This is our weekend in which to remember - Memorial Day.

Memorial Day:  a U.S. holiday observed late in May, formally known as Decoration Day.  It was instituted (1868) to honor Civil War dead, but it now commemorates all war dead.

Civil War:  In U.S. history, conflict (1861-1865) b/w Northern States (Union) and Southern seceded states (Confederacy).  It is know in the south as the war b/w the States, and by the official Union designation as the War of the Rebellion.

The Union victory (April 9, 1865) was saddened by the assassination of President Lincoln (April 14, 1865) and by the deaths of more Americans than in any other war.

"Well, I remember when . . ."

-         Gas was 50 cents a gallon

-         My dad and mom would go for a walk and hold hands.

-         My uncle John died.

One of the most powerful abilities that the Lord has given to people is the ability to remember.

A holiday that is based on "remembering".  What a great idea!

We have expanded this Memorial Day holiday to included not just our war dead, but all whom we have had to lay to rest.

It is good to remember.

It is hard to remember.

It hurts to remember.

But yet, it is very good to remember.

This is a gift from a Creator God who knew what this would mean for us.

Please say it with me:  It is good to remember.

To help us understand this I would like to share with you two important points of this made in Scripture.

I.                    God remembers.

GOD REMEMBERS HIS COVENANTS

GE 9:12 And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."

    GE 9:17 So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth."

LEV 26:40 " `But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their fathers--their treachery against me and their hostility toward me, 41 which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies--then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, 42 I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.

JER 14:21 For the sake of your name do not despise us;

    do not dishonor your glorious throne.

  Remember your covenant with us

    and do not break it.

LK 1:72 to show mercy to our fathers

    and to remember his holy covenant,

GOD REMEMBERS HIS PEOPLE

EX 32:11 But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God. "O LORD," he said, "why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, `It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth'? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: `I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.' " 14 Then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

Judges 16:28 Then Samson prayed to the LORD, "O Sovereign LORD, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes."

2KI 20:2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, 3 "Remember, O LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

  NE 1:8 "Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, `If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, 9 but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.'

  NE 6:14 Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, because of what they have done; remember also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who have been trying to intimidate me.

  NE 13:14 Remember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out what I have so faithfully done for the house of my God and its services.

NE 13:29 Remember them, O my God, because they defiled the priestly office and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.

    NE 13:30 So I purified the priests and the Levites of everything foreign, and assigned them duties, each to his own task. 31 I also made provision for contributions of wood at designated times, and for the firstfruits.

    Remember me with favor, O my God.

  JOB 7:7 Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath;

    my eyes will never see happiness again.

JOB 10:9 Remember that you molded me like clay.

    Will you now turn me to dust again?

JOB 14:13 "If only you would hide me in the grave

    and conceal me till your anger has passed!

  If only you would set me a time

    and then remember me!

PS 74:2 Remember the people you purchased of old,

    the tribe of your inheritance, whom you redeemed--

    Mount Zion, where you dwelt.

JER 2:1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 "Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem:

  " `I remember the devotion of your youth,

    how as a bride you loved me

  and followed me through the desert,

    through a land not sown.

REMEMBER OUR SINS NO MORE

PS 25:6 Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love,

    for they are from of old.

  PS 25:7 Remember not the sins of my youth

    and my rebellious ways;

  according to your love remember me,

    for you are good, O LORD.

ISA 64:9 Do not be angry beyond measure, O LORD;

    do not remember our sins forever.

  Oh, look upon us, we pray,

    for we are all your people.

JER 31:34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor,

    or a man his brother, saying, `Know the LORD,'

  because they will all know me,

    from the least of them to the greatest,"

        declares the LORD.

  "For I will forgive their wickedness

    and will remember their sins no more."

HAB 3:2 LORD, I have heard of your fame;

    I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD.

  Renew them in our day,

    in our time make them known;

    in wrath remember mercy.

II.                 People remember.

REMEMBER THE SABBATH

EX 20:8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Dueteronomy 5:15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

Nehemiah 13:22 Then I commanded the Levites to purify themselves and go and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy.

    Remember me for this also, O my God, and show mercy to me according to your great love.

DON’T BE DECEIVED BY OUR MEMORIES

NU 11:4 The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, "If only we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost--also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. 6 But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!"

NE 9:16 "But they, our forefathers, became arrogant and stiff-necked, and did not obey your commands. 17 They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them, 18 even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, `This is your god, who brought you up out of Egypt,' or when they committed awful blasphemies.

JOB 41:8 If you lay a hand on him,

    you will remember the struggle and never do it again!

DT 8:1 Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers. 2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. 4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.

TASSELS TO HELP US REMEMBER

NU 15:37 The LORD said to Moses, 38 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: `Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. 39 You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by going after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. 40 Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God. 41 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the LORD your God.' "

Duet. 24:18 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this.

Duet. 24:22 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.

REMEMBER WHAT HAS HAPPENED!

DT 32:7 Remember the days of old;

    consider the generations long past.

  Ask your father and he will tell you,

    your elders, and they will explain to you.

   JDG 8:33 No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god and 34 did not remember the LORD their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side.

PS 77:11 I will remember the deeds of the LORD;

    yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.

  PS 77:12 I will meditate on all your works

    and consider all your mighty deeds.

JER 51:50 You who have escaped the sword,

    leave and do not linger!

  Remember the LORD in a distant land,

    and think on Jerusalem."

   EZE 16:20 " `And you took your sons and daughters whom you bore to me and sacrificed them as food to the idols. Was your prostitution not enough? 21 You slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols. 22 In all your detestable practices and your prostitution you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, kicking about in your blood.

DON’T REMEMBER WHAT HAS HAPPENED!

-         Just as God forgives us; so we forgive others.

WHEN SUFFEREING, I WILL REMEMBER 

Psalm 42 - My soul is downcast within me;

    therefore I will remember you

  from the land of the Jordan,

    the heights of Hermon--from Mount Mizar.

WHEN ON MY BED, I WILL REMEMBER

PS 63:6 On my bed I remember you;

    I think of you through the watches of the night.

WHEN IT IS DARK, I WILL REMEMBER.

ECC 11:8 However many years a man may live,

    let him enjoy them all.

  But let him remember the days of darkness,

    for they will be many.

    Everything to come is meaningless.

WHEN I AM YOUNG, I WILL REMEMBER.

ECC 12:1 Remember your Creator

    in the days of your youth,

  before the days of trouble come

    and the years approach when you will say,

    "I find no pleasure in them"--

ECC 12:6 Remember him--before the silver cord is severed,

    or the golden bowl is broken;

  before the pitcher is shattered at the spring,

    or the wheel broken at the well,

  ECC 12:7 and the dust returns to the ground it came from,

    and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

WHEN I AM REBELLING, I WILL REMEMBER.

ISA 46:8 "Remember this, fix it in mind,

    take it to heart, you rebels.

  ISA 46:9 Remember the former things, those of long ago;

    I am God, and there is no other;

    I am God, and there is none like me.

WHEN I AM AT THE ALTAR, I WILL REMEMBER.

  MT 5:23 "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.

WHEN I AM DEPRESSED, I WILL REMEMBER.

PS 42:4 These things I remember

    as I pour out my soul:

  how I used to go with the multitude,

    leading the procession to the house of God,

  with shouts of joy and thanksgiving

    among the festive throng.

  PS 42:5 Why are you downcast, O my soul?

    Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God,

    for I will yet praise him,

    my Savior and 6  my God.

My soul is downcast within me;

    therefore I will remember you

  from the land of the Jordan,

    the heights of Hermon--from Mount Mizar.

LA 3:19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,

    the bitterness and the gall.

  LA 3:20 I well remember them,

    and my soul is downcast within me.

WHEN MY FAITH IS SMALL, I WILL REMEMBER.

MT 16:8 Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, "You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? 9 Do you still not understand? Don't you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 11 How is it you don't understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees." 12 Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

WHEN A SOUL IS IN HELL, HE WILL REMEMBER.

LK 16:25 "But Abraham replied, `Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.

WHEN I LOOK TO THE SKY FOR THE LORD’S RETURN, I WILL REMEMBER.

LK 17:30 "It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. 32 Remember Lot's wife! 33 Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left. "

2TH 2:5 Don't you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 6 And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7

WHEN I AM DYING, I WILL ASK THE LORD TO REMEMBER.

LK 23:40 But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."

    LK 23:42 Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. "

WHEN IS AM MISTREATED BY THIS WORLD, I WILL REMEMBER.

  JN 15:18 "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember the words I spoke to you: `No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me.

JN 16:1 "All this I have told you so that you will not go astray. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you. I did not tell you this at first because I was with you.

WHEN I PRAY, I WILL REMEMBER.

RO 1:8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. 9 God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you 10 in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God's will the way may be opened for me to come to you.

  PHP 1:3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

1TH 1:2 We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. 3 We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

  2TI 1:3 I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. 4 Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy.

PHM 1:4 I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, 5