Forgotten Blessings Judges 8:28-35

You're the king, oh my god God the Son, the Son

of God, who came to earth, took on flesh as a

man, became 100 % human and 100 % God at the

same time, walked a sinless life, died a sinner's

death, buried in a sinner's tomb, but could not

be held back and rather rose again on the third

day. We're talking about that king, that one

who holds the key of David, who opens and no

one will shut and who shuts. He says, I know

your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an

open door which no one can shut. Because you

have a little power, and have followed my word,

and have not denied my name. Before I go any

further, let me say that that could be a description

for us, couldn't it? We have a little power.

The truth is, God has bestowed in us the ability

to do some things, to make a difference, to speak

into existence certain things and what's necessary

to destroy. To do certain things. Our righteous

acts, which were as filthy rags, have now become

Something that glorifies the God of heaven. And

you can choose to do the right thing where previously

you might have chosen to do the wrong thing.

Or nothing. Sometimes it's even worse. But our

allegiances are to the God of heaven. And because

of that, we are a people who might be described

as having a little power. We are a people who

might be described as having followed God's word.

You'll notice that the preaching that comes out

of this pulpit every Sunday is always based on

the Bible. It is always just what the Word of

God says. Now, someone might stand before churches,

perhaps the world over, and they might make sermons

like, here's point one, two, three, and it might

teach you how to be a better person. It might

teach you how to make better decisions, how to

be better scheduling, how to do politics better,

or medical better, or nutrition better, or whatever.

And throughout that 30 to 40 minute time, you

might never hear a script like that. but it might

make you a better person it might make you more

able to function in the world, but not draw you

closer to the Lord. We are a people of the word.

We are a people who preach God's words. When

you go to the Sunday school classes and the kids

are there, you'll notice that their lessons are

always based 100 % wholly upon God's word. And

so, we have to be described as a people who have

followed his word. Also, we follow his word in

that we know how we are going to be saved. We

know how we're going to lead this life and one

day arrive at heaven. It's not going to be accomplished

by the good... the things that you do. Can you

store up treasures for yourself in heaven? Sure

you can, that's what Jesus says is possible,

but it's not going to get you there. If there

was some way that you could store up treasures

for yourself in heaven without knowing the Lord

Jesus Christ, you'd be storing up treasures for

somebody else, because you can't get there except

through Jesus. And it is by Jesus, who is the

living word of God, who spoke the truth, his

gospel, the truth of Jesus. There it is the power

for all men to be saved, first the Jews and the

Gentiles. Thank you for that latter part, right?

We are Gentiles. We have followed the Word of

God, and have not denied His name. I hope you

can sit here today and say, I am a person who

has not denied the name of Jesus. Now, caution

here, because we can deny the name of Jesus a

little bit by our silence. We can deny the name

of Jesus when we're talking about things that

Jesus would not have us talking about, even though

we don't mention Jesus at all. We say we want

to do that, we want to do this, I think this

is about you, so and so said that about me, the

gossip, the slander, etc. Be careful, our speech,

our actions, deny the Lord, and that makes Him

ashamed of us. And Jesus said, if you deny Him

before men, I'll be denied, I'll be not denying

you before my Father who is in heaven. That's

what Jesus said. So we ought not, and I think

we are not, a people who have denied Jesus. If

you're here today and you have denied Jesus,

let me encourage you right now to accept Jesus

Christ as your Lord and Savior in earnest. And

do not go out amongst your friends. Do not go

out amongst your co -workers. Do not go out in

the streets. Don't go home. Don't go anywhere

without wearing Jesus like the supreme armor

that He is. Without Jesus in your without Jesus

in your actions, without Jesus in your choices.

Because we are a people who have not denied the

Word. And so this could have been written to

us, as it was written to the Church of Philadelphia,

as a people with a door before them, open, which

no one could shut, a people with a little power,

a people who followed His Word, and a people

who would not deny His name. Down in verse 12

then, he says, God, and the name of the city

of my God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down

out of heaven from my God, and my new name, the

one who has an ear, letting hear what the Spirit

says to the churches." Jesus understands, having

come and lived as a man, he understands that

day in and day out there are difficulties, day

in and day out there are temptations, day in

and day out there are pains. We have illnesses,

we have lack, we have struggles, people say things

to us that hurt, we make mistakes, people make

mistakes all around us, and sometimes mistake

is a very gentle word to say that we are butt

-headed and the people around us are butt -headed.

Jesus is very familiar with the experience of

living this life in the form of a man Because

of that he says we must overcome We've been given

the task to continue despite all those difficulties

and the truth is you could mean you could fill

books volumes of books people face before, during,

and after these lifetimes. And our task then

becomes to overcome. To stay the course, to be

a people of the word who have a little power,

notice that we have set before us a door that

is open that no one will shut. If you have a

door that is open that no one will shut, what

is left to be done? If the door is already open

and no one can shut it, what is left to be done?

And will there be people and things that can't

shut the door? If somebody wants you to not go

through this door... They can't shut it and lock

it to keep it from going through. All they can

do is bodily stand in the way. Block the door.

Gang up, attack you, try to sap your strength,

whatever to keep you from going through the door.

The door is open and it cannot be shut. And the

things of this world are going to try to keep

us from going through the door. The door, of

course, is Jesus, the way to heaven. And we're

going to go through the door and nothing is going

to stop us. And in that pursuit, Jesus gave us

this remembrance that we would take of the Lord's

Supper and never forget that the great payment

has been paid. That the door would be open and

that no one would die. Don't only take the Lord's

Supper to remember that the door is open and

no one can shut it, right? Because Jesus, he

suffered to open the door. He suffered to become

the way. He suffered to pay the price for sin.

And in paying the price for sins, there was great

suffering. And the truth is, if you will look

at it this way, you will understand it this way,

the church that lives today suffers also the

same as Jesus did. So that others may come. So

that others may know that the door is open. So

that others may experience salvation. And you

can't save anybody, and I can't save anybody.

We know who can, and the price is already paid.

So if you're here today and you've not accepted

Jesus Christ as Lord, that means he tells you

what to do when you do it, and a Savior that

means he paid the price for your sin, then do

that right now while I'm talking. There's no

special prayer. You can, if you think of one.

I could give you one, but it isn't a prayer.

It's just a rapid mission. Jesus has right people.

And having done so, then, we've practiced the

Lord's Supper to remember that our task is given

to overcome. Not to open the door. You can't.

It's done. It's open and staying open. That's

done. But to overcome anything, everything, all

things. Sometimes it feels like all things at

once, right? And we take the Lord's Supper to

never forget that the door is open and the real

sacrifice has already been done. You and I were

not holy. We were not right. We had sin. All

that sin falls short of the word of God. But

Jesus' righteousness is enough to get the job

done. And it will never fail. You will just embrace

it and overcome. To that end, today, we will

take the Lord sufferer to remember to sacrifice

it and be overcome. That is everything. I ask

that you get on board. Sherry and Holly, would

you help Sherry prepare the table? As we think

of your Lord's Supper today, the first thing

that we will take of is the unleavened bread,

which will represent the broken body of Jesus.

Sometimes our bodies are broken. Sometimes we're

still walking around when they're broken, right?

So I would ask you today to remember those that

you know of, some of whom are in this room. These

bodies are not what they would like them to be.

And then healing. And he's eight. I'm going to

ask you to remember them. Keep him there, and

when you ask him, bless him hungry. Lord, thank

you for this day. Thank you for, you know, the

gathering here and your worship together through

your spirit of moving and unto you. for us when

we meet this place today. Craig, you blessed

us with some bread we're about to take. Help

us to remember its purpose. Remember the sacrifice

that your son made for us. A body that grew up

around you. You'll distribute the bread. Yet,

we've received a piece of unleavened bread. We'll

all have one in a second. This bread will represent

for us until Jesus comes again. This broken body

was given for us. It is unleavened, not because

leaven represents sin, but because it is likely

that the bread that they used that first night.

On that night, Jesus was arrested and said, this

is my body, which is broken for you to take and

remember it so you can eat it. Even Tony, would

you ask the blessing upon the Jews? Father, the

Lord, thank you for this. Lord, it's kind of

where we can remember him now, because we really

took on him to see how unworthy we are to do

this. But Lord, you made it worthy. You made

us worthy. Sacrifice all you gave. This juice

represents the blood of Jesus that was spilled

for us consider have you ever been cut paper

cut in your knees right Jesus had not one cut

but hundreds or maybe thousands night before

you the rest of Jesus praying prayed so hard

he knew what he was going to face great so hard

But as he sweated, he started to sweat blood,

which is an actual thing that happens when they're

under great duress. The truth is, when I hear

that story, I realize I've never been under great

duress. Never like that. And so not only did

he bleed the night before when he was praying,

but then on the day of, they whipped him. And

he had not a hundred, but thousands, probably,

of cuts. And then they crucified him. They nailed

him to the cross. And so you can imagine, have

you ever got a sliver? He just didn't get a sliver.

He got a great big spike. His pain was so terrible

that in the English language, they created a

word for it. The word is cruciating. your toe

or when you're going through difficulty you think

well that's excruciating it really isn't the

word excruciating means pain of the cross so

the next time you're hurting remember that somebody

hurt for you in a way that we cannot hurt and

that payment was paid and we will see you you

will take care of on that night Jesus took up

the juice and this is my blood poured out for

you until I come again do this and remember this

occasion the juice is sweet so is the blood of

Jesus because we need his help day in and day

out we need his help to overcome the door is

open and we can go through we will go through

in time and we can send people through it with

the help of Jesus. We'll pray briefly and then

we're going to worship the God who arranged this

for us. Father in heaven, in your power, by your

word, knowing that the door is open, we choose

to overcome. It is not that we choose things

to overcome. We're not going to select from the

bad things of this world, pick them off one by

one and overcome them. We're not going to select

certain difficulties for ourselves and pick them

against ourselves who have victories and say,

hey, look at me, I overcame. No, we choose to

overcome. We choose to overcome. in your strength,

in your power, by your might, by your governance,

because you are you, and we are yours. We choose

to overcome. We choose to overcome not because

we would want to, not because our desires are

that we can be found strong, having had victories,

that we can get praise, that we get trophies,

or check marks, or A pluses. We choose to overcome

because you have said that that is the task we

are given. We submit our lives to you, and we

choose to overcome by your power, by your word,

by your governance. You be Lord and lead us through,

and we trust you with it. And all God's people

said, Amen. Thank you very much. Let us worship

the Lord. With songs of deliverance Whenever

I am afraid I will trust in you I will trust

in you Let the weak say I'm sorry Let's go! We

have been working, hold on, we have been working

through the book of Judges have seen God do amazing

things. Now this this book was written a long

time ago and the amazing things that God did

happened a long time ago and we also see a cycle

of sin that's already occurring. That is to say

God does amazing things and then God's people,

once God does the amazing things, God's people

sort of drift into idolatry. Now Gideon plays

a key role in that he has really won a of the

last really good, honorable judges. After this,

we see good people, don't get me wrong, but there's

always sort of a mix. They're always sort of

like, ah, I'm kinda for God, ah, I'm kinda not.

But Gideon, in the early part, yes he questioned

God, but once he was sure that it was God that

was calling him to do amazing things, everything

they did, even up to the point at which we read

a few weeks back, a couple weeks back, he said,

no, the Lord will rule over us. But then we saw...

His family head into decline in worshiping the

Ephod last week, and we talked briefly about

how we ourselves sometimes construct traps like

that. How he had, even though he had just said,

I'm gonna serve God only, God alone is gonna

be Lord, he had gone on to construct a sort of

a trap for him and his family. Because there

is this spiral or this sort of down into sin

that keeps happening after God does amazing things,

we are led to wonder. is part of the human state

of existence, part of who we are, a tendency

to spiral down into sin whenever God is not doing

something amazing. And I'm gonna show you today,

and it'll go by fairly quickly, and I sometimes

say that and it doesn't go by fairly quickly,

but I actually did practice a little bit so I'm

pretty sure it's gonna go by fairly quickly,

the number one thing, the number one problem

why people, after God does amazing things, why

people spiral down into sin. And you can already

sort of see it maybe in the title. But give me

a little hoot, a holler, amen, as we go to Judges

Judges 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8 for the last time. Amen! Alright, praise

the Lord. Thank you for those of you who are

in that with me. We will today read the remainder

of Judges chapter 8. So beginning next week,

Judges 8 · chapter mention

we will be into chapter 9. So this is Judges

Judges 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8 beginning in verse 28. Now we read

28 last week as an understanding as to why they

might have persisted with the trap of the ephod.

Because they saw that things were still pretty

good, right? They still had peace. And so while

they were, quote unquote, worshipping the Ifad,

bowing down to it, threatening each other with

it, things like that, while they were doing all

of that... they still had peace. And so this

is what happens. When people make this trap for

themselves, they get stuck away from doing what

God would want them to do, stuck away from having

right relationship with God, even though they

maybe were saved, even it happens. And then they

go to heaven when they die and realize, oh, I

wasted all this time stuck in the trap. And the

reason was because things seem to be going okay.

So I submit to you, don't forget, as we read

this first verse, that just because things may

seem to be going okay, does not mean that you're

not A, trapped or B, suffering from the same

thing that we're about to look at. So B, discerning.

Pay attention. Examine your life. Listen to God

and what he has to say. Whether I get it right

or wrong or not, listen to the Lord, okay? Judges

Judges 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8 beginning in verse 28 says, So Midian

was subdued before the sons of Israel and they

did not lift up their heads anymore and the land

was undisturbed for 40 years in the days of Gideon.

So here we have it. Things are going pretty much

okay. Now we already know they're worshiping

and messing around with the ephod and his whole

family is in a trap. This is what it says, verse

29. Then Jerubbal, Jerubbal. The son of Joe Ash

went and lived in his own house. So he left Joe

Ash's house. He moved out of his dad's compound.

So it was very, very common for families to have

essentially a compound, right? So grown sons

did not grow up and just go build a house somewhere.

First of all, building a house was a huge project,

extremely expensive, great deal of labor, and

even if you got all your brothers and all your

uncles and everybody to do that, right, it could

take a really long time and expose you to a lot

of hardship. And so a lot of times they might

build a, if they're gonna build a house, they

build it right next to dad's house or on the

complex, right? Or they just put on a wing, you

know, that kind of thing. It's just kind of like,

or put up more tents if they were living in tents,

that kind of thing. So Jerbal, the son of Joash,

went and lived in his own house. So now he's

sort of the head of his part of the family. He's

stepped out from underneath his dad. Now, before

I go any further, I want you to remember that

he was part of his dad's family when his whole

story began. And God gave him a job to do, which

was to attack, to stand up against idols in the

community, in their community. And he did that.

And then when the people came and challenged

him and said, bring him out, we're gonna kill

him, because he burnt the idols, right? He destroyed

our objects of worship. It was Joe Ash that said,

now hold up a second, if he did that, can Vaal

not defend himself? Can your false idol not stand

up for himself? Won't your false idol take care

of him then? He said no, but if he did this for

God, then you need to fear the Lord, right? And

they left Jeroboam Gideon alone. And that started

his journey. So Joash provided key protection

for him at a key moment in time in his life when

he was stepping out for God. And I submit to

you, if you're a parent in the room, or an older

sibling, or a mentor, or you care about a younger

person, you realize that is a big part of your

role. To provide key protection for them as they

step out. They cannot serve God the way serve

God. No two people can ever do it exactly alike,

right? They must be who God is making them to

be and serve God kind of in their way, the way

that God would have them, right? Now there's

certain things like should you worship, should

you give, should you serve, should you practice

spiritual gifts and spiritual disciplines? Those

things are commanded by Scripture. I'm not talking

about that. I'm talking about personality. Every

personality, every story written into the life

of every person is a little different and we

as adults have a responsibility to protect the

upcoming generation. But here, Jerobal has stepped

out. Now, I wonder sometimes whether he stepped

out because of the Ephod, right? Because he and

his offspring are getting into worship in the

Ephod. Maybe Joash wasn't really into that. We

don't really know. But the bottom line is he's

now running his own household. Verse 30 says,

Gideon had, listen to this, 70 sons. 70 sons

who were his direct descendants for he had many

wives. Another example of an amazing blessing

of God. coming out of some kind of bad decisions,

really, God did not even then ordain that man

would have more than one wife. That's never been

true in Scripture. And so all the times that

you've seen men do that, and they usually do

it coming out of great prominence. Having more

than one wife is expensive. Having enough wives

to have 70 sons and to raise 70 sons is hugely

expensive. But remember, he got really wealthy

after they gave him all that stuff, right? And

so he's a very wealthy man and now has 70 direct

descendants. And so those 70 direct descendants,

in a sense, are for him to lead them toward God

and he's not they're leading them toward the

ephod so things are not good in that way 31 says

and his concubine who was in Shechem also born

bore him a son and he named him Abimelech. Now

this character Abimelech will become hugely important

starting next week as we look at the next text

in chapter 9. He's going to be like the main

guy for a second, okay? So we're not going to

drill down heavily on him because we'll do that

next week. So Abimelech is born, verse 32, and

it says, and Gideon the son of Joash died at

a good old age and was buried in the tomb of

his father Joash in Ofra of the Abiezrites, okay?

So we know that he wasn't ostracized, he wasn't

kicked out of the house, so he wouldn't have

been allowed to be buried. in his father's tomb.

So he still had a good relationship with his

dad and he died at a good old age. That sounds

pretty good, right? He lived a long time and

they had 40 years of peace under his judgeship,

if you will. Now verse 33. Then it came about

as soon as Gideon was dead. Like that. Gideon's

out. Here it comes. It's like the light switch

is on. God's man no longer leading. Here we go.

That the sons of Israel again committed infidelity

with the Baals. That is to say They devoted themselves

to false gods that they had previously had. The

term Baal literally means Lord. And so what they

had was false lords, other gods. And they began

to worship them. They began to give to them.

They began to participate with them. They had

all kinds of rituals and things that they would

do. And the Baals had all different kinds of

names. And so we have Israel breaking down in

all these little regions and maybe even the same

town going seven different ways, worshiping these

false gods. And when did it start? immediately

on the deck. Gideon. It says that the sons of

Israel again committed infidelity with the Baals

and made Baal -Bareth their God. So Baal -Bareth

became the kind of primary one. Now I'm not saying

that they might have even thought the Baal -Bareth

was Yahweh. They might have confused that. Or

they had them alongside. Maybe they still worshiped

Yahweh. But the bottom line is they were worshiping

Baal -Bareth, which was wrong. Now 34. So the

sons of Israel, and this is key, did not remember

the Lord their God, who had saved them from the

hands of all their enemies on every side. So

we'll break that down more in a second. The bottom

line is as they're getting into worshiping this

false god, you could say this, what has this

false god ever done for them? And the answer

would be, nothing. He's never done anything.

Somebody might say he's done, they might have

stories that are going on, people are telling

tales, right? But he's never done anything because

he's not real, or at best, he's a demon, right?

That's the best possibility. So they're not worshiping

a non -living creature, they at least could be

worshiping a demon, right? But the bottom line

is, Baal Barath never did a good thing for them

ever, but God, the God of the universe, not only

created everything, set everything up, brought

them to the promised land, part of the Red Sea,

part of the Jordan, rain rocks down on their

enemies in the days of Joshua so they could win

battles and get them over with, it was taking

days to defeat tens of thousands, hundreds of

thousands of enemies and kick them out of the

promised land so they could claim it. God did

all of that, stood up in all of the earlier judges

and now in Gideon and they are essentially failing

to remember it all. And I'll break down with

that phrase right there, failing to remember

means in a second. Verse 35 then, last verse

of the chapter says, that he had done for Israel.

So, they basically begin, they're moving toward

dismissing the significance of Gideon's household,

even though he was blessed of God, led of God,

served God, saved them by God's power, told them

that only God would reign over them, all of that,

he did all that for them. Now, all of a sudden,

they're essentially dismissing him. Now, it's

hard to dismiss a man who has 70 sons. So, his

70 sons were surely applying some of their influence.

We'll see that in the next chapter, okay? So,

that's our text for today. So let's first talk

about unforgotten type things. Have you ever

gone to leave the house and you don't know exactly

where your keys are? Where did I put my keys?

Right? So we deal with those kinds of things

by always putting our keys in a certain coat

pocket, always putting them on the hook or on

a tray or somewhere we know where they're at.

And those who do not or cannot discipline themselves

to always put it somewhere where they know they're

at may go a substantial length of time and not

not know where their keys are. And then suddenly,

they don't know where their keys are, and they

wind up searching them at a time that's inconvenient,

and so on. Have you ever left the house and didn't

take your lunch? Or your homework? Those are

forgotten things. They're things that you were

planning on doing, you had them in mind, and

then, you know, there was just too many variables

to manage right then at that second, you know?

Or you close up, I used to do this at pizza night,

count the deposit, put it in the bag, and then

forget to put the deposit slip in, and now I've

closed up the bag, right? And I'm thinking to

myself, can I disturb the bag in the least smallest

amount to possibly get that deposit? slip in

there and how many times I do a deposit several

times a week for years and yet occasionally even

though I had the process down I knew it like

the back of my hand occasionally I would forget

to put the deposit slip in those are forgotten

things the things that get kind of lost in the

wash right it's going on and you suddenly go,

oh wait, I was gonna do that. I've had that happen

where I had a very important thing that I was

planning on doing today and it was the most important

thing. It was scheduled at two o 'clock and I

was gonna do it and I brought everything with

me that I needed for it. I had all the plans

set at two o 'clock and then all of a sudden

it's two o 'clock and I'm not where I'm supposed

to be. I'm 10 minutes away. I'm going like, oh

crud, it's two o 'clock. I'm supposed to be there

right now. I was excited about this. This was

the best thing that was gonna happen to me today.

I was all prepared for it. Those are forgotten

things. We know what forgotten things are. Let

me tell you that when it says that they did not

remember God and what God had done, that is not

what it's talking about. So when you get real

busy and you forget God in your calculations,

that's not what it's talking about. There is

no excuse for that because what it's actually

talking about is not bringing it to mind, is

intentionally letting it go. Forgetting is not...

misplacing a thought in this context, it's displacing

a priority. If you went to the doctor next week

and you were prescribed a medicine and they told

you that if you ever miss the medicine for three

days in a row, you will die. You're now committed

to that medicine for the rest of your life. If

you ever miss it for three days in a row, you

will die. You might miss it for two, but come

the third day, it's going to become a pretty

high priority. And remembering God is like that,

and that's what it was for them. It was God who

had done all of the incredible things that God

had done, no one else. Gideon did not defeat

the army of tens of thousands of Midianites with

300 men by some great tactic or in his own might.

God was sure to whittle down the size of the

army to a size that there was no possible way

that anybody could question that it was anybody

but God. And so now this is a people that had

begun to willfully bring to mind not the blessings,

not the things that God has done. They are displacing

a priority, not misplacing a thought. The results

of forgetting are if you forget something, you

can't do whatever it was. If you're supposed

to be somewhere two o 'clock and you forget to

be there, well, you can't do whatever that was.

You're just not there. It doesn't happen. If

you leave your car keys on the back of a shelf

somewhere and you search the house and you can't

find them, you're going to either have to hotwire

your car or find another way. Because you have

lost your keys. They're not just forgotten. They're

lost. You forgot that you put them there. They

didn't get there by themselves. They didn't grow

legs and sneak to the back of the shelf on their

own. You put them there. You forgot that you

put them there. That is misplacing a thought.

But no one here goes, oh, I'm going to go home

and intentionally lose my car keys. That is displacing

a priority. If I lose my car keys tonight, I

won't have to go to work tomorrow. That isn't

even true, by the way. But sometimes we lie to

ourselves and say things like that. We might

even tell somebody, well, I'm sorry I'm late,

I lost my car keys when that isn't even true.

Because we displaced the priority of being there,

doing what we're supposed to be doing, and on

time. This is not about misplacing a thought.

The Israelites didn't do that. What they did

was they displaced a priority. When you forget,

you misplace a thought. When you intentionally

do not recall something to mind, you displace

a priority. When you forget God, you're making

an active choice not to go back for God because

you don't recognize that you need God. I submit

to you that those who do not recognize that they

need God are standing under the wrath of God.

Ephesians 2 says, we were by nature objects of

wrath, and we are meant to be no longer. But

if you can be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ,

if you can be a supposed Christian and forget

that you need God, you have a problem. And that

problem is going to snowball out of control until

either A, you find out you're not actually Christian

and roll tumbling into hell for eternity, or

until you repent and turn back to the Lord and

put your priority where it belongs. Let me say

this plainly. Do not forget what God has done.

When it all comes flooding back in, people who

have left God out will realize that they have

nothing that matters for eternity. The worst

of it is that people are sometimes swept up.

Whole families and communities are sometimes

swept up. And they manage to live that way and

can spend their whole lives and not realize who

they have been leaving out until it is too late.

And they will cry out, Lord, Lord, but we healed

in your name. We prophesied. And he will say,

get away from me, I never knew you. I didn't

make that up. Those are the words of Jesus in

Matthew 7. And we come already then to our conclusion.

It's a good one. It's a doozy. It is two -fold.

First of all, it is how. How do you not forget?

How do you not displace the priority of remembering

the blessings of God, the things that God has

done? It begins like this. Practice active remembrance.

Practice active remembrance. That is to say,

do things that will intentionally call to mind

the blessings that God has already made obvious.

This is part of that. We're reading about the

blessings here. There's a big old book about

it. Read your Bible and take it, study it, memorize

it, meditate on it. You can get those kinds of

blessings. But the truth is, if you're here today

as a saved Christian, if you've experienced God

personally, if you've had the Holy Spirit come

and take up residence when He did that, You experienced

a blessing. A blessing that you are not worthy

of. It's not. a just blessing, not until you

realize that Jesus paid for it with his very

own life. He took the penalty. The penalty's

been taken. It's just in that sense. But as far

as what I did, it wasn't just that I should receive

salvation. It was grace. Did I desperately need

it? Absolutely. But it was grace. It was giving

to me that which I did not deserve. And so if

you experienced salvation, then you must practice

active remembrance of your salvation. If you

have experienced a financial blessing, money

showed up. You practice active remembrance of

the money that showed up. If you experienced

a blessing, blessing of healing or sometimes

the blessings that we like to overlook, which

is like perseverance, overcoming, being attacked,

healing from a great psychological or emotional

hurt, still going after the going could have

been drained completely out of you. Those kinds

of blessings. Practice active remembrance for

every kind of blessing. So the Bible says that

we're to use an Ebenezer. You know what an Ebenezer

is? An Ebenezer is a tangible reminder of what

God has done. The term comes from 1 Samuel 7

-12 and there, in 1 Samuel 7 -12, How do you

set up an Ebenezer for the thing that God has

done in your life? Well, the command is so important

that you not forget what God has done, that the

more important it is for you to remember, the

more you must pitch yourself to do it. Correct?

So in other words, What will you stop at to make

sure that the thing that God did is not forgotten?

What will you stop at to make sure that it is

called to mind whenever you might be tempted

to do something you shouldn't do, whenever you

might fall away, whenever you might relax in

your diligence at serving and pursuing the Lord,

whenever you might stop practicing spiritual

gifts, whenever you might stop practicing spiritual

disciplines, whenever you might stop being faithful

to what God has called you to, there needs to

be something there. So when I need to get up

at a certain time these days, it's been a couple

years now, I just tell myself when I'm laying

down to go to bed, I gotta get up at seven, gotta

get up at seven, gotta get up at seven. And I

usually wake up at about five to five, not an

alarm. But when I have an 8 a .m. appointment

and I can't miss it, I set an alarm. Even though

I don't really need an alarm to get up. Because

I don't know, I might get sick in the middle

of the night or I might be extra tired or I might

get sore in the middle of the night or something.

So I might not make aid if I don't set an alarm.

So I set an alarm. It's a very simple thing to

do really. So I'm saying to you that you could

set an alarm. You could set an alarm on your

phone for a certain time every day where you

have a spare time and at that moment in time

be reminded to meditate, to think deeply, ask

yourself questions about one certain blessing

of God or a sect or a list. You could get a journal,

set a clock. 8 p .m. every night. I'm usually

home by that. Every night it goes off and I whip

open my journal and I read the blessings of God

that I have written there. And every time a new

one occurs, I write it there. It's not even that

hard. It's not that difficult. When you're gonna

have a test, you study. So, okay, I wanna do

a good job on the test. It's a topic I really

know. I'm pretty good. I'm getting a great grade

in the class, but I really need a good grade

on this test. So what do I do? I study. So you

could study. You could make a point of studying

the blessings. But you shouldn't just study the

blessings. These are the blessings that we have

received. But you shouldn't just study these

blessings, the blessings in your life, your salvation,

your experience, your parents if they were a

blessing, your money if it was a blessing, your

health if it was a blessing, your difficulty

when it was a blessing, etc. etc. etc. So you

go through the blessings and study them. If you

don't want to forget them, you study them. Or...

Tell a friend and ask your friend to always remind

you every time it looks like, by the way, this

is one of the principles of AA that people use,

right? You have a sponsor. You tell your sponsor,

whenever I look like I'm drifting, tell me these

things. Talk to me about this. This is what will

help me. And you use it when they need it and

they use it when you need it. And you work together

to be brought to remembrance, right? You get

a chip 30 days sober. The chip is an Ebenezer.

Now, people don't use it that way a lot of times,

right? It's just like a trinket. Maybe it's proof

that you're doing well and people listen to you

more because, oh, he's sober for 30 days, things

like that. But it's an Ebenezer meant to not

forget. In faith force, they put stickers for

verses on the wall. It's an Ebenezer, right?

To remember that they memorized the verses. It's

a great thing to be allowed to come to church.

A great thing to be allowed to study the Bible.

It's a great thing to memorize verses. And it's

a great thing to not forget that you have done

so. The list goes on. The bottom line is you

can set up an Ebenezer. You can set up a step.

There was, I read a story about a man. He was

in his early 20s and was struggling for money.

Family, money was really tight. They were just

getting by. The hot water tank went out, blew

all over the floor. Some of us have been there,

right? Water and silt everywhere. They cleaned

it all up. They didn't pay to clean it up. They

cleaned it all up. They have no hot water. The

water tank's junk. They're not gonna have any

hot water. You really can't fix it at that point.

The lining is bad. The bottom's rusted. It's

junk. Right? And he and his wife were sitting

late at the table. The kids are in bed begging

God. They're begging God, saying, Lord, we don't

know what to do. What are we going to do? You

know, we can't live anywhere else. We've got

no hot water. $450 shows up miraculously. And

that's awesome that you can pray and ask God

for help and have something like that happen.

And so they got a new hot water tank. And then

as soon as the hot water tank was really was

before, as soon as the money was there, he went

and searched through the house and found a permanent

marker, a permanent marker. And he wrote on the

door jam of the kitchen, the date he wrote. And

he wrote, God sent $450 for a hot water heater

when we had no idea where it was going to come

from. And he wrote it there with a permanent

marker. Fast forward 15 years. The kids are in

their teenage years, finding their own way, hopefully

to God, through God, by God, and professing Christians.

All of a sudden, he's in a situation at work

where he's probably going to lose his job. And

he comes home and he's really stressed. It's

really been bad. It looks like the company is

going to close. He's probably not going to have

a job. And he's worked there for 20 years. What's

he going to do? And he walks in and his wife

snaps at him about he forgot. take the garbage

out and everything that is needed for an earthquake

and a tornado in that house right there it is

all right there sitting at the kitchen table

he looks up and there it is written on the wall

it says when the hot water tank goes out God

is faithful to appear and he realizes that if

they close the company and the job goes away

they don't matter all that much because there's

another job there's another way. And God will

demonstrate what that way is. And the one thing

that he could do, the one thing that he could

do to possibly blow that up, to make it unlikely

that God will intervene and do the right thing

is to not bring to mind what God has done before.

He looks up and there it is written in permanent.

It's pretty faded, 15 years, but it's there written

in permanent marker on the wall. And he says,

no, we're going to trust God. And he gets up

and he goes in the kitchen and gives his wife

a hug and a kiss. And he apologizes, forget and

take the garbage out because he did forget to

take the garbage out. takes it out with joy in

his heart. What did that? Just like we talked

about at the Lord's Supper, the door is open.

You've already seen and received blessings. Take

steps. Go the extra mile. Do everything you have

to to be sure that you never fail. I'm not talking

about forget. I'm talking about failing. You

never fail to bring to mind the blessings that

God has delivered. The context the Israelites

had just repented and seen God miraculously defeat

the Philistines. Samuel knew that human memory

is short and hearts are prone to want... He didn't

just say thank you. He hauled a massive rock

to the middle of the field so that I imagine

he had a whole bunch of guys and it took him

days, right? So that every time someone walked

by that rock They were forced to remember God's

intervention. This is where I have been shamed

over the years, because I thought to myself,

I really should be a better journaler, right?

I really should keep records. God has done amazing

things in life. Our church, our family, my family,

my kids, many of your families, amazing miracles.

And I can't go, you remember when God did that?

You remember when God did that? Oh, I can do

that, right? That's very recent. But I can, yeah,

remember when God did that? Well, we're working

on it, right? But I can't get them all. I can't

do them all because I didn't journal them all.

But here's what I can do. Here's what's cool.

You don't have to know the date. You don't have

to know the time. You just have to know that

God did the miracle. You just know that God did

send the blessing. Sometimes it doesn't even

seem miraculous, but God sent the blessing. And

to be sure, I would say to you, don't get wrapped

up in anything else that you're doing until you've

created an action plan by which whenever you

realize there is a blessing, you will set up

an Ebenezer and never forget to call to mind

what God has done. Do you want God to do incredible?

things in your life? Well, sure you do. Do you

want great blessings? Well, sure you do. Sometimes

the blessing is the purpose, the power, the provision

to go forward. God is good and he'll send it,

but he meant he means for you to not forget it,

but more than that, he means for you to take

steps to always call it to mind. Also, we're

given the mandate to teach the next generation.

The Israelites forgot. because the faith wasn't

passed down effectively. Are you hearing me?

Is everyone listening? Tommy, are you with me?

I know you are. Ricky, are you with me? The Israelites

wound up in trouble. His seventy sons were worshipping

the Ephod and the false god because their dad

did not make sure that they received the first

-hand knowledge of what God has done. If you

have had God work in your heart to the point

of your salvation, how could you ever not make

every single day? about making sure that your

kids know that God did that miracle. If you have

been given or received the blessing of your house,

your wife, your family, your job, your finances,

your spiritual gifts, your spiritual discipline

of reading the Bible, knowing what it is, this

church, being here, the worship when you sing

and you feel the Holy Spirit moving you and then

the others in the room, if you have received

that, how could you not make your relationship

with your sons, with your daughters always about

being sure that they know? Now, you can't save

them. You can't make them make a decision. You

can't make them behave, let alone make them make

a decision. You can teach them how. You can encourage

them. You can discipline them. Sometimes you

can even trick them. But you darn well better

make sure that you're displaying the truth of

the blessings of God so that they can see it.

Your life, your house, your job, everywhere you

go should be like a museum where people cannot...

come in without seeing the trappings of the Lord

God. And that's not just for them. It's also

for you. Because as you are constantly teaching

them the blessings that God has done, you will

be constantly, wait for it, calling to mind the

blessing that God has done. And it will become

normal for you to think about what God has done,

rather than to think about... the lust of the

flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of

life, which are still part of who we are until

we go to be with Him. I know you want more. Literally,

everyone does. And we want more in response,

hopefully, to what the Lord has sent. We want

more under God. God's way. We're not trying to

steal it. We're not trying to lie to get it.

We're not trying to be tricky or manipulative

or hiding things. And if you are, repent now

because you're crossing God and it ain't going

to be pretty in the long run. So we do it God's

way. But the truth is, we want more. The question

is, are you going to be more a person who wants

more, or more a person who recognizes the blessings

that they have received from God? And if you

are constantly, consistently concerned about

teaching the next generation what God has done

for yourself, you're more likely to stand firm.

For them... they're more likely to be saved.

You need to understand, we need to understand

that it's not our kids or the teenagers that

are sitting in the pew here, or I guess we have

chairs, in the chairs here today, right, that

are at stake. It's our grandchildren and our

great grandchildren and our great great grandchildren

who we may never see. You understand? If you

don't pass the gospel clearly, if you don't pass

the miracles and blessings of God clearly down

to the next generation, who will pass it to your

great great grandchildren? And there's one thing

that I've learned about grandchildren is it's

super easy to love them even when they're stupid.

hurtful, whatever, it's super easy to go, man,

they're awesome. And you can really realistically

feel the same way about your great -great grandchildren

and you know they need to hear about God. You

may or may not feel that way about your neighbor

all the time or the people you work with or bump

into on the street, but you should be able to

feel that way about your great -great grandchildren

and they are at stake. It's required that we

are active in passing down effectively. We must

speak of God's work even when life is easy, going

okay. We have to say, well, we don't really seem

to need a miracle from God today. But let me

tell you about all the ones we've already received.

Let me tell you about all the blessings that

happened when I was a kid, when I was a teenager,

when I was a young adult, when I was in my 40s

and your brother or sister were teenagers, when

I worked at my old job. Let me tell you about

what God has done. And when you teach it, you

will embrace it. and you will fail to displace,

which is what you don't want to do. The Bible

says this, and these words that I command you

today shall be on your heart. You shall teach

them diligently to your children, shall talk

of them when you sit in your house, and when

you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and

when you rise. The key here is that faith is

not a Sunday -only subject. Some people struggle

to be in worship on Sunday. That's a fact. I

submit to you that those who struggle to be in

worship on Sunday either A, have major barriers

that God has not provided a way yet for them

to overcome, or B, have their priorities. out

of whack. Because the truth is, there are ways.

You get everywhere else you gotta be. You get

to your doctor's appointments. You get to the

grocery store. There are ways, right? And so

the question is, is your faith a 24 -7 experience?

Or is it super good while we're all singing and

listening to our awesome praise band play and

maybe kind of lame on Thursday nights at 7? This

faith is meant to be a lifestyle integrated into

the mundane rhythms of living. You should always

pray before you eat! Because the next meal may

not be coming unless you did that. In fact, you

should probably be praying over every bite. There's

an Ebenezer for you. Decide right now, I won't

take another bite of food ever in my life without

remembering something good that God has done

for me. And every time you take a bite. Thank

God is so good. God saved my soul. God told me

about Jesus. God parted the Red Sea. God parted

the Jordan. You don't need food as much as you

need God. You don't. Because someday all the

heavenly food will be available without limit.

Taste them better than anything you ever tasted.

Best southern barbecue is one one thousandth

as good as what you'll get in heaven. Maybe you

should remember God in the mundane rhythms. Eating

and walking and sleep. That's what we are called

to. We will not hide them from their children,

but tell to the coming generation the glorious

deeds of the Lord and His might. sit down at

home or wherever you are, if you're on the job

and you can get somebody to listen to you or

at school, get somebody to listen to you, sit

down wherever you are and recount the glorious

deeds of the Lord to anyone who will listen,

moms and dads especially, but anyone who will

listen. Psalm 78 says, and the wonders that He

has done so that the next generation might know

them, the children yet unborn, and arise and

tell them to their children. You see? We are

creating a people, we are a people creating a

people who will deliver the message. And the

problem is, as a people who are creating a people

who will deliver the message, I'm afraid we're

kind of failing to deliver the message. Because

we have displaced the priority. Not because we've

forgotten, because I don't think you forgot.

I think you just got other priorities. And that's

what they did. And it's how they forgot the blessings

of the Lord. And it's how they wound up worshipping

a false god. The highlights, the four generation

vision. That's the whole point. We're not just

teaching our kids. How many times do you have

to tell a kid a story that's, say, two paragraphs

long in order for them to be able to tell it

back and not get it wrong? We went to the store.

We bought these five items. We got there around

noon. We got done by 12, 20. We took your mother's

car, or we took your friend's car, whatever.

It's gray. We went to Myers. Seven to 10 facts.

Wait until the next day, ask them to tell the

story back to you. I went to the store in mom's

car and bought a few things. No, I want you to

know more than that. once you give me the details.

How many times do you have to tell a story in

order for them to get the details right? Tell

the stories. Tell them over and over again. One

of the things we noticed when we started planting

this church, the kids come to Sunday School,

you know what they knew? They didn't know Moses.

They didn't know Noah. They don't know the people

of the Bible. Many of them didn't know the name

of Adam and Eve. And so they do a lot of that

and say, well, you'll tell the story of Adam

and Eve. Like every year in Sunday School, yeah.

If we could tell it every week, we would. But

there are other stories. You need to tell the

stories so people can relay the stories. marathon

race. One runner runs 26 miles and a four by

four race, one runner runs 400 yards, passes

the baton to the next runner 400 yards, passes

the baton to the next runner, that's 400 yards

around the track, right? So this is what I think's

happening, we're racing around the track, we're

coming to the baton handoff, we're gonna tell

everybody we possibly can about the things of

God, and then the handoff's not going well. The

baton's on the ground, I pick it up, but I had

it to start with, so I pick it up, now I've got

the baton, now I'm now in front of the person

I'm supposed to be handing the baton off, so

I'm like, come on, come on, come on, come on,

you gotta go, and they're running up and they

can't quite, Forget it! I'll run the next 400

myself. So now I'm running 800 of the 400 and

then I get to the end of the race and the judge

says that is not how the races run. Your team

is disqualified. This is the place in which we

live. It is our responsibility having received

the blessings of God to not only never forget

to call them to mind, hence the Ebenezer, but

also to tell the story so that others can take

the baton and tell it. You should tell your kids

so they can tell the kids they know. You should

tell your co -workers so they can tell other

people at home and so on. And Paul and Silas

were in the jail, singing in the middle of the

night, and the jailer come rushing in after the

earthquake and it was dark and he was gonna kill

himself. They said, don't kill yourself, we're

all still here. And he said, what must I do to

be saved? And they said back to him, repent and

be baptized and, who knows the next part, repent

and be baptized and you will be saved. And? You

and your whole household. I hate to say it but

it sounds very much like to me the scripture

is saying if you are a follower Lord Jesus Christ

and you will not deliver the truth of the blessings

of God to the next generation to the next generation

of Christians to anyone that you can get to listen

and maybe you're not really following Jesus because

he said to a guy who hadn't yet been saved repent

and be baptized and you will be saved you and

your whole household now you cannot make them

get saved but you can sure deliver the truth

and ask the question I said it was a two -part

conclusion this is the other one it shorts this

there is a reason why there is an underlying

reason why because if you don't recount the blessings

if you don't think about what you could not do

that God did if you don't set up the Ebeneezers

so that they're constantly reminding you about

what God did that you could not do if you don't

tell the next generation so that people start

to tell it back to you people start to model

it If you don't do that, then it's just possible

that you could actually be the God of your life.

If you can intentionally displace the priority

of telling people the stories, setting up the

Ebeneezers, and never forgetting the things that

God did that only God can do, if you can intentionally

displace that priority, then you can yourself

instead say, I did it. I am. The people around

me won't listen to me about Jesus anyway, so

I'm saved because I follow God, I professed,

and I prayed. But when it's not I saved, I professed,

and I prayed, it's God's... saved me by grace

when I did not deserve it, then you will get

out of bed in the morning and say, I'm gonna

set up the Ebenezers. I'm gonna tell everybody

who will listen, I'm gonna remember that God

did for me what I could not do for myself, not

just a $450 hot water heater, but salvation.

I submit to you that the Roman centurion who

watched Jesus suffer the way he suffered on the

cross looked up and said, this man was the son

of God. Now he wasn't saying he was saved, he

was professing Christ, he didn't even know what

he was looking at or what he was experiencing,

but that experience that he went through of knowing,

seeing Jesus die on the cross, a different way

than anyone he had ever seen die on the cross

had told him that Jesus was the son of God. And

if you have encountered my Jesus, if you encountered

the Jesus, if you encountered the God of heaven

in Jesus as Jesus, then you're never gonna get

confused about who's in control of your life.

And the next time you start to do something that

you shouldn't do, you just remember, if you call

to mind, I'm about to do this, I'm pretty sure

God wouldn't want me to do this. It may be sin,

it may not be sin, but I think I'm gonna do it

regardless. Not really worried about what God

wants here right this moment, I'm gonna do it.

And there comes that Ebenezer, something on the

wall, something you read, something you locked

in place. You won't forget. And you say, ah,

but if I do this, and I forget, and I intentionally

choose not to do what God is calling me to do

here in this moment, won't I be at least spitting

on all the things that God already did? Won't

I be at least telling God that the next time

my hot water tank goes out, I don't actually

need the free form? Won't I at least be telling

God the next time my car breaks, I don't actually

need a miraculous intervention? Won't I at least

be telling God that the next time somebody's

bad - me, talking about me, slandering me, hurting

me, whatever, that I don't actually need his

power to be sustained. And then if you just think

for a moment in that second, here's me without

God, here's me with God, you'll always choose,

here's me with God. So I want you to go and set

up your Ebenezers. Things that will remind you

of the blessings of the Lord. I want you to go

and share the truth of what God has done that

you are aware of. We proclaim what we have seen

and heard. Tell everyone that you possibly can

about the blessings of the Lord. And if they

say, well I don't really believe in God and you

say I don't care I mean I want you to but I'm

not upset I don't I don't hate you I'm not against

you believe don't believe whatever in fact here's

the amazing thing Jesus died on the cross so

that you can choose to believe or not In fact,

if he hadn't died at the cross, you wouldn't

have the choice of believing. So he gave you

the choice. He died so you can have the choice.

Now you have the choice. You choose not to. It's

okay. He died so you can have the choice. I'm

cool with that. But I'm going to tell you, nonetheless,

the things that God has done. That's as much

for me as it is for you. So if you really don't

want to hear it, right? So this is the thing.

We should never really have to cut anybody out

of our lives that's a kind of acidic experience.

Bad for us. Because if they don't want to hear

about the things of God... They'll just walk

away from you. They might take a swing at you,

right? They might take a swing at you to get

you to shut up. But the next time somebody comes

after you, tell them about the things of God.

You're being bad. You're being stupid. You're

doing the wrong thing. F this. F that. Take the

Lord's name in vain. I'm going to get them to

stop no matter what it takes. No. Just tell them

about the good things of God. Tell them about

what God has done. In the meantime, set some

Ebeneezers up for yourself so you're always calling

it to mind and tell everyone you possibly can.

And realize that sometimes the things that we

have to endure, we endure only because... He's

there and He makes it possible. And if you've

ever made it past a point in your life, I say

this is the thing, when I was at the altar to

accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, this

was the thing I knew for sure. I could not go

on, not for one minute more without God. I couldn't

do it. And if you have reached the point where

you cannot go on for one minute more without

God, then you don't fail to bring Him to mind.

Or otherwise... You will, family will, everybody

in your circle, everybody in your course that

you could possibly affect will fail to bring

God to mind. Or they'll get saved another way

and they'll start bringing Him to mind to you.

You might have somebody like that in your life

that brings Him to mind and you should. Ariana

does it and I love it. Some of my kids do it

and I love it. Some of you do it and I love it.

But we all ought to do it. It's this time I ask

the praise team to come forward and lead us in

our final hymn. If you're here today and you

realize that you have failed to bring to mind

the great blessings of the Lord. Whether you

did it because you wanted to escape God's position

in your life. Or you did it for some other reason.

Laziness. Whatever. No guilt. You don't get to

play that game. You decide today that God is

the one who gave the glory for the great thing

that happened. This I know. When she comes again,

there will be those who give God the glory for

the great thing that happened. And they will

have seen those who so let their light shine.

That's the reason. I say let so let our light

shine by saying nothing ever needs our telling

stories. Never fail in bringing the truth. Stand

with me and sing this song and we'll give God

the glory. If it's touching your heart today

and you have some kind of a decision you need

to make, you go ahead and make that decision.

Come on, we're laying it all down again. I need

love No one else will do