People will seldom die for something which they are unwilling to live for.
Key Scripture: John 15 NKJV
12 "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
13 "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
This weekend is Memorial Day weekend, the time we set aside in the
* this one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all;
* this land of the free, home of the brave;
* this nation that was built on the ideal embraced and taken from a poem by Emma Lazarus written in 1883 which welcomed more than 12 million immigrants to Ellis Island from 1892 to 1954:
“… Give me your tired, your poor. Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, the tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
* this nation who defends the weak, feeds the hungry, gives to the poor and protects the rights of each individual regardless of race, color, gender, national origin or religious affiliation;
* this nation of the people, by the people and for the people, who has always given its very best and brightest sons and daughters in defense of these ideals …
We should yield solemn respect to those who gave their time, talent and treasure, pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to serve our country in times of war and peace, those who sacrificed their lives in that noble cause.
These men and women made a difference.
We owe our nation, our homes and our cars, our jobs and our hobbies, our past, our families and our future to those brave Americans who unselfishly made that difference.
There are so many heroes in our past who served in one way or another to make
Every day of the year could be a special day commemorating a different segment of our society for their unselfish and sacrificial contribution in making
However, one class of citizen stands out on the front lines of our nation when we think of the heroes of our past, it’s the American Soldier. Memorial Day is about those who died defending us in war.
So, in honor of those who gave their lives in sacrifice for our freedom we have set aside a national day of remembrance, we call it Memorial Day, which again we celebrate tomorrow and as I said earlier, this is Memorial Day Weekend. Everyone is encouraged to take a moment at 3 p.m. tomorrow and remember those brave souls who chose their course and served the cause, giving their lives in defense of our Nation’s decided best interest.
In fact let’s take a moment together right now and thank God as we prayerfully honor these lives and the sacrifice they made.
Although we may not all have served in the military or have family members who died in the cause of freedom, we are all soldiers … soldiers of the cross, born again into the army of God.
How can we as soldiers of the cross make a difference for the Kingdom we serve and the cause of our Commander in Chief, Jesus?
Turn with me in the word to
Mark 8
34 When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
35 "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.
36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
37 "Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
Whosoever will, can make a difference.
How can we as soldiers of the cross make a difference for the Kingdom we serve and the cause of our Commander in Chief, Jesus?
What we believe makes a difference
What we say makes a difference
What we do makes a difference
1. What we believe makes a difference
* Mark 9:23 All things are possible to him who believes
* Matthew 13:58 & Mark 6:5 Unbelief stopped the work of Jesus
> Impossibilities become possible when we believe!
2. What we say makes a difference
* Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue
* Proverbs 6:2 Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth
* Numbers 14:28 As you have spoken in My ear so will I do unto you (Joshua and Caleb against the ten spies)
* Luke 6:45 Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks
* Proverbs 4:23 Guard your heart … this is why we guard our hearts with all diligence because out if it flows the issues of life … words! It’s not that which goes into the body that defiles but …
3. What we do makes a difference
* Matthew 25 NKJV
35 ‘for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in;
36 ‘I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’
40 "And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
* 1 John 3 NKJV
17 But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
This is the Gospel message – Romans 10
* What we believe – “if you believe in your heart …”
* What we say – “and confess with your mouth …”
> You will be saved!
But what then?
* Living the life of a Born Again Believer means that we do something about what we believe and something more than mere words.
* We don’t work for Jesus to get saved or to go to heaven … rather we work because we are saved and on our way to heaven!
What we do makes a difference! That’s why there is a memorial day!
