In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of keeping the commandments of the Lord. He shares a personal anecdote about his son's busy schedule and encourages the audience to prioritize spending time with wise men and learning from them. The speaker also mentions a testimony shared by Brother Steve Coleman, which was a blessing to him. Additionally, he urges the congregation to remember and pray for missionaries in Africa who are transitioning from teaching the Old Testament to presenting the gospel of Jesus. The sermon concludes with a reflection on the essential nature of remembering the death of Jesus and participating in communion.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, AFPA, 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the free will offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. Greetings this morning. Welcome. What a blessing to meet with the saints. I think it was Isaac Watts said, oft has he felt the power of sovereign grace in meeting with the saints and worshiping the Lord together. And I would have to echo that this morning. It's a good place for us to find ourselves this morning and each one of us make it an important part of our lives and not forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is. And as the manner of some is to forget to retain God in their knowledge. The Bible says they're blind and they don't see afar off. And I haven't been able to shake yet what Billy said about the man who spoke on television against the existence of God. I don't know about you, but I pity that man. I feel sorry for him this morning and I've been in my heart praying for him. I was pondering the words of Jesus that we're to pray for our enemies, bless them that curse us, do good to them that hate us and despise us. Does your life, does my life tell those who are watching us that there is a God, that Jesus does live, that he did arise from the dead? Does our life speak in such a way that those who watch us can't deny, those who watch us can't just gleefully go on their merry way, rejoicing that no one has been able to prove to them by the lives that they live that there is no God? I pray that that message would sober each one of us and that we would purpose in our hearts to remember our Creator, even in the days of our youth, before the evil days come. Well, one of the phrases that stood out to me in the family sharing, my soul doth wait for the Lord more than the watchman that waits for the morning. And I don't know if you were ever a watchman before, but I've had to keep the night watches already. And when you're a night watchman, if you're a faithful night watchman and you stay awake, then believe me, you wait for the morning with great anticipation. And you think that that sun is just never going to rise. You have a great anticipation and there is a longing in your heart for that sun to rise. Three o'clock goes past, four o'clock goes past, and it seems like an eternity. Well, the testimony of this man was that he waited for the Lord. His soul was expecting the Lord, was waiting for the Lord, more than they that wait for the morning. Wow! I was challenged by that this morning. And before my message, I just thought I would also give praise to God for preserving our brother Ted's life. Here he is, sitting here with us this morning. And when we got the phone call of heart problems, we weren't sure. What does that mean? When I heard that my father had heart problems, it was already too late. He was gone. But we thank God that brother Ted is still here among us, still in the land of the living. God bless you, brother Ted, and grant you many more years here among us. And glorify God with them. Amen. The title of my message this morning is Essential Remembering. Essential Remembering. Now, I'm not good with titles, and I don't know if this would make sense or not, but I chose the word essential because of what it means in regards to what I want to talk to you about, what I want to preach about this morning. When we had communion last Sunday in April, so I guess that's three or four weeks ago now, I was sitting here and I was pondering the death of our Lord Jesus and what that means to me and what that has done in my life. And this word remember really grabbed my heart. It says in Luke, I think I have that scripture here somewhere. I think it's Luke 22, verse 19 and 20. Luke 22, 19 and 20. And Jesus took bread and gave thanks and break it and gave unto them saying, This is my body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of me. Likewise, also the cup after supper saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you. And this do. You continue to do this with one another in remembrance of me. You remember me by doing this. And I started pondering this word remember. And what an amazing mind God has given us. God has given us a mind that is fearfully and wonderfully made. And we have the ability to know something in our mind and to somewhat forget it. And then again, bring it up in our mind, bring it to our memory again. And it does something for us by doing that. We're going to find out. Well, let's first of all look at the word essential. The reason I chose the word essential is according to the dictionary, it means that it's necessary. Well, the one definition is that it's necessary to the constitution or existence of a thing. And a second definition was, which was maybe the one that I thought was most important. It says it's important in the highest degree. Important in the highest degree. The word essential means important in the highest degree. And the third point was, the chief point. That which is most important. Which sort of says the same thing, doesn't it? Important in the highest degree. Or the chief point. That which is most important. So, let's go on to remembering. What comes to your mind when you think of remembering? What does it mean to remember? To be remembering? Vernon? Recall. Okay. Anything else? Rick? Okay. Think back over something in the past, bring it to your mind now. Billy? An effort. Yes, it takes an effort. Yes. It takes a recalling. Okay. Good. Steve? To not allow us to forget. Okay. To not allow us to forget. Yes. I was really intrigued with the word, specifically the word remembering. In the 1828 Webster's Dictionary, it has having in mind. Having something in your mind. If you're remembering something, you are having it in your mind. Or you're keeping it in your mind. Or you're bringing it to your mind. Recalling it, as Brother Rick said. Now, the word remember did have quite a lengthy definition, but I thought that was good enough. Remembering is having in your mind. Having in mind. So, what is essential for us to have in our mind? What is so important that we should always have it in our mind? That's what we want to look at. Now, in Exodus 12, verse 14, we'll read a verse. In Exodus 12, verse 14, God is giving Moses instruction. Actually, it's Moses giving the people the instruction that God gave him in keeping the Passover. And verse 14 says, And this day shall be unto you for a memorial. And you shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever. And in chapter 13, 8 through 10, it says, And thou shalt show thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt. And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hands, and for a memorial between thine eyes. Notice that, between thine eyes. That the Lord's law may be in thy mouth, for with a strong hand hath the Lord brought thee out of Egypt. Now, a memorial is something that we know about. We put tombstones at the place where we bury people. We've done that for years. I mean, it goes way back into Genesis, that when someone is buried, there is a memorial made of him. And that memorial stands for something. It stands for that person who lived. And we will sometimes go look at these memorials. We call them tombstones. We'll look at them and we'll look at the names and see what they say. And that can be good sometimes to do that. It doesn't usually mean a whole lot to us. I mean, we can't conjure anything up in our mind if we never knew the person. Or if we never knew anything about them. But, since my father died and we have a memorial there for him, you know, time goes by and his life and his person and the things that he did sort of fades in your memory some. And then you go to this memorial, go to this tombstone and you see the name and when he was born and when he died. And maybe something that's written there about him. And then all of a sudden, things start coming to your mind about this person. About who he was. And all of a sudden, his life becomes very real to you. All of a sudden, you remember you have in your mind many things about that person. And his life, all of a sudden, becomes very fresh to you. And it seems like yesterday that you talked to him and you have in your mind the way that he did things. Or the way that he said things. Or you have in your mind something that he did at this certain time. Or just many things all at once you have in your mind. You are remembering. Well, that's not the essential remembering that I'm talking about here this morning. But, there are things that it's essential for us to have in our mind. To keep in our mind. God told the children of Israel. He warned them. Not just once, but many times. And we're not going to go over the many times that he gave them this warning. But just to establish it in your mind, I'd like to read a few scriptures. First one, in Numbers, chapter 15, 37-41. Numbers 15, 37-41. It says, And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, Speak unto the children of Israel and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribbon of blue. And it shall be unto you for a fringe that ye may look upon it and remember all the commandments of the Lord. And do them. And that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes after which ye used to go a whoring. That ye may remember and do all my commandments. And be holy unto your God. I am the Lord your God which brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God. This was so important. This was such a chief point. Or important in the highest degree to God. That He actually had them make clothes that would cause them to remember or to keep in their mind the commandments of the Lord. So, now you have it. Or, one of the points, anyhow, that we're to be keeping in our mind is the commandments of the Lord. Now, it says in Deuteronomy, chapter 4, 1 through 10. I think I'll just take the time to read this. It says, Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments which I teach you for to do them. That ye may live and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish from it. That ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baalpeor. For all the men that followed Baalpeor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you. But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day. Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them, for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great who hath God so nigh unto them? I love that phrase. For what nation is there so great who hath God so nigh unto them? We are blessed, brothers and sisters, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for. And what nation is there so great that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day? I tell you, brothers and sisters, we are to be envied. Only take heed to thyself and keep thy soul diligently. Lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life. But teach them thy sons and thy daughters. But teach them thy sons and thy sons' sons, especially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb. When the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, that they may teach their children. And we'll go on over to verse 21. It says, Furthermore the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, and swear that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance. But I must die in this land. I must not go over Jordan, but ye shall go over and possess that good land. Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget, lest ye don't have these things in your mind. The covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of anything which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee. For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. Now, the other amazing thing about our mind is, things seem to just gradually leak out of it. And after a while we realize that those things that were so fresh in our minds, and things that we didn't think we would ever forget, things that we thought would be stamped upon our hearts in such a way that we would never get over the wonder of it all. But somehow, through the cares of life, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the temptations that the enemy brings our way in many ways, in many forms, our minds just seem to leak. And all of a sudden, we realize that things aren't as fresh in our mind. This covenant, this work that God did in our hearts, it seems to be distant. And our hearts grow cold. Well, we're admonished here to not forget our God. And it was so important to God, God gave them things to do. He had them remember the Passover each year. They were to make a big deal about the Passover. It was not just a one hour long service. It lasted for a whole week. And maybe more, I don't know. But for a whole week, they had to make their bread without any leaven in it. And for those of you who have never eaten unleavened bread, you should try it. If you want to know what they went through for a week, it's not as desirable as bread that has the yeast in it. And it was a big thing in their lives. Everything centered around it, it seems. The keeping of the Passover. And it was for this purpose that they would remember, that they would keep in their mind who God is. Because He's the same God that He was when He delivered them out of Egypt. And with the same strong arm and many miracles with which He brought them out of Egypt with, He's that same God today, even though He may not be doing all those great miracles in your life. So, God had them, God put something in motion there that they would be able to remember. And that they would keep it in their mind. Because it's essential, it's important in the highest degree. He had them make clothing just for the purpose of keeping in their mind what He did and who He is. And that they need to follow His commandments. It's important in the highest degree that they keep His commandments. This is not a little thing in God's eyes. He is a consuming fire, a jealous God, and His glory will He not give to another. And He was concerned that if they forget who He is, they'll start following the gods of the people around them. He didn't want them to do that. He wanted them to keep in mind who He is and follow His commandments and give Him the glory from their lives. Can you imagine as the years went by and the next generation came on and they don't remember what God did back there. But mom keeps making these clothes that have this border around their garments, around the borders of their garments, this ribbon of blue. And it gave many opportunities for the children to ask their parents, why do we all wear this ribbon of blue around the borders of our garments? Why can't we make our clothing like the Amorites? I like their style better. Oh no, can you see those Jewish fathers sitting down with their children? No, this here is very important that we put this ribbon of blue in our clothing. This, let me tell you son, what God did in delivering us out of bondage with a strong arm and a stretched out hand, He brought us out of Egypt. And I'm sure they would recount all the miracles that God did in bringing them out of Egypt and all the plagues that He brought upon Egypt and parting the waters for them to come through the Red Sea. And then the Egyptians drowning in the sea and how He brought them for 40 years through the wilderness wearing the same pair of shoes. Did you ever have a pair of shoes that lasted 40 years with all that walking? And the food that He fed us, every morning there was food there for us. For 40 years we didn't grow any of our own corn, we didn't grow any of our own food. For 40 years God fed us there in the wilderness and He led us and He brought us into this land through many miracles. He defeated our enemies ahead of us. Why, the first city that we conquered, the walls just fell down on their own. Can you imagine a 6 year old boy hearing these things? A 10 year old boy and girl and thinking, Wow, that's our God. He's much greater than the God that these people serve. Why, the God they serve are just made out of wood or stone. Very important to God that we keep these things in our mind. Well, how are we going to do that? You might say, well, you're in the Old Covenant, brother. We've passed from the old to the new. We don't need ribbons of blue to remind us and we don't need to keep the Passover to remind us. God has given His Spirit, He's given us a new heart. He's given us life in Christ Jesus. That's all the reminder that we need. He continually is going to remind us each day, right? Well, just a couple verses here before I get practical. From 2 Peter, it seems that the Holy Spirit, speaking through Peter, thought it was very important also for them to remember and I think to really get the point here that Peter is the message that he's giving, we're going to read the whole thing from verse 1 to verse 15. 2 Peter 1, verse 1. Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ, grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, according as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, and beside this giving all diligence add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that you should neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins." Forgotten? That's what it says. He that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. And the only thing I can take from that is that it was a person who was purged from his old sins. Wherefore, the rather brethren, give diligence. You see, these are some of the same kind of words that God used back there in the old covenant to the children of Israel. Give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if ye do these things, ye shall never fall. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Wherefore, I will not be negligent. I won't stop putting you always in remembrance, bringing these things to your mind, though you know them, and be established in the present truth. Though now you're walking in them, though now you even have them in your mind, I'm not going to stop putting you in remembrance of these things, because I know, it seems he's saying, I know the mind and how things can fade away and slip away. Yea, I think it neat, or I think it the right thing to do. I think it the acceptable thing to do, as long as I am in this tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance. Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ has showed me. Moreover, I will endeavor that ye may be able, after my decease, to have these things always in remembrance. Peter thought this was very important. Or I should say again, God, in the new covenant, thinks this is very important, and inspired Peter, through the Holy Spirit, to pen these words. He is still just as jealous for His glory. He is still, He still knows, that if you keep these things fresh and alive in your mind, that you are going to walk with God. You're going to keep His commandments. Let's see what it says here in Jude. It's talking about men who, ungodly men, coming in, creeping in among God's people. It says, I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this. So if they once knew it, they should always know it, right? You would think. And there is a sense in which we do always know it. But it's not necessarily always in our mind. And we're talking about the importance of keeping it in our mind. I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. How is it possible that you could be one of those who were delivered out of Egypt, and then forget or believe not that you were delivered out of Egypt? But, it happened. And my concern is that it can happen to us, brothers and sisters. It can happen to us. And the angels, which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved an everlasting change under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, the Lord rebuked thee. And where am I going here? I thought it was one of the verses I wanted, but it's verse 17. I probably don't need to read all that. But beloved, verse 17, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the Apostle, of our Lord Jesus Christ, how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. But ye beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith. And I would like to say that this building up yourselves has a lot to do with keeping in your mind what God has done and is doing and who He is. praying in the Holy Ghost. Keep yourselves, keep in your mind the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And if you can do this and will do this, it will make you that you will neither be barren nor unfruitful in your Christian walk. So, what are some practical ways for us to remember? This all sounds very good, doesn't it? And it's very wonderful. And we can sit here and think, yeah, we need to remember. It's important to remember. But how are you going to walk this out in your daily life? How are you going to live your life in such a way that you will keep in your mind those things that are important to the highest degree. Those things that are the chief point. The thing that is most necessary. How are you going to keep that in your mind? I guess in a way, we're saying the same thing that we've said many times and just using a different way to come at it. But I have eight points here and not at all an exhaustive list because there's many more practical and creative ways I'm sure that we can use to keep these things in our minds and I would love to, when you're all given an opportunity to share after the message here, if you think of some, I'd like to hear of some others because I don't believe that all this is exhaustive. This is just more some of the obvious ones. Yesterday, I heard Brother David Rubio say that the most thrilling part of his day is spending time with God in prayer and in reading the Word because of what God speaks to him and shows him and the life that it gives him. And our first point is our personal walk with God. If you're going to keep these things in your mind, if you're going to remember that God has delivered you out of bondage, that God has made you joint heirs together with Christ, that God has set you in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that you in Christ Jesus can have rivers of living water flowing out of your belly, if you're going to remember these things, it's very essential to have your walk with God up to date and make it a very high priority in your life. How are we going to remember? How are we going to keep these things in our mind if we don't feed our souls from God's Word? If we don't spend time with the only true and living God? And at times even more than just your daily personal devotions, take a time, a couple of days, to get alone with God, to personally reflect upon who He is, what He has done for this soul of mine, what He wants to do, and reflect upon all that He has done in the past, and what He will do with a soul who is willing, who is open, and is saying, Lord, not my will but Thine be done. We must have seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord if we're going to keep these things in mind, if we're going to keep them alive and fresh in our hearts. I don't know if you've caught on to it or not, but this keeping in your mind is a life of continual revival, and it's a life that like Jeremiah said, that while I'm used, the fire burned. And it's as we keep these things close to our hearts, keep them fresh in our mind, that the goodness of God is very precious to us and close to our hearts, and when someone asks us how we're doing, it just bubbles out, doesn't it? We're not ashamed to say, Oh, I love the Lord. I love Him for what He did in my heart. I'm thankful for what He did. He delivered my soul out of bondage. And that sort of is the, carries over into point number two that I have here. How we are going to remember, how are you going to keep in your mind these things that are most important? Share your testimony. We live in a wicked world, and we live in a world full of cares, and it's obvious, and it's one of the facts of life, but here is something that you can do to directly go against what the world wants to overcome you with by sharing your testimony. You share your testimony as you go about your day. You reflect what God has done in your heart as you go about your day, and you be ready to share your testimony as you have opportunity in your day. And not just to the heathen, even as you meet your brother. Be ready to share a word of testimony to him of what God has meant to you that day. And you will be well on your way to keeping in mind, keeping it fresh in your mind, keeping it alive in your mind what God has done. And you will be well on your way to a life of continual revival. It's very important. Deuteronomy 5, on this point, says, verse 12, Deuteronomy 5 verse 12 says, Is this the scripture I had in mind for this or not? I think we're going to read it. Deuteronomy 5 verse 12, Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it as the Lord thy God has commanded thee. Six days thou shalt labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates, that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm. Therefore, the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day. Why did God command you to keep the Sabbath day? It's to help you to keep in mind that He has brought you out of Egypt with a mighty hand and a stretched out arm. And I'm not sure where it was. I thought it was right here that it talked about the importance of being ready to share this to our sons, to the next generation. Having this in our hearts at all times. And that through this weekly, one day out of every seven, we set the day aside. And we set it aside for a very specific purpose. To bring to our mind again, to refresh our minds that God has delivered us from bondage. And we take that as an opportunity to reflect upon that. And to share this with our sons and daughters. And to make it a real part of their life. I was really blessed with this. I don't know that I ever saw that before. You know, I always saw the keeping of the Sabbath as the importance of the day of rest. But here, it very specifically states that the reason God gave this as one of the commands was so that they would specifically remember that they at one day were a servant in the land of Egypt. And that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm. Therefore, the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day. Okay, third point. I'm calling family discipleship. Which we've already been doing some of that. It says in Deuteronomy 6, I specifically call it family discipleship because, you know, we can maybe get into a good habit of sitting down with our family each day and reading the Word and having a time of teaching from the Word. But, it's more than that. Family discipleship. He says in Deuteronomy 6, verse 3, Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it, that it may be well with thee and that ye may increase mightily as the Lord God of thy fathers has promised thee in the land that floweth with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way and when thou liest down and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house and on thy gates. And it shall be when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land in which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildest not, and houses full of all good things, which thou fillest not, and wells digged, which thou diggest not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantest not, when thou shalt have eaten and be full. Then beware, lest thou forget the Lord which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage. I hope that the importance of this matter, of remembering, is coming home to your heart. This is no small matter again, God says. We are to diligently teach our children and not just be in the habit of sitting down with them one time during the day, but make it part of our life because there's a great danger of us forgetting what the Lord did. And all at once, it's not real fresh and alive in our hearts. And I say all at once, but it doesn't happen all at once. But it may be all at once we realize that I'm not as excited about what God did in my heart as I was last year at this time. I'm not as diligently training my children as I was three years ago. Well, it's probably because we're not keeping in mind. Beware, we live in America, houses full of all good things, wells that have plenty of water, fields that yield plenty of food. We sit down to a meal and there's no way we can eat it all. We can stuff ourselves as full as we can and there's still leftover. I remember as a boy, older men sometimes coming into our house and telling us how it was when they were a boy. They were maybe one of twelve children. And if they weren't real aggressive, they went hungry. The pot would get empty and they were still hungry. But there was no more food. And if you didn't get your hands in the pot in time, you didn't get anything. Well, that's not the way it is today around here. Not in Lancaster County. And I think we do well to beware lest we forget the Lord. Okay, the fourth point is musing. We want to keep in our mind the importance of who God is, what He has done. in our hearts and lives and who Jesus Christ is. How are we going to do that? By musing. And I already quoted Jeremiah, while I was musing, the fire burned. That meant things were so fresh in his mind that sometimes we use the expression, I was so blessed I couldn't stand it. Brother Thomas told me the next day after communion, he couldn't have stood it if he would have been any more blessed at communion time. While we muse, while we meditate, while we reflect upon the Word of God and upon who He is, these things come fresh in our mind and they stay fresh in our mind. Okay, we've dealt with that one I believe already. Five here I have. Singing. Singing has a way of rejuvenating us and bringing things fresh again into our mind as we go about our day and as we're tempted. This is a good way, a good practical way. You want a practical way to keep things fresh? To keep the life of God fresh in your hearts and mine? Sing. When you're tempted, sing. When you're in a place where you have no control over the music and there's rock music playing or music that's destroying your soul, sing. And try to sing above the noise of the other music. And you'll walk away from your time there rather than being drained. You'll be edified. And you'll be thinking, Oh, praise God for delivering me out of bondage. Praise God. I have a new song in my heart. Or even praise to my God. Sing. I have here point number six. Church life. Don't neglect church life. Don't neglect the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is. But so much the more, become involved with your brothers and sisters and make it a point of importance to the highest degree in your life. I wouldn't say that my church life growing up was without its faults and that it didn't have some forms of legalism in it. But as I look back on my growing up and my formative years, I bless God that I had parents who took me to church and who made it a very important part of their life. As I stand here, I can't remember an instance in my growing up days that my parents found an excuse to not be in church if there was services. And that was every Sunday morning, every Sunday night, and sometimes it was over 50 miles one way to a service, and every Wednesday night. And in between there, there was sometimes weeks of meetings. And they never missed a service. And we were dairy farmers and had lots to do and could have found many excuses not to be in church. At times, I'm sure. But that did something in my soul. I know as I look back today that that was such an important part of their life and became an obvious part of my life. I didn't have a choice, and I'm not saying I never got bored sitting in church, but it has formed some things in my life today that helps me to keep in mind what God has done. So, parents, don't neglect assembling your families together where the Word of God is being taught, where the singing of the hymns are being sung, and where people are giving testimony about the goodness of God, the mercy of God, where praise and prayer are wont to be raised. Don't neglect that place. And it doesn't have to be inside these four walls. Okay? I have here point number seven. Putting things on your walls. We saw here in Deuteronomy 6, you're to write these things, God's commandments, upon the posts of our house and on your gates. And we spend a lot of time in our house and in each other's houses. We go to each other's houses. And what a wonderful way to bring again to our mind, to our memory, what God has done, the goodness of God, the things of God, the things that are eternal. What a great way to make that happen by putting things on our walls that will inspire us, that will bring to mind again those things. Last Sunday, I was so blessed, I went into Lawrence Martin's home and the first thing I noticed was a picture on the wall of Dirk Willems, I think it is, who is lifting his enemy out of the icy waters. He saved him from drowning. He saved his enemy from drowning. And right away, the words of Jesus came to my mind. Pray for your enemies. Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that despitefully use you and that hate you. And if you're persecuted for righteousness' sake, rejoice and be exceedingly glad. For so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. And if they've persecuted the Master, don't think yourself to be greater than your Master. They're going to do likewise to you. And it was a revival to me just to look at that picture. So, put things on your walls that will help you to keep in mind and that will help your children to keep in mind. You know, we live in a day and in a society here where putting things on the walls are no new thing. But, sometimes the things that we put on our walls don't do the right things in our minds. I had a brother-in-law that was telling me about a house that he bought and he was explaining to me how this room was when he came to look at it and had all these trophies hanging on the walls. And it showed of many places this man had been and many trophies that he had gotten. And I said, after he was done, I said, he probably has boys that love to hunt, doesn't he? And he said, oh yeah, they sure do. One's off now on a two week trip here and one's off there and they just live to hunt. Well, we can tell our children what's important to us by what we hang on our walls. I was in a home recently where in big letters the whole border of their house, on every wall of their house, it just went in one room and out the other and just continues. One long continuous border in big high letters like this. And it was just all the names of Jesus. And I was amazed at how many names Jesus had. And it inspired my heart. And it made it fresh in my mind again who Jesus is. And He's my Lord and Savior. Wow, what a wonderful King I have and Savior. I can't wait to spend eternity with Him. These things came fresh to my mind. I left there and I thought about it for days and it's still fresh in my mind. So, take advantage of the space that you have on your walls and put things on there that will help us to keep in our mind, fresh and alive, the things that will make sense a hundred years from now. The last thing I have here in thinking of our children and ways to make this practical in their lives and that someday they can come back to us and bless God or bless us for what we have done for them and helped them with is to watch over the gains. The amount of playing that we allow our children to do. They will be fully given to play, to sports. We live in a sports-craved world where the thing that has become the chief point, that which is most important is sports, playing, of all things. The thing that has become most important in the lives of many Americans is playing. And there is something in the makeup of each one of us that wants to win. And because of that, and we good-naturedly play games and win. You know, we want to win. We will even, in a good way, play a board game with our brother and he will even say, hey, let me skin your tail on a game of chess or whatever it may be. Well, that doesn't sound like a real Christian thing to say. And there is a place for that in a good-natured way and a brotherly way to win a brother in a game, playing a game. And it is good for us to play games with our children. Running games, they are full of energy, they need to run and want to run and love to run and we do well to play games with them. But, they don't need to be coached into playing games. They need to be pulled back sometimes from playing games. There needs to be a time to play and then a time where you say, okay, son, that's enough playing. That's enough running. You know, we can give ourselves so much to it that the next day we can't hardly walk for a week. We are so sore in our bones and maybe that's okay sometimes to wear yourself out in that way. But, if we are not careful and we let our children just indulge in all the game playing that they can play, whether it's board games, ball games, running games. My son came home the other night and said, from the homeschool picnic, he said, I've run from 5 o'clock to 8 o'clock. I've hardly stopped running from 5 o'clock to 8 o'clock. hmm, I'm not sure that was good, son. You should have maybe stopped in between there and spent some time with the older men getting some wisdom from them. If all they do is play, fathers, when they are 16 and 17 and 18 years old, they won't be wise men and they won't be sitting at the feet of wise men. They're going to be out in the backyard with a volleyball and they're going to want to, or they will think that it's boring just to sit around in a living room and listen to someone share a testimony of what God has done in their hearts. I was so blessed last Sunday evening. I wanted to share this on the one about sharing your testimony, but it makes sense here too. Last Sunday evening, Brother Steve Coleman was sharing his testimony and we were sitting around and there was a couple families there around the kitchen table and our boys were sitting there listening and I've heard Brother Steve's testimony before here, but not in the detail that he gave it. And I was so blessed. And I'm sure he was too. The next day, he was probably even remembering and rejoicing about what God did in his heart. It was a way for him again to keep in mind the things that are important. But what was such a blessing to me is for us all to be sitting around there and listening to what God has done and the miraculous ways in which God led His path. And I would hope that my boys would grow up thinking about that and having a conviction in their heart that that's the God that I want to serve. And I want to I want to remember what He has done for my soul. If you want to know the importance this is on God's heart and how God feels about this, I'd encourage you to read through especially Deuteronomy and how God admonishes. Don't forget. Don't forget. You're going to go into a land flowing with milk and honey, but don't forget. Don't forget Me. So, we have, hence we have the title Essential Remembering. Important in the highest degree. The chief point. Are you making it? The chief point in your life. God be with each one of you. Thank you, Brother Dean. How many of us are afraid of falling asleep? That question came to me as Dean was preaching. How many of us in here are afraid of falling asleep? I had to think of a little incident the other day. It was just last week. I know of a person that was going down the road and was very tired. And he kept fighting his sleep, kept fighting, and finally he jerked awake and he found himself over the left lane. There was a car coming in front of him. How many of us are afraid of falling asleep? Sobering thoughts have been brought to our attention this morning. I think what Dean is trying to do, by the Spirit of God, is nudging us all a bit again this morning. Are we remembering? Do we remember? How is it with us? Do we remember? You know, in those things, as Dean shared, we hear many times, it's a little different way of coming at it this morning, but it's remembering. What is one of the main reasons that we forget? I had to think of Luke, chapter 8, where he talks about the sore, how some fell on thorny ground, the cares of this life, the riches, choked out the Word. We have maybe too many other things around us that we forget. The deliverance, back ten years ago when we were delivered. Remember that? Remember that time when we were delivered? God saved our soul. We were singing, Hallelujah! Do we forget those things? It's because I believe, as I ponder this, and there are many more that we could talk about, is maybe our hearts get involved in riches or in cares of this life. And that's where we live, but this morning in my prayer time, I had to think, Brother Dean, it just came to me that how do we maintain the freshness of our walk with God? That came to my heart. And I had to think, and I can't quote the person, but there was some man of God years ago who said, he never lost the wonder, and Brother Rick, you could probably quote him, he never lost the wonder of being born again, or when he was saved, and keeping that daily walk, that daily communication. I hope we don't tire of hearing this. I delight when I'm punched again, and pinched a bit, and we all tend to get drowsy. In the spiritual sense, we tend to get drowsy, as much as we do in the physical. When this person that met this oncoming car, and it was only God that woke him, from there on, sleep wasn't a problem. So what are your testimonies this morning? I want to open it up, give you some opportunity. I could speak a long time on this subject, Brother Dean. What are some of your comments, or confessions, or this is your time to share what God has put on your heart? I have another testimony up here in the front. Maybe just a quick one yet, before you share, Ron. I had to think of this weekend. What is this weekend all about? Does someone know? What's the name of this weekend? Memorial of what? The troops that came back from war, right? Every year they commemorate, or they go to their gravesite, and they put flowers there. Why do they do that? So they don't forget these people that are so important. That is interesting. Go ahead, Ron. Amen. That's what I wanted to comment on for us, for this Memorial Day weekend, is let's take our focus off of some of those earthly things that have happened. I think of the time when Joshua led the children of Israel through the Jordan River, and God commanded that one man out of each of the 12 tribes pick up a stone and carry it on his shoulder and put up a memorial on the other side of the Jordan in the Promised Land, that it would be there to remind them what the Lord God had done for them. And when their children asked, what is this heap of stones? That they would tell them. And I'm going to take it as a challenge in my home to take this Memorial Day weekend and hopefully other times, but especially this weekend, just to remember what the Lord God has done for us and to set up memorials, to have verses on the walls and share our testimony. It's a blessing when we have opportunity to share our testimony. A few weeks ago we were over at a brother's house and there was a visitor there, and he wasn't a young man, he was probably in his mid-fifties. I asked him to share his testimony. And he went on for a half an hour. And when he left, he thanked me for asking him about his testimony. He said, nobody asks. And I said, well, brother, be bold and share it. But we need to remember what the Lord's done for us and to share it. And those memorials are an important part in our life to remind us what the Lord God has done. So I'd encourage us to maybe take some of this secular thought of Memorial Day and turn it into a spiritual time of remembering and sharing what the Lord has done. Amen. Brother Harold? I first of all want to greet you in Jesus' name. Bring greetings from Haiti. Bless you all. I won't be able to meet you all perhaps in the next few weeks. I especially was touched in my heart and my spirit the message this morning. God's been working in my heart. And I had to think, what is it? What is it that keeps our mind either on those things that are eternal or takes them off? God's been convicting me in the last weeks and months. It's so easy to be too busy with good and proper things. I'm seeking to serve the Lord there in Haiti with the med program and the food box program and reports and the pictures for CAM and so forth. They're good things. They're right things. But it's so easy to have our minds so full and that's what we think about and think about. And I'm convinced that most of us are the same way. What are the thoughts when I retire? What are the thoughts when I get up in the morning? What possesses my heart and my mind? Each one of you. I must answer that. Each one of you must answer that. But it makes so much difference. And I'm convinced that, as was said before, I'm not going to say much about that, but in this day of affluence, there's so many things that bombard and bombard and bombard us. There in that 2 Peter's I saw when he was reading. We're to be looking for and hasting onto the day of the coming of the Lord. All these things it says there in those scriptures are going to be burned up. I taught school for years and I know sometimes the teachers would say we would eat and sleep and drink school teaching. What am I eating and sleeping and drinking? We have our responsibilities. I feel so deeply for the parents and for everybody else. But in the midst of it all, oh, to be focused on our dear Jesus. That man that you talked about, he could have lost his life. Then what? Oh, to be ready when our Jesus comes and to bless and to help others. God bless you all. Love you all. So glad to be with you. Thank you, Brother Harold. That was a good word for us. Who's next? Go ahead, Dwight. Yes, I was very blessed with the message this morning and God showed me a verse here in Jude when I was turning over here. In Jude 24, God showed me why does God want me to remember what God has done. And that might be, that question should probably be answered after a message like this. But God showed me one of the reasons in my own personal life is verse 24, it says, Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. And I was very blessed with that verse. God's heart is that He would present us faultless one day. And He knows He will be able to do that when we keep remembering what He has done. And that stirs our hearts and we desire for Him to do more. And one of the practical things that God has shown me in remembering what He has done is I monthly go to a cabin and spend time with a couple of days on a weekend and spend time with God. And I would just like to bless God that He has allowed me in my youth to spend seasons alone with God. That has given me many dreams, many visions, many wisdom for my life. And I would just like to bless God that many times He has re-brought it back to my memory what He has done and what He wants to do and what He is doing. And I would just like to bless God that He doesn't just desire to do something in our hearts, but He actually desires us to remember it. So bless God. I want to confess this morning that I have allowed the cares of life to get my mind off of the wonderful things that God has done for me. I also want to testify that singing really does work to remind myself. Even this morning, singing just reminded me what really matters, what's really important. And yet at the same time, I felt the cares of life really battling for my focus. But I want to grow in this. I ask you to keep me accountable and pray for me as you think about it. And I praise God for what He has done. And that singing is such a... In a way, it's an easy way to remind ourselves of the great things He's done. God bless you, sister. Go ahead. Yes, I just want to thank God for both messages this morning. I'm greatly encouraged. And I just want to give my mind over to remembrance and thankfulness in what God has done in my life. And I can testify, we just put up a big scripture verse on our living room wall. And every morning when I go out for devotions, it really is encouraging just to read what God has done for us and be continually filled with the Word of God. I really believe the scriptures that say draw near to God and He will draw near to us. And also, I just want to ask for prayer. Lord willing, I will remember again what God has done for me Saturday as I give my testimony to two Jehovah Witnesses that are coming. They've been at my house twice and one of them had mentioned to me that she's a good listener. So I said, well, come. I would love to share my testimony. And she said, sure. She wants to share hers. And I said, that's fine. And all week the Lord has just been showing me the book of Romans. I know when I've met with them before, they've gotten me off on these paths where I talk about things that are confusing. But the simple faith in Jesus Christ and what He has done for me can speak more than trying to get into their word games or whatever because that is something that Jehovah Witnesses do not have is an assurance in peace in Jesus. So I just ask that if you can think of me next Saturday. Thank you. Amen. Praise God. Be good to hear the report, Melanie. Is there any more? We'll take one more here. Two more. We can take two more. Brother Tavi? Yeah, praise the Lord. I just wanted to make sure I got this in. I'd like us all to remember our missionaries in Africa, and especially Weston and Charity. The last handout I gave you a couple of weeks ago mentioned that they're basically coming to the end of their Old Testament teaching and they're going to be entering the time when they start actually presenting the Gospel in the person of Jesus. And as we remember today what the Lord Jesus has done for us, let's not forget that He's still doing a work there in Africa. And I would like to ask all of you to get the people there on your hearts over the next couple of weeks and begin praying that the Word of God would go forth and find that fertile soil and that we can be able to look back and say, look what God has done once again for His kingdom, for His glory. Amen. Okay, we'll take one more. Steve? Yeah, well, I wanted to make a comment on the opening message and then I realized what a relationship there is there between the two messages. Earlier this week, I spoke to a man and after I gave him my testimony, I asked him if he had a Bible. And he said, oh yeah, he has a Bible, but that his church tells him not to read it because he couldn't possibly understand it. And they should explain it to him. And then right away, I just made the relationship this morning when Brother Billy was sharing, right away he told me that he's looking forward to going and seeing the movie The Da Vinci Code because he wants to see what the other side is saying. He wants to give them their fair hearing. And I thought about it, and I thought, you know, the man is not reading his Bible, but he is listening to the propaganda of those that deny the existence of Christ. And then as Brother Dean was sharing, I saw that it started with him not reading his Bible. And so that took that as a challenge for me and I want to pick that up and walk more with the Lord in reading and so on. So, bless God for that reminder. Yeah, I felt like the two messages went very well together. Talking about stability. Talking about remembering that the whole, like the service was, the Lord was trying to get our attention. The Lord is very good to us. He gives us what we need. And I bless God for that.