBER, I AM COMING SOON!! (22:12)
A. Coming soon is a promise
1. Our text begins with the promise of the future and a call to remember the past. Jesus had told the disciples HE would come again.
2. In the end of John 21:22 and the beginning of Acts 1:11 we hear the promise of this coming future.
B. Coming soon is a time frame
1. But when would HE come? The question is still asked today.
2. Peter was told that John might remain until Jesus came again.
3. Maybe John had wondered when Jesus would come and to calm the fears of this beloved disciple, Jesus promises him, I am coming soon.
4. The time frame is given and yet not qualified. It is true for us today. The time frame is soon, but when is not known. Only the Father knows and when the time is right, HE will send the Son with the sounding of the trumpet!!
ILLUSTRATION: THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS: When I consider the power of these little narratives, I’m reminded, on this Memorial Day weekend, of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, a speech he gave in 1863 to dedicate a portion of that battlefield as a cemetery for the Civil War dead.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great
battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot
dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.
SOURCE: Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, given November 19, 1863 on the battlefield near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Citation: USAhttp://eserver.org/history/gettysburg-address.txt
Contributed by: SermonCentral PRO
C. Coming Soon is a call to commitment!
1. Are you ready for His return?
2. Will it be a day of celebration or despair?
3. HE is coming back so we better live like it! This is what Abraham Lincoln was calling us to!
TRUTH: REMEMBERING THE GOSPEL IS REMEMBERING JESUS IS COMING SOON
II. REMEMBER, I WILL REWARD (22:12)
A. A reward represents future action
1. Again we are called to remember the truth of the gospel and it is that we will be rewarded for our faith!!
2. Just as we read Genesis 15:6, “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” So we too know that belief brings reward!
3. Jesus has promised throughout the book of Revelation that He will reward those that overcome, hear a what HE says to the “Church”: Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26, 3:5, 12, 21.
4. Do you think Jesus is serious about rewards? HE is better than your Discover Card!
B. A reward represents past action
1. Past action is what Jesus did on the cross!
2. Past action is what we have done!
3. Past action is what we will be judged for!
4. Is your past covered by the blood of Jesus?
5. “My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done (vv. 12).”
6. “Blessed are those who wash their robes that they may have the right to the tree of life and my go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood (vv. 14-15).”
7. You see past action does have consequences, good and bad!!
8. You are either in or out!! You chose!
TRUTH: REMEMBER THE GOSPEL IS REMEMBERING ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES!!
III. REMEMBER, ALL ARE WELCOME (22:14 & 17)
A. Welcome is the Gospel
1. The Gospel is still good news!!
2. The Gospel is still John 3: 16 and 17!!
3. The Gospel is our entrance into eternity with Jesus!
4. The Gospel is “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and my go through the gates into the city (vv. 14).”
B. Welcome is the invitation
1. “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ and let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life (vv. 17).”
2. Have you ever heard a better invitation than that?
3. The Spirit and the bride call you to come!! Those that have heard the call, call you to come!! If you are thirsty for the salvation of God, Come!! WHOEVER WISHES COME!!! IT IS FREE!!
4. Just like our dinner Wednesday night, IT IS FREE FOR THE TAKING!! Are you ready to come?
ILLUSTRATION: I watched the flag pass by one day.
It fluttered in the breeze A young Marine saluted it, and then
He stood at ease. I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud With hair cut square and eyes alert
He’d stand out in any crowd.
I thought, how many men like him Had fallen through the years?
How many died on foreign soil? How many mothers’ tears?
How many Pilots’ planes shot down? How many foxholes were soldiers’ graves?
No, Freedom is not free.
I heard the sound of taps one night, When everything was still.
I listened to the bugler play And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times That taps had meant "Amen"
When a flag had draped a coffin of a brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children, Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands With interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard at the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington. No, Freedom isn’t free!!
Contributed by: SermonCentral PRO
TRUTH: REMEMBERING THE GOSPEL IS REMEMBERING THAT ALL ARE WELCOME BECAUSE HE PAID THE PRICE!
CONCLUSION: This is the same truth we celebrate on Memorial Day, All are welcome here in this land of democracy because a great price has been paid!! Many men and women gave unselfishly that we might live in a free country where you are truly free!! Jesus offers us a freedom beyond freedom. It too came at a great price, the greatest price every paid, one who knew no sin died on behalf of all sinners! What do you remember today? Will you remember those that died that we might live? Will you also remember the Gospel? The truth that Jesus paid it all that we might live not only hear and now, but for eternity?? WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER??
LET US SING: WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS. JOIN ME!!
BENEDICTION: ROMANS 15: 13
