God bless you and greetings in the name of Jesus Christ who can save to the uttermost (Hebrews 7:25).
We need evangelists to evangelize, and we need the rest of us to do the work of an evangelist. “Evangelist” is used in the LXX, but the concept was really foreign to Israel. They were the chosen people, and were not called to take the Word to the world. Part of the reason that the Muslims hate them so badly is because they are such an arrogant self-righteous people. If you are a gentile and want to feel like a second-class citizen fly on El Air.
We need to either become an evangelical church or we need to go join one. I praise God for our Messengers For Christ over the years. We can learn a lot in this category. Missionary systems do not work. We cannot buy converts. We have the greatest God there has ever been, and we know His Word. If we will get excited about the things God has set before us, we will see the Word move again like it did in the first century. Are we willing to sacrifice? If so, God is willing to open doors of utterance for us to go through.
Now getting back to the point of my opening comments yesterday. We will not forget. That takes resolve which is a function of the will. To remember and not forget is a decision we have to make. It’s a decision of will. However, more important than our resolve to not forget 9/11 is our resolve to not forget God’s Word. I love the following poem. I don’t know who wrote it.
I Will Not Forget Thy Word’
1 I lift my head from my pillow. 3 Teach me of Your strength, my Father!
Little leaps in my heart are stirred Show me what I’ve read and heard
for today as I walk and breathe and speak for I am committed to live for You
I will not forget Thy Word. and to never forget Your Word.
2 Temptations are always there, I know– 4 Thought by thought and step by step
a whirlwind of thoughts can occur. I’ll stand firmly and assured.
But with my mind set on Your truth Your words are my delight, my life―
I will not forget Thy Word. I will not forget Thy Word.
God does not want us to forget. If we do, it will be to our own detriment.
II Kings 17:34b-39:
…the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel; 35 With whom the LORD had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them: 36 But the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice. 37 And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore; and ye shall not fear other gods. 38 And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods. [nor the people that worship them] 39 But the LORD your God ye shall fear; and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.
If we fear God, we need not fear anything else. He alone is exalted above all.
Psalms 86:8,10:
Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works. . . 10 For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone.
Just like Israel, our country has seen God work in wonderful ways to deliver us and preserve our way of life. We need to teach them to our children and our children’s children also.
Psalms 78:1-15:
Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: 3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. 4 We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. 5 For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: 6 That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: 7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: 8 And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God. 9 The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. 10 They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law; 11 And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them. 12 Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. 13 He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap. 14 In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire. 15 He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths. 16 He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.
The magnificent Acrostic Psalm of God’s Word, Psalm 119 resounds with that resolve.
Psalms 119:16:
I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.
That’s where it starts. It starts with an individual, someone, anyone deciding I will not forget. Then someone else joins them. Then because we are in this thing together, it becomes more of us united with that resolve. We will not forget. More from Psalms 119 tomorrow.