Listen What Are They Saying Memorial Day audio video notes. Chickamauga Battlefield is full of memorials. God loves memorials especially when memorials are about freedom and life. God remembers when…
Memorial Day
by Delbert Young
What Are They Saying: Reflecting on the High Price of Freedom
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What Are They Saying: Reflecting on the High Price of Freedom
Scriptures: Luke 22:19-20, Genesis 4:10, 4:11-12, Matthew 23:33-36, Deuteronomy 32:43, Psalms 9:12, Revelation 6:9-11
Memorial Day was established in 1868 to honor the fallen soldiers of the Civil War. It has grown to become a SOLEMN RECOGNITION of all of our nation’s war dead and the high price of our freedom. I know we celebrate Memorial Day, but is it a day to celebrate? What I mean is that we need to take some time to quietly and reverently remember those who have given their lives so that you and I can be free. What I am trying to say is this lesson will be solemn.
Also, we wanted to be relevant and attempt to make us think about things that are happening today as we speak.
GOD IS BIG ON MEMORIALS and I believe he appreciates us taking time to remember those who have laid down their lives for others. God will bless you if you will take a little time to remember and lift a prayer. The Lord is big on remembering those who have given their life and blood serving in his armed forces. In fact, communion is about the memorial of remembering.
Luke 22:19 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
Luke 22:20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
Listen What Are They Saying Memorial Day audio video notes
I want to take special notice that Jesus used the thought of my blood in his memorial. Jesus said to remember exactly what his blood was given to accomplish. The covenant should mean something very special because he literally gave his blood for it. The New Covenant that we enjoy today cost Jesus his blood.
I KNOW WE KNOW THAT HIS BLOOD WASHES US FROM OUR SINS (1JN 1:7; REV 1:5). Blood moves us, not our sin. We are washed from our sins. ONE WAY IT MOVES US IS BY ITS ABILITY TO SPEAK. It even speaks to the point that we should hear it. Remember the story of Cain and Abel? Cain became angry with Abel because Abel was able to achieve a place with God that Cain was not. Able was righteous. Cain was religious. So, Cain killed Abel. Notice what happened. It’s important and sets us a constant about the blood. The Lord came to Cain questioning his actions. Of course, Cain denied that he had done anything wrong. He was not responsible for others. He preferred to hate, not love. Here is what the Lord said to Cain.
(NIV) Genesis 4:10 The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.
The Lord God listens to blood! We are to listen too. LISTEN! The Lord said, Your brother’s blood cries out to me. Memorial times such as Monday are to help us remember, but we are to Listen also. What is the blood saying? It’s saying something. The blood of Jesus is saying, “Remember my blood. Remember for what I died.” The blood of Abel cried out for Cain’s punishment.
Listen What Are They Saying Memorial Day audio video notes
(Contemporary English Version) …his blood flowed onto the ground. Now his blood is calling out for me to punish you.
If you know the story then you know that God responded to the cry of Abel’s blood. That is why God came to Cain. He was ready to punish him.
Genesis 4:11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
Genesis 4:12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”
We see a principle. Those who cause the senseless waste of blood are driven from the land. Perhaps a recent example would be Saddam Hussein and his evil sons. They were removed from the land and that land is being cleansed from the spirit of Cain. We can say America is doing it, but I see the principle of who is actually doing it.
ABEL’S BLOOD CRIED OUT TO GOD AND CONTINUES TO BE HEARD TODAY.
Hebrews 11:4 By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.
Listen What Are They Saying Memorial Day audio video notes
Righteous blood speaks and continues to speak. The Lord listens and responds to righteous blood.
The Bible tells us of a time just before the Friday when Jesus would be crucified. Jesus was at war with that religious system of his day. It was demonic and fathered by the devil himself (Joh 8:44). Jesus was in the temple and he was in serious confrontation and being very violent in his spirit. He had spoken the many “Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites.” Here is what Jesus then said to that demonic religious system just prior to his walking away from the temple the last time – Ichabod.
Matthew 23:33-36
33 “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?
34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.
35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
36 I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.
Listen What Are They Saying Memorial Day audio video notes
The blood of the righteous would bring God’s condemnation upon that religious system and it would happen in the time of that generation. That system was a cruel dictatorship. Jesus said it killed and crucified people. Jesus said they beat and tortured people. Also, Jesus said they pursued innocent people. It must be removed from the land.
I don’t know how well you know your history, but Jesus spoke that around A.D. 33. A generation is forty years (Num 32:13; Psa 95:10). That demonic religious system to which Jesus spoke was destroyed in A.D. 70 and has never been rebuilt or re-established. The blood continues to speak. God continues to listen to that blood. LISTEN! WHAT ARE THEY SAYING?
What I want us to see today is that God vindicates the blood of the righteous and that blood speaks and continues to speak. Concerning Memorial Day, what is the blood of righteous Americans saying? If we LISTEN! WHAT ARE THEY SAYING? What do you hear the blood of those who have sacrificed their blood for America are saying? Let’s think about this for a minute.
In the American Revolution, righteous blood cried out to God. The blood cried for a nation to be birthed that would be established upon the principles of God and that all men were created by God equally with certain inalienable rights. The blood cried to be free from dictatorship and oppression. Did God listen?
Deuteronomy 32:43 Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.
Listen What Are They Saying Memorial Day audio video notes
God avenged the blood of the righteous. Think about it. Miraculously, a rag-tag army with hunting knives and muzzleloaders defeated the then-world’s most powerful army. A nation was birthed and today continues to stand on those principles because the blood continues to speak. That is why America has a deep desire to help other nations and people become free from oppression and dictatorship. LISTEN! WHAT ARE THEY SAYING?
Later our nation struggled through a civil war. Again righteous blood was shed and if shed then blood was speaking. LISTEN! WHAT ARE THEY SAYING? The blood cried for the abolishment of slavery and prejudice. Did God respond? Yes, and he avenged the blood that adhered to his word and his precepts. Slavery was abolished, and that nation became even greater.
Just north of our area, there is Chickamauga National Battlefield Park. It is full of memorials of those who died there. Think of the bloodshed there. I remember the spiritual feeling that I had the first time I traveled through it. It was a solemn feeling. If you will listen, you will hear the blood continuing to cry out today. The blood continues to speak today against racial prejudice.
There was a Nazi dictator named Adolph Hitler. He led a nation into believing that their blood was superior to the blood of other people. WWII began and again blood began speaking. The righteous blood cried out against supremacy, cruel dictatorship, bondage, and prejudice. It cried out for freedom, liberty, and equality. God heard the cry of the righteous blood. That cruel evil regime was terminated and cleansed from the land. Today the world continues to experience freedom thanks to the cry of blood that continues. LISTEN! WHAT ARE THEY SAYING?
Listen What Are They Saying Memorial Day audio video notes
There is an awesome power in the blood.
It cries out to God. If we can hear the righteous blood, we will know where God is moving and what God is doing. LISTEN! WHAT ARE THEY SAYING?
I WANT TO MAKE TODAY’S LESSON RELEVANT. Over the past few years, a lot of lives have been lost and a lot of blood has been shed. What I am specifically speaking about began on September 11, 2001. Thousands of innocent lives gave their blood that day. Life was wickedly snatched from them. They were violently slew as was Abel as they walked in the field of their lives. They were taken from their families and loved ones. What is that righteous blood saying today? What does it say to you and to me? It’s saying something. LISTEN! WHAT ARE THEY SAYING?
I hear their blood saying to end terrorism. I hear their blood saying to terminate the taking of more innocent lives by those who kill to bring terror and kill for pleasure. Also, I hear their blood crying out saying find people like Usama Bin Ladin no matter the cost and stop them before they kill others. God is listening to that blood and he is responding to it.
What does the blood say of all those tortured and murdered by insane dictators like Saddam Hussain?
So what do you hear the blood of those killed by suicide bombers saying?
What is the blood of Nicholas Berg, age 26, of Pennsylvania saying? Berg was the young man who was beheaded by several hooded cowards on Internet television. What is his blood saying to you and to me? LISTEN! Can you hear it?
Listen What Are They Saying Memorial Day audio video notes
Let me tell you a little about Nicholas Berg.
He was a supporter of the war in Iraq meaning he wanted the people liberated from the cruel dictatorship. He had set up his own company from scratch which was building radio towers and wanted to help rebuild towers in Iraq. Nicholas traveled to Iraq on his own as a businessman. In the New York Times profile of the young man, one friend of the family said he “was a great kid. If anyone wanted a son, you’d want Nick for a son.” Berg had gone to Iraq to help. He intended to make money but to help also. He was a civilian and certainly had no intention of hurting anyone, and he was just like you and me. Nicholas was just like your children and your grandchildren.
Our generation witnessed one of the most wicked acts recorded in our lifetimes as Berg was beheaded on television. His throat was slit and his head cut off as he yelled and screamed. His blood began to cry out.
Psalms 9:12 For he who avenges blood remembers; he does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.
The Lord will avenge Berg’s blood. A person’s death is not the last of their speaking nor the end of their influence. The blood of over 600 Americans who gave their blood for the Iraqi people is speaking? LISTEN! WHAT ARE THEY SAYING?
There is a very interesting passage in the book of Revelation.
Revelation 6:9-11
9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season…
There is an influence upon the earth because of the speaking out of the righteous blood. God does not ignore the speaking of righteous blood. How long will this war go on? Just a little season. God has heard the blood and is responding to it. It will go on until Cain is removed and Cain will be removed. God’s principles are constant. LISTEN! WHAT ARE THEY SAYING?
Listen What Are They Saying Memorial Day audio video notes
As you experience Memorial Day tomorrow and enjoy the holiday and time with your friends and families, please take a moment and solemnly remember those who have given their blood for us. Take a moment and LISTEN. Jesus said to remember him because he gave his blood for the New Covenant. Remember that the blood of the righteous continues to speak. Remember that God is responding. God will not allow their sacrifices to go unnoticed. Remember our men and women who are not able to spend the holiday with their families and friends. Find the righteous blood for that is where we will find God.
Listen What Are They Saying Memorial Day audio video notes
Listen What Are They Saying Memorial Day audio video notes
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