Gtcotr/ss052409
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 our great nation, the United States of America:
* 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 … the United States of America …
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, and remember 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 gave us their lives.
There are so many heroes in our past who served in one way or another to make America great. Men and women alike … those who sailed with and supported Columbus, families on the Mayflower, the colonialists who braved the elements of a new harsh world, those early pioneers and settlers of the west, men and women of science and medicine, those who brought the railways to connect the Atlantic with the Pacific, people like Lewis and Clarke, Henry Ford, the Wright Brothers and the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr., … so many educators and philanthropists, inventors and astronauts, homemakers and shipbuilders, slaves and freemen, factory workers and farmers … America is the land of the free and the home of the brave, a land filled with heroes to whom we owe our good lives.
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 America great and leaving a legacy behind.
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 and we celebrate that day tomorrow. 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 remembered 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, nonetheless 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 you, a soldier of the cross, make a difference for your King and His decided best interests? Glad you asked … it’s fairly simple … you see, you make a difference by what you choose to believe, by what you say in support of what you believe, and by what you decide to do about what you believe.
1. What you 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
> You think what you think, you feel what you feel, and you want what you want because you believe what you believe.
> Impossibilities become possible when you believe God!
2. What you say makes a difference
* Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue
* Numbers 14:28 As you have spoken in My ear so will I do unto you
* Luke 6:45 Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks
* Proverbs 4:23 Guard your heart … with all diligence because out if it flows the issues of life … words!
3. What you 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.
* Living the life of a Born Again Believer demands that you do something about what you believe.
* We don’t do good works to get saved or to go to heaven … rather we work because we are saved and on our way to heaven!
Believe me, What you believe, what you say, and what you do has always made a difference. That’s why there is a Memorial Day!
What do you believe? What do you say? What do you do? You will be remembered for the difference you make. What will that difference be?
Commit your thoughts, your words and your actions to Christ, let His Word be your guide and your judge. Begin making a greater difference today. It’s just one decision away … you can decide now!
