Remember

Remember

Griffith Baptist Church – 2/8/09

P.M. Service

Text: Psalm 44

Key verse: Psalms 44:1 - We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.

Premise: We are sometimes a forgetful people when there is so much that God has done. These things are good to remember for our encouragement, past, present and future.

The Introduction

An 80 year old couple were having problems remembering things, so they decided to go to their doctor to get checked out to make sure nothing was wrong with them. When they arrived at the doctor’s, they explained to the doctor about the problems they were having with their memory. After checking the couple out, the doctor tells them that they were physically okay but might want to start writing things down and make notes to help them remember things. The couple thanked the doctor and left. Later that night while watching TV, the old man got up from his chair and his wife asks, "Where are you going?" He replies, "To the kitchen." She asks, "Will you get me a bowl of ice cream?" He replies, "Sure." She then asks him, "Don’t you think you should write it down so you can remember it?" He says, "No, I can remember that." She then says, "Well I also would like some strawberries on top. You had better write that down cause I know you’ll forget that." He says, "I can remember that, you want a bowl of ice cream with strawberries." She replies, "Well I also would like whip cream on top. I know you will forget that so you better write it down." With irritation in his voice, he says, "I don’t need to write that down I can remember that." He then fumes into the kitchen. After about 20 minutes he returns from the kitchen and hands her a plate of bacon and eggs. She stares at the plate for a moment and says, "I knew you were going to mess it up - You forgot my toast."

Sometimes we are better at forgetting than remembering

There are other times when we remember things we should forget

Discuss text

Three aspects of remembering God that will encourage and sustain us

Body

1. Remember What God Has Done – 1-3

A. Creation

i. He did it from nothing

a. There once was a little boy who was told the story of the creation of Adam and Eve in his Sunday morning Bible class. After church on the way home his mom asked him what they talked about in Bible class, and he told her that they talked about the creation story and how God had taken a rib from mans side and made a wife for him. After lunch mother finds him doubled over in pain and asked him what was wrong. The little boy replied, “My side hurts mommy, I think I’m having a wife.”

b. Genesis 1:1 –In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

ii. He sustains it - Colossians 1:16-17 – 16For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

B. Salvation

i. He determined and prepared Christ for our salvation

a. 1 Peter 1:19-20 – 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 20Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,

b. He had us in mind before the world was created.

c. That is a lot of love.

ii. He chose us before the world began

a. Ephesians 1:4 – According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

b. However He chose is His prerogative

c. What is most important is that you and I were one of His choices.

d. The purpose was for us to be holy and blamless

C. Protection

i. Protection from judgment and hell

a. Romans 8:1 – There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

b. Hell is prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41)

ii. Protection from our enemy - 2 Thessalonians 3:3 – But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.

D. Inspiration

i. The Scriptures

a. A computer program was recently used to prove that St. Paul is the author of only 4 of the 13 epistles attributed to him in the New Testament. Two researchers fed the computer a quarter of a million words of Greek prose to reach this conclusion. They said the method could be used to determine the authorship of any part of the Bible. Truly amazing, isn’t it, that a mindless machine questions the Word of God?! If its findings were correct, they would make Paul a liar, for he claims the authorship of all 13 epistles. Just think, a lifeless mechanism "proving" that the Bible is not true! The computer is now a disputer. Now for the clincher. The same computer program was used to do an analysis of the book in which these conclusions were written. It was proven that the man who wrote the book couldn’t have been its author.