{"id":7178,"date":"2015-05-25T16:40:07","date_gmt":"2015-05-25T20:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=7178"},"modified":"2015-06-05T09:26:17","modified_gmt":"2015-06-05T13:26:17","slug":"always-remember-52415","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=7178","title":{"rendered":"Always Remember (5\/24\/15)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunday May 24 2015 was a busy Sunday.\u00a0 Not only was it memorial day weekend, it was also Pentecost Sunday!\u00a0 Pastor Jim felt led to to speak about Memorial Day; What is the value of Remembering?\u00a0 How is the Holy Spirit leading us to use the witnesses of those who have come before us in order to teach those who come after us?
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Click the following “Play” Button to start the recording, then scroll down to follow along…<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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The Scripture was Jude verse 5, and then Joshua 4:1-7.\u00a0 Open the following Drop Down box to read.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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Scripture Reading<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Jude 5<\/span>\n\u00a0But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Joshua 4:1-7<\/span>\nAnd it came to pass, when all the people had completely crossed over the Jordan, that the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying: \u00a0 “Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from every tribe, \u00a0 and command them, saying, ‘Take for yourselves twelve stones from here, out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet stood firm. You shall carry them over with you and leave them in the lodging place where you lodge tonight.'” <\/span><\/p>\n

4 Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the children of Israel, one man from every tribe; and Joshua said to them: “Cross over before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel,\u00a0 that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’\u00a0 Then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.”<\/span>\nNKJV<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

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In April of 1865, in Columbus, Mississippi after decorating the graves of her two sons, a woman and a friend walked to two graves at the corner of the cemetery.\u00a0 The friend\u00a0 said with alarm, “What are you doing?\u00a0 Those are the graves of two Union soldiers.”\u00a0 The mother replied, “I know.\u00a0 I also know that somewhere in the North, a mother or a young wife mourns for them as we do for ours.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Historians suggest that this was the seed which set in motion what in 1868 became Memorial Day.<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n

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Remember: Freedom from Sin Isn’t Free<\/span><\/h4>\n

Memorial Day is often seen simply as the start of the summer season.\u00a0 But it has a deeper meaning.\u00a0 Memorial Day was established in 1868 to honor the fallen soldiers of the Civil War.\u00a0 It has grown to become a solemn recognition of all of our nation’s\u00a0 war dead and the high price of our freedom.<\/p>\n

Our freedom is not cheap.\u00a0 Despite the commercialism and “re-writing” of the Bible, we need to remember.\u00a0 Remember our soldiers.\u00a0 Remember also what God has done for us.<\/p>\n

A memorial helps us keep a memory of something or someone significant that has happened alive in our hearts and minds.\u00a0 Not to live in the past, but to sharpen values and march into the future.\u00a0 “The memory of the righteous is a blessing.<\/span><\/em><\/strong>”\u00a0 All throughout the Bible God has ordained that there would be memorials.\u00a0 He has instituted the practice of building and having memorials in our life.\u00a0 it is beneficial for us to remember the things that Jesus has done in each of our lives.<\/p>\n

In a Biblical sense, a memorial is a sacrifice; it’s something that reminds us of what God has done.\u00a0 We have been given victories because we have been faithful to God.\u00a0 We need to reclaim that.<\/p>\n

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The word “memorial” in scripture comes from the word that means to prick, to pierce, or to penetrate the memory<\/span>.<\/div><\/div>\n

Even in our own society, we have set up Memorials to help us remember the sacrifices of others and to “prick” or “pierce” us into working to complete the work that the sacrifice began.\u00a0 And they remind us to share these truths with our children.<\/p>\n

In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’<\/span> <\/em><\/strong>
\nJoshua 4:6, NLT<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Those stones became memorials so we could explain the things of God to our children.<\/p>\n

\u00a0What would you tell your children if they you asked about…<\/span><\/em><\/h4>\n\n\t\t\t
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