Don't Forget to Remember — William Carrol

Remembering Human Freedom and Christ’s Victory

I want to talk to you on this topic, don't forget to remember, don't forget to remember. If you consider what is going to happen today at sundown as people gather in many, many different places to look at fireworks and so on and so forth, and it's a commemoration of a day, of a day of independence.

It's a day where people are reminded of literally of the struggle that brought about the kind of independence that we enjoy today. And when we blow off the bombs or whatever, it's showing the kind of warfare that had to happen in order for there to be liberty and for there to be freedom.

I mean, when we sing our song, The Star-Spangled Banner, the basis of the song is one person is asking another person, and they're asking this person at sunrise, that thing that we saw standing in all of its glory when the sun began to set and before the bombs began to go off, that thing that we saw standing there, is it still standing?

They were asking, oh say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave? Is it still standing? They said, we were able to see little hints of it every now and again when the rockets would go off and the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that the flag was still there.

So we were able to see it little by little, periodically, but the question is, does it still stand? And they spent that time concerning themselves with it, and every year since that time, we've been, in a sense, asking that question.

Is the flag still standing? Are we still in good shape? Are we still a nation? You know, as President Lincoln asked, basically, when he was giving his address at Gettysburg, the idea was, you know, can this experiment, this democracy, this free society, can this experiment actually last?

And when we spend time like today on July 4th and we celebrate, we commemorate, we remember, we're remembering a day of liberty. But when we consider the Holy Scriptures, we are remembering a greater liberty than any kind of human effort could ever bring to an individual or to a people.

We are remembering the war that Jesus fought on Calvary Street. And we are remembering that Jesus' victory is a resounding one, one that many songs were written about. And every day, we are, in a sense, asked to remember him, to commemorate him, but at the same time, we are being challenged, and we are being asked by life's circumstances, by life's hardships, by life's struggles, sometimes by the lie of the enemy, sometimes by the weakness of our flesh, sometimes by our neighbors, sometimes by our friends, sometimes by our enemies.

We are being asked regularly, does this really work? This thing that was done, this thing that we saw at sunset, at the end of this war, at the end of the bombs bursting in air, at the end of the fights and of the struggles and so on and so forth, is that flag still there?

Is that banner still there? Now, you know, the Lord calls himself, at one point, Jehovah Nisi, which means the Lord our flag, or the Lord our banner. And sometimes the question is that. Remember, the same thing happened, you know, back in the days of Moses.

Moses is leading the children of Israel into battle, Joshua goes into the ground, he begins to fight the fight, and Moses is up on the top of the mountain. And the only thing that's happening with Moses is he's got this staff in his hand, and it's hands are raised to the Lord.

And it's a type of a flag, it's a type of a banner. And every now and again, the people would just kind of turn and give a quick glimpse, and they would look to see if that banner was still there, if that flag was still there.

And if Moses' arms went down just a little bit, the people would lose heart, and they would begin to lose the battle. But if his arms were stretched out again, then the people knew that we have something to fight for.

And every now and again, the Lord wants us to take time to commemorate what he's done on Calvary Street, and to remind ourselves that what he did is still effective. And what he did still has power. And what he did is still worth fighting for.

And what he did is still worth celebrating. What he did is still worth commemorating. And so, in your Bibles, in the book of Deuteronomy, I just want to point out one portion of Scripture. Deuteronomy, the fourth chapter and the ninth verse, Deuteronomy 4 .9.

I'm just going to read it. If you can get there before me, that's cool. You probably won't, since I already have mine printed out on my notes. But if you can, you're good. Deuteronomy 4 .9. I'm going to read from the new NIV, or today's NIV version.

Remembering God’s Works in Times of Trial

Now, Moses knew that the people of Israel were about to go into a very difficult trial. They were going into the Canaan land, and the Canaan land was going to be, at least initially, a place of serious warfare.

They were going to be fighting with people that their ancestors, or the generation prior to them, were afraid of. So much so, that they chose rather to live in the wilderness than to enter into the promise of God.

They were going to go into a battle. When you think about the Canaan land, that's what you have to think about. It became a place of peace later. But at this stage, it was going to be a war. And Moses said to them, when you start to move into this place, and there will be wars and there will be hardships, and he made it very clear, there will be wonderful things as well.

You're going to go into places where there are houses that live in that you never had to build, and farms where you could harvest that you never had to plant, and all these wonderful things. But it's going to be in the midst of war, and he said, what I want you to do is remember.

It's just that simple. Do not forget. And he said, I want you to be very, very careful. If you see it in the original language, it is a very extreme statement. Make absolutely certain that you take every opportunity to commemorate what God has done for you, so that you will be able to endure in the times of difficulty, and that you never grow proud in the times of prosperity.

So he says this, and then it reminds me of what Jesus said in the first letter to the Corinthians. Paul brings it out again. He says, for I received from the Lord that which also I delivered unto you.

And he reminds us that the Lord Jesus, as I mentioned this morning, I want to just elaborate much, much further today. He said, I want you to be reminded that Jesus has given you a mandate to remember, and to remember on three particular levels based upon this text.

The first is, he said, when you do this, that is when you partake of the Lord's Supper, remember me. So it's the same as Moses is saying in those days. You are going to, now you have to remind yourself that they were partaking of that supper on the same night in which Jesus was being betrayed.

They were partaking of that supper on a night where, as the saying goes, it was the best of times and the worst of times. Because while Jesus was saying, I am inaugurating a new covenant, he was also saying, it is a new covenant in my blood.

So basically what they were getting was, it's going to be a wonderful time for you, but it is going to be filled with challenges and conflicts. And so I want you to, first and foremost, remember what God has done for you.

This is my body given for you. This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this in remembrance of me. So the first thing he says is, remember me. And then he says that this is for you. And when he says for you, he's speaking collectively.

This is for the body. And he says, now when you do this, when you remember me, be absolutely certain that you don't think that it's possible to remember me and forget your brother. Bible says that at that particular time, in that particular meeting, as Paul is writing to the Corinthians, they are celebrating the Lord's Supper.

But at the same time that they're celebrating the Lord's Supper, they have begun to forget each other. They're growing together in these nice little cliques. And some people eating over here, but they don't want anything to do with the people over there.

And some people are doing their thing over here, but they have nothing to do with those people over here. And Paul said, now there's a reason that there is illness among you. There's a reason that there's death among you, he said, because you're drinking the cup unworthily.

In other words, you are not discerning the body of the Lord. So we are told to remember Christ and we are told to remember the body. And then he says, and when you partake of this, when you partake of this reality of what Christ has done for you and who you have been made to be as a people, as a result of what Christ has done, he said, when you partake of this, you do proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

That is you preach Christ's cross until it's all over. It is never a time for us as Christian people and as ministers of the Lord to relax. We never have a time where we can say, well, I've been concerning myself with God and I've been concerning myself with the body and that's pretty much all I need to do.

No, the Bible says that until Jesus comes, that is until it's all said and done, until all of our work is done, we must preach the cross of Jesus Christ. So remember the Lord, remember the body and remember the lost, never forget.

So as we go into this thing that God has called us to do and to be, we must remind ourselves that on one level it is joy unspeakable and full of glory. And so the Lord says, never get so caught up in the joy and in the prosperity and in the wonderful things that God does in us and through us.

Never get so caught up in that, that we forget the Lord or that we forget each other or that we forget the lost. But at the same time he says, but you're going into a time of difficulty, a time of hardship because you have a call upon your life to make a difference and there will be times of difficulty.

He said, but when you begin to enter into those times again, don't forget to remember. Now to remember is a very conscious act to remember the things of God, to remember who you are in Christ, for me to remember who I am in Christ, for us to remember who we have been made in Christ.

We have got to take time to do that. We have got to make it our business to do that. Now what I want to suggest to you is three basic ideas that we just mentioned and three scriptures that basically illuminate those concepts.

Remembering Deliverance and Rest

Firstly, I want to look at Deuteronomy 5 .15. Deuteronomy 5 .15 and I'll just read it to you. It says, and remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm.

Therefore, the Lord your God commands you to keep the Sabbath. Now here's what's going on. The Lord is saying you are going to go into some times of war and you're going to go into some times of difficulty and you are going to see some hardship, but here's what God wants you to remember as you try and do what God has asked you to do with regard to advancing his kingdom.

He said, when the difficult times come, when the hardship comes, I want you to remember something that there was a time in your life when there was no hope for you. There was a time in your life when you were under unspeakable oppression and under stultifying bondage, so much so that you were asked at a certain point to make stones or bricks out of whatever you could find.

You were deprived of the very substance of the straw or whatever that it took to make these things. You were being asked to serve under bondage, under labor. You were being asked to do things without any resource.

You had no hope whatsoever and you were very well aware of it and God came in when you had no resources, when there was nothing you could do, when there was no hope, when there was no help, when there was no strength, God came in and simply delivered you.

God came in and with an outstretched hand and with a mighty arm, freed you from your bondage, brought hope into your situation, took you from the depths of depravity, from the depths of despondency, from the depths of depression, and brought you to a place of light, to a place of hope, to a place of strength, to a place where you had an identity, where you had a sense of self, where you knew where you belonged, where you understood that you belonged to God.

God came in where there was no other recourse and so he says, since you know that, since you are aware of that, since you can remember that, don't forget to breathe. Don't forget the Sabbath. Don't forget to rest.

Don't forget to trust. Don't forget to hope. Don't forget to believe. Don't forget to lean upon the everlasting arms. Don't forget to build all your hope on nothing less than Jesus and his righteousness.

Don't forget to breathe, brothers and sisters. No matter where you have to go, no matter what you have to do, no matter what you have to see, no matter what kind of losses you have to take, remember that there was somebody who was able to free you from those places that you thought you could never be free from.

Somebody who was able to help you when you thought there was no help for you. Somebody who was able to reach you where you thought nobody could go. Remember that when the going gets rough, that that same one is with you.

So don't forget the Sabbath. The Sabbath, it was a day that separated the house of Israel from all other peoples because no matter how much everybody else worried and wondered, God's people were able to rest.

God's people were able to trust. God's people were able to believe. Don't forget the Sabbath. It's what sets us apart. Don't forget the Sabbath. It's what reminds people that we are a holy people. Don't forget the Sabbath.

It's what reminds us that we are a free people. Don't forget the Sabbath. It's what reminds us that we are a people who have been delivered from things and times much worse than anything that we have to worry about in the future.

My worst day today is better than my best day in those days. God is a great deliverer! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Don't forget, brother and sister, to remember you know what you've been delivered from. Don't forget what Christ has done.

Don't forget that liberating cross. That cross that was able to free us when nothing else could. And if that cross was able to free us, then that same Christ is able to keep us. If he was able to deliver us from those places, certainly he can deliver us in these times.

If he was able to deliver us from bondage in Egypt, if he was able to deliver those people from the most powerful nation in the world, certainly he can deliver them from the crumbling feet of the Canaanites, certainly he can deliver them, certainly he can bring them out, and certainly he can bring you out.

Brother and sister, the real war is already over. Hallelujah! It is finished! So this is nothing, brother and sister, nothing, nothing that you have to face in the future is anything compared to what God has done in your past.

Nothing you have to endure in the future is anything compared to what God has already done for you. The only thing that we have to do is remember. Remember. As you come into times of difficulty, remember.

As you come into times of prosperity, remember. Remember the Christ. Remember the cross. But he goes further and says, remember the body. Don't forget one another. That was another function of the Sabbath, as a matter of fact.

It was that the people who had a little bit of strength might be able to be merciful to the people who had less strength. And the people who worked for these people or that people were not made to work seven days a week, 24 hours a day, but they were given a rest.

They were given a cover. They were given a place where they could hide, if you will, a place where they could relax, a place where they could feel at home, a place where they could kick off their shoes, as it were.

Remembering the Church’s Body Through Mercy

We have to have such an environment here in this church. And you and I, as individuals, must have such an environment in our heart. Not everybody is going to be as strong as you. Not everybody is going to be able to walk as strongly, as tall as you.

Question is, are you giving your neighbor, and am I giving my neighbor, a rest? Am I giving my neighbor a break? Don't forget the body. Isaiah 58, 6 -7 says, Is not this the kind of fast I have chosen?

To loose the chains of injustice. To untie the cords of the yoke. To set the oppressed free. And to break every yoke. Is it not to share your food with the hungry? And to provide the poor wanderer with shelter?

And when you see the naked, to clothe them. And not to turn away from your own flesh and blood. It's a wonderful thing God has allowed us to do. You remember I mentioned before, in the Corinthian church, they were not helping each other.

They were not feeding each other. They were not strengthening each other. They were not encouraging each other. And Jesus said, through Paul, there is death and there is sickness and there is, you know, all kinds of sadness among you because you are not helping each other.

Isn't it possible that when Jesus says, you know, there are many, or as Paul says, there are many who are dying or many who are sick among you. Isn't it possible, I'm just kind of speculating, that maybe if they cared for each other, they might have prayed for each other?

And they might have been useful in the hands of God to heal each other? And the people who died because they were not choosing to love and forgive, they would have opened their hearts to forgive and to love, and they would have found that many of the things such as stress and anger and so on and so forth, that actually kills people, many of those things would have been released.

And not only that, but they would have found it in their heart to pray for people who were sick and who were dying for other reasons. If we're not there for one another, then people, very simply put, people die.

People fall through the cracks, people fall by the wayside. I mean, we have a big church here, you know, and we can do everything we can to, you know, we got a hospitality ministry and we got a courtesy corps and all these things, but the bottom line is, if we don't reach out to each other, we can have as many programs as we want.

We've got to love each other. We've got to reach out to each other. Sometimes it just takes a matter, it's a matter of stretching out your hand and letting somebody know that you know that they exist, and that you care that they exist.

You know, in this passage of Scripture where it talks about undoing the bonds and the heavy yokes and so on and so forth, it's not talking, as we will talk about later, it's not talking about the laws, it's not talking about how we ought to reach out to the law.

The context is that people were fasting, and they were doing all the religious stuff in other words, but they weren't looking around and seeing each other. So in the same way we say, don't forget to breathe, we also say, don't forget to look.

See? I mean, you don't want to come to church and be so busy looking at the thing, whatever that, hey, hey, pretty, no, hey, hey, I didn't, I didn't see if I could buy time. No, anyway, you don't, you don't want to be so busy looking at the thing and looking at the words to the songs and so on and so forth that you don't even see the person sitting next to you.

We have got to make it our business to remember one another. Make it your business, if you notice somebody's birthday is coming up, make it your business to give them a card, right? You know, just be nice, you know what I mean?

Make it your business. If you notice somebody who usually sits next to you is not sitting next to you, you know, or they've been away for a day or two, you see them again in a couple of weeks, make it your business to tell them that you missed them, even if you didn't, you know what I mean?

I'm giving you carte blanche to lie. No, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm joking, I'm joking. I don't want to have to go back to working at Burger King, right? But anyway, my point is, don't forget, make a conscious effort, because when you do it, you might not realize it, but you might be unloosing a burden.

You might just be lifting a yoke. It matters. Let me tell you, it matters if you choose to smile at a person when they walk by you in the slobby or not. It can make or break a person, especially depending on where they are in life.

You don't know what they just experienced. You don't know how hard it was for them to get to church today. And it might not seem like it matters, but maybe it's because the devil is lying to you and telling you that you don't matter.

And telling you that your smile doesn't matter. And that your good morning or good afternoon or God bless you doesn't matter. I'm telling you it does matter. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. It can be used to break the yoke.

You know, we talk about the anointing breaking the yoke, and we like to, you know, we just like to get all holy every now and again. But you understand, sometimes a handshake can break the yoke. Sometimes a God bless you can break the yoke.

Sometimes a Holy Ghost smile can break the yoke. You know what I mean? We're always waiting for the Holy Spirit to do stuff. You know what I mean? Sometimes he's asking us to do it. We say, oh God pour out the Spirit.

He says I did 2 ,000 years ago. Now it's time for you to be poured out. You know what I mean? Sometimes it's time for us to just be Christians. I'm going to tell you the secret to revival. Just be a Christian.

That's all. That's it. You want revival to pour out into the streets of New York City? Just walk down the streets of New York City acting like a Christian. And revival will pour out. You want to see what revival looks like?

Look in the mirror. I'm not quite sure what else we're waiting for, right? You know, God sent his Son, he sent his Spirit, he sent his church. What else are we waiting for? Anything else? I don't know.

I got a Bible. You got a Bible. Anything else? I mean, I heard all kinds of revival preaching. I love it. I love it. You know what I mean? It's fun. But then there's the Bible. My question to you, what are you waiting for?

Caring for the Lost and Vulnerable

What am I waiting for? Because there's a third thing the Lord tells us to remember. Remember the lost. Don't forget to breathe. Don't forget to look. Don't forget to care. It's not easy to do. It's not easy to care for people who are trying to hurt you.

I usually care for them after the fact. You know what I mean? I see a guy on the street, a guy bumps me down the road and stuff like that. I'll pray for you later, but right now... I'm joking. I'm joking.

The truth of the matter is we have a responsibility to care. Now, you know Jonah's story. He had been, and his entire people had been utterly, utterly abused by the Assyrians. These are some people...

History records their war tactics as utterly abominable. Some of the things that they did. We don't have to go into detail, but suffice to say when Jonah was sent to Nineveh, to the capital city of that nation that was in the process of destroying his people all he wanted to do was see them die.

And yet, God expected him to care for them. In fact, I'll read to you that one portion of Scripture in the book of Jonah. Jonah 4, 10 and 11, it says,. Now, this is after Jonah preaches to the people.

God says to you, you know, and you are dead. That was it. You know what I mean? There was no, you know, this or repent or that or no. And you are dead. And then he went to the top of a mountain and he basically just looked and waited.

Now, you have got to understand so that we don't take anything away from this godly man. You've got to see it in your mind's eye without me going into any kind of description. You see it happening all over the world, even in our generation.

Just wartime atrocities. This is a man who suffered and he suffered it close to home. He knew what it was and he just knew God was going to judge them. And God speaks to him after he's under, you know, God actually makes, he's sitting on the mountain and God actually makes a tree grow and cover him and Jonah just enjoys this tree and the tree takes away some of his sadness and some of his gloom.

And then the tree dies and Jonah is angry. And it says in verse 10 of Jonah 4,. But the Lord said, You have pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night.

And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city in which are more than 120 ,000 persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left and much livestock. Now, 120 ,000 persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left, most commentators recognize that as children.

Basically, so there were many, many people there and estimated, you know, at least 120 ,000 babies, infants, you know, who can't even tell the difference between their right hand and their left hand. So God is seeing these little babies and I found part of the, let me say this because I'm not going to talk much longer, part of the joy of being a minister, part of the joy of being a preacher is every now and again I know that I have the privilege of giving a child a new mommy or a new daddy.

I think sometimes in my mind about, say for instance, a child who is being regularly abused or regularly neglected. And I see every night or every other night or every two or three nights whenever the parent chooses to come home, they put the key in the door and the child just shudders in fear and trembles in a fetal position in some corner and the parent opens the door and the pain and the horror begins again.

And then maybe one day, one night or what have you, that parent comes to a place like this or maybe I have an opportunity to meet this person on the street or what have you and I just begin to open to them the word of the Lord and speak to them about God.

And maybe they're not the easiest person in the world to talk to, maybe they're not the easiest person in the world to get through to, but by God's grace, I'm reminded that I cannot forget Christ's burden.

No more than I can forget Christ's cross, no more than I can forget Christ's church, I cannot forget Christ's concerns. I can't forget His burden. So I do what I can and I minister to that person and maybe, just maybe, that person believes the gospel and maybe, just maybe, that person gets saved.

And maybe that person up until that point had been not just an abuser of their child or whatever, but just an abuser in general. And maybe on some level or another, I've felt the sting of their abuse.

On some level or another, who knows? Jonah felt the sting of the abuse of Nineveh. But God said, but Nineveh has a child. I care about that child. So God uses you or He uses me to minister to that person and they get saved.

Let's just say they get wonderfully, gloriously, miraculously saved. And all of a sudden they go home and they put that key in that door and that child begins to fear again and tremble again and worry again and wonder again and weep again.

And that door opens but the child sees a new parent. The child sees a new mom, a new dad. Because you have been used or I have been used to help them, to minister to them. Don't forget the lost. Because when you and I do, we forget the children.

We forget the ones who are being impacted the most by the lostness of the lost. Children that Jesus died for. He loves all people. He loves the parent. He loves the child. But in this particular instance, He just begins to mention the child and He says to you and He says to me, don't forget to remember.

Remembering Christ, the Church, and the Mission

I know sometimes it gets hard. I know sometimes it gets difficult. But the only way you and I are going to get through this thing that God has called us to is if we choose to consciously remember. Remember the cross.

Remember the church. And remember the lost. If you and I can do these things, then this world will see revival. Because it will see real Christians doing what Christians do. Being who Christians are. I say this and then I close.

There is no other hope. Christ in you. The hope of glory. Why Christ chose to do it that way, I don't know. Why He chose to use me? Why He chose to use you? I don't know, but I know that He did. The world has no other hope.

This is the way God chose to do it. I'm not saying that God is not going to work miracles every now and again and sometimes there's going to be outpourings and so on and so forth. I'm telling you the real deal.

The bottom line. This is what the Bible says. If we don't simply remember, the world will utterly forget. If we remember, there's a chance we can remind them of some things. I have an altar call. We call it an altar call.

Basically it's a time of prayer where we stand side by side and remind each other that we are a body. It's very simple. The Holy Spirit, His main ministry is to call to remembrance the things that we know to be true through the voice of Jesus.

A lot of ministries now is all about some new revelation, some new thing, but I'm not about that. My goal is to just remind you of the things you already know. Now the problem is the enemy is always trying to rob us of these truths.

If you're in this room tonight, this afternoon, and you're saying I know these things are true but the enemy has been trying to rob me. He's been trying to lie to me and sometimes I forget to remember.

You might say I'm going through a difficult time right now and I've been, as Pastor Ben said today, I've been kind of magnifying my problems and minimizing the things that we talked about today. I want to take a minute and remind myself of who I am in Christ.

Remind myself of what the Lord has done for me. Remind myself that I have a family. That I'm not alone. And to remind myself that I have a mission. I have a purpose. I have a reason. Some of you might have lost your jobs.

You might have lost family members. Sometimes it feels like that purpose is taken away from you. You have a reason. You have a purpose. You have a ministry. You have a calling and there are people who will live forever because you simply are who you are.

Because you do what God has called you to do. What God has allowed you to do. Don't forget brothers and sisters. Don't forget who you are. If you've been struggling, the devil's been trying to lie to you.

You just want to stand side by side with your brothers and your sisters. Be reminded of what Christ has done and what he promises to do. Be reminded that you're not alone, that you have a family. Be reminded that you have a ministry.

You have a mission. Then I invite you once I ask you to stand to just come to the front. We'll stand together side by side and give glory to God. Let's stand in the house of the Lord Jesus Christ. God is moving on you.

This is your home. You come and stand. We'll pray together in Jesus name. Amen. Very simple task for you. Remember. You remember what Christ has done for you. Remember that no matter what type of difficulty you might have to go through.

Remember the same one who saved you can keep you. If he can save you from what he saved you from, he can keep you in any situation. So you go to God and you remember him and you receive from him. Then once you've done that, strengthen your brothers.

Strengthen your sisters. Be there for one another. Love each other. Help each other. Lift the burdens off of one another. It's your responsibility. Last but not least, let this be your golden life. When you think about revival, think about this.

We can think in big terms. Bring it down to this. Let it be your golden life to give at least one child a new mommy or new daddy. Let that be your goal. Amen. Amen. Remember. Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we do thank you so very much.

We love you, oh God. We ask that we be allowed by your spirit to remember. We know that the Holy Spirit has that as his chief ministry to us to simply help us to remember Jesus and to remember everything that Jesus said and everything that Jesus did to bring to our remembrance these things.

Holy Spirit, we can't do these without you. We can't remember Christ the way we ought to. We can't remember one another the way we ought to. We can't remember the lost the way we ought to. We ask you to help us.

And Jesus, we know that you will do everything you promised you would do. We ask now, oh God, that you be glorified in the midst. Let your praise go forth from this place. Let revival pour forth from these doors.

Help us to help somebody. Help us to give a child a chance. We thank you. We love you. In Jesus' holy name we pray. Amen. Amen. Praise God. God be with you. The Lord be with you.