Conia [00:00:00 – 00:01:16]
I am thrilled to be back with you again this week. If you were here last week, then, you know, I got it started on Memorial Day, and I had far more information than. Than I could really express in a normal sermon time. Now, we could have gone, you know, big time Pentecostal on you and just kept you forever, but I think the brain can only handle so much at one time sometimes, and I think that I had enough for two. So we split this up into two weeks, and I get to be with you two weeks in a row.
Conia [00:01:17 – 00:02:31]
So if you weren’t here last week, or even if you were, a little reminder about what Memorial Day was, is and was this past week. It’s for our fallen soldiers, and we want to remember those who paid the ultimate price, made the ultimate sacrifice for our benefit. And we talked about kind of the origins of Memorial Day, where it came from, why it’s important, what it fosters in us. And then we talked about the biblical precedent for Memorial Day and what God says about having memorials and really setting up altars and statues and things to remember the good things that God has done for us. Well, you move forward into New Testament, and then it’s, what did Jesus do for us? And we talked about that. In Luke 22:19, Jesus says, Depends on your translation. Do this in remembrance of me. The translation that my church use says this, do in remembrance of me.
Conia [00:02:31 – 00:03:16]
And when we do that and what they’re talking about, there is communion. When we do that in remembrance, what Jesus did for us, it’s the ultimate memorial. It brings back to our minds, to our hearts, what’s been done for us. It fosters gratitude in us, creates community for us as a church family, and gives our faith a huge boost. So remembering God’s acts also keeps us humble. It keeps us obedient. It makes us remember that it’s not all about us. It’s about everybody that’s gone before us.
Conia [00:03:16 – 00:04:09]
And what God prepared for us, it passes down legacy. In the case of our human forefathers that went before us and gave their lives for us, that’s a natural legacy. That’s a Human legacy in the context of what God does for us, it’s a spiritual legacy, what Jesus did for us. And he said, I’m gonna go, because if I don’t go, then the helper can’t come. So he gave us himself so that he could actually give us more help. And it keeps our hearts aligned with truth. So that’s just the backstory of Memorial Day itself. And then what having memorials means to the body and why God commanded the memorials.
Conia [00:04:10 – 00:05:42]
And what I told you at the end of the last service was I didn’t even get to what sparked this whole thing to begin with. And what sparked it to begin with was the idea of making sure that we honor the ones that have gone before us by walking out whatever they fought to give us. And I was having a conversation with a young lady, and we were debating a little about politics and going back and forth about candidates in the presidential election was the specific one. Now then, my opinion is, any election, you need to start locally. So that’s my soapbox about politics, is you must start locally, because if you don’t start locally and don’t vote in the primaries, you’re stuck with whatever you’re stuck with when it comes to the big elections. So start there. That was a side note, totally for free. But we were talking about voting, and she made the comment that possibly, what if we just didn’t vote? And something in me just rose up, and I thought about all the people who fought for my right to vote, especially most recently as a woman, and my right to vote.
Conia [00:05:43 – 00:06:18]
And I hearken back to jovially, because I like to bring joy into many things. Mary Poppins. And there’s a whole section in the movie with. And it’s Glynis Johns, who’s an amazing actress, and she’s playing the mother of the young children. And she sings this whole song about Sister Suffragettes. And if I wanted to torture you, I would sing for you the whole song of Sister Suffragettes. But I won’t do that. I will spare you, and I will just share with you that the sisters in petticoats, dauntless crusaders for women, the vote.
Conia [00:06:19 – 00:06:55]
That’s what she said they were. We’re clearly soldiers. And she says in one of the lines, it says, our daughters. Daughters will adore us. And they’ll sing in grateful chorus. Well done, Sister Suffragettes. Well, I cannot belittle or besmirch what the Sister Suffragettes did for me as a woman by not exercising the right to vote that they gave me. And that’s kind of where this whole thing started.
Conia [00:06:55 – 00:08:05]
And if you look back and you think about the rights that we have because of our forefathers, because of those who went before us, it becomes very important that we take seriously the freedoms, the liberties and all of the gifts that have been given to us. So if you think about the pilgrims, they came to America to escape religious persecution. They wanted to worship according to their beliefs and they wanted to do it freely. They didn’t want anybody governing how they worshiped. They wanted to protect their families values and cultural identity. How important is that? You can look deeply into cultural identity and that doesn’t mean that we don’t want our culture contaminated, but we certainly don’t want our identity taken from us. So it’s a very important question to make sure that your culture is honored. They wanted to pursue opportunity in a new land.
Conia [00:08:06 – 00:08:47]
And it wasn’t just for them. It was for their children and those that would come after them. Nothing that really anybody does is just for themselves. It’s always going to have an effect on those that come after you. You leave a legacy, whether you do it on purpose or by accident. The pilgrims were leaving a legacy quite on purpose. So you move forward into 1775 and there’s an American Revolution and those soldiers were fighting to keep what they had fought to earn. They were fighting to keep their autonomy and their freedom.
Conia [00:08:47 – 00:09:59]
They didn’t want to pay taxes anymore to somebody that wasn’t even representing them anymore and really didn’t represent them to begin with as the original pilgrims. When they came across, they didn’t want that representation, they wanted that freedom. And so the American Revolution, they’re fighting to continue the freedoms. And if you think about the wars that we’ve been engaged in as we go forward, it is not just to help the people overseas that are under persecution. It’s also to create a protective barrier for our own freedoms. It’s kind of abstract to think about, but what we do here has far reaching consequences. And what happens overseas in other countries actually could have an effect on us. So World War I, World War II, Vietnam conflict, the Korean conflict, police action, Iraq, Iran, all of these things have a ripple effect.
Conia [00:10:00 – 00:10:56]
And all the people who gave their lives defending those countries and defending their freedoms were also defending our freedom, the freedom that so many before them had already sacrificed to give us. So it’s a continuation of what’s already gone before us and honoring those who have gone before us by upholding those things which they fought to give us. So you got to think about that so there’s Bible precedent for honoring the legacy of our ancestors. All these people are our ancestors, and we want to honor the legacy that they gave us. And you can start with Exodus. Honor your father and your mother, and your days will be long upon the land which the Lord your God has given you. And it’s common. This is the foundational commandment.
Conia [00:10:56 – 00:12:01]
This is the first of the commandments that contains a promise. If you honor your father and your mother, the ones who have gone before you, the ones who’ve sacrificed to give you life, then your days will be long upon the land which God has given you. Deuteronomy goes on to say in chapter 6, verse 10 through 12, the Lord your God will soon bring you into the land he swore to give you when he made a vow to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It is a land with large, prosperous cities that you did not build. When you have eaten your fill, be careful not to forget the Lord. You don’t want to forget that God made this possible to you. You don’t want to dishonor your ancestors by not walking out the gifts that were given to them. Entering the promised land was an act of walking out the gifts that had been given to the ancestors prior to them.
Conia [00:12:01 – 00:12:53]
To not accept that gift, to rebuke that gift, would be dishonoring to those ancestors. Proverbs 13:22 says, A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous. A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children. An inheritance is not just monetary. An inheritance is a legacy. An inheritance is an education. An inheritance is a value system and a culture that has been fought for, that’s been forged with emotion, with sweat, with blood, with tears to give those that come after a better life. That’s an inheritance.
Conia [00:12:54 – 00:13:29]
And you want to walk in your inheritance. You don’t want to shirk your inheritance by not honoring it. Timothy, second Timothy 1, verse 5. I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and now lives in you also. That’s an inheritance. That’s a legacy. That’s something that’s been passed down. And we honor those things that are passed down to us by continuing them.
Conia [00:13:29 – 00:14:15]
And in this case, it’s sincere faith. You honor the sincere faith of your ancestors by walking out sincere faith in your own life. Generational blessings right there. Hebrews 12:1. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. The race has been marked out for you, and that’s the race you run. We don’t go run off some other race. We run the race that’s been marked out specifically for us.
Conia [00:14:15 – 00:14:52]
That race will fit us well. That’s what we have to understand that race that God has laid out for us. This is Hebrews 12. He’s laid it out for us. Knowing us from before we were knit in our mother’s womb, he’s laid out something wonderful for us. And so we honor the work that God has gone to, to lay out our footsteps by walking in them. We’re cheered on by those who came before us. Joshua 24:15 choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.
Conia [00:14:53 – 00:15:31]
But for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. There’s a mandate, there’s a precedent there. There’s a patriarch saying, this is what we will do. And when we talk about my house in biblical terms, we’re not just talking about the four wall dwelling that we live in. Our house is who we are, who we are as a family. For me and my house, we will serve the Lord. That means we are setting out a path. We are setting out a legacy that’s to be carried out by those that come after us.
Conia [00:15:32 – 00:16:11]
Deuteronomy 32:7. Remember the days of old. Consider the generations long past. Think about those that came before you. All that had to happen to get you here. There’s genetic little maps that show us how many people had to come together to get you where you are. And when you can. When you can, look at that and look at all the things that had to connect, all the things that had to happen to get you here at this moment, at this time.
Conia [00:16:11 – 00:17:06]
It is mind blowing, but also very exciting because God planned it all down to the most minute detail we see in fiction. When they talk about time travel. And you can go back to, you know, Back to the Future is a fun example of that. And he’s in that movie and he’s trying to get his dad to date his mom so he could be born. Because if he doesn’t, he will cease to exist. Now, that’s fiction, and we know that’s fiction, but it highlights all the things that had to happen for us to even begin to exist. It’s mind blowing to think about. Ask your father, and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain it to you.
Conia [00:17:06 – 00:18:08]
That’s passing down that generational blessings. We’re called to learn from our elders and learn from their stories. Those stories that get told over and over again around the Thanksgiving table. Those tribal stories that get told in groups as the ancestors tell the same story over and over again. And what they learned and how they lived are ingrained as a part of us. It becomes quite literally part of who you are. Psalm 78:4 says, we will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord that the next generation might know and tell them to their children. This is a continuous theme throughout the whole Bible, that we need to remember these things, we need to speak these things, we need to retell what of these things so that they’re not forgotten.
Conia [00:18:09 – 00:19:26]
Not just for the person that’s telling the story, but for the person who’s hearing the story, to glean a part of who they are, who they are personally, what God’s put into them, and the stories of what God has done. And we talked about that a little bit last time. All the things that God has done and the memorials that we set up so that we can bring it back and make it fresh, make it new in our everyday life, that it becomes part of what has shaped us so well. Isaiah 58:12 says, you people will rebuild the ancient ruins. You will be called the repairer of the broken walls, restorer of streets with dwellings. So this shows us that it doesn’t have to be continuous. There could be breaks in the lineage, there could be downfalls in the generations, but the generations to come will come back and they will rebuild on ancient, ancient ruins here. So that legacy that you set up, even if it happens to skip a generation, even if there happens to be an interruption, God’s a restorer.
Conia [00:19:26 – 00:20:13]
He will use future generations to restore whatever you put into place. So if you can’t see it right here at this moment, how that plays out, don’t despair, don’t lose heart. Because everything that you do has an impact. Even if it’s not an immediate impact that you can see, touch, and feel, there’s still an impact. And you’re laying a foundation for future generations. And even if there are ancient ruins, they’re still the foundation you laid for them to draw on. Proverbs 17:6. Children’s children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children.
Conia [00:20:14 – 00:20:59]
This is talking about that fellowship. It’s not just about relationship. It’s about the fellowship that we have because of these stories, because of the connectedness that we have with one another through these generational blessings, generational stories. It helps us to know our identity in our Human family and our identity in Christ. Children’s children are crowned to the age. That also means that grandbabies are your gift for not disposing of your children when they displeased you as toddlers. That’s all I’m saying. It’s your reward, really, for letting them make it to adulthood.
Conia [00:21:00 – 00:21:35]
So there you go, something to think about. We have connections. We have connections, and we want to honor those connections even in the midst of trial. Honoring the connections will buoy you. It will make your faith rise up. And we talked about this last week. And when we’re in that memorial phase, when we’re thinking about those people who’ve gone before us and we’re honoring them, then, now our faith rises up. It makes us lighter.
Conia [00:21:35 – 00:23:09]
It lifts those burdens knowing that people have gone before us and they’ve done hard things and we can go forward and do hard things because that foundation has been laid for us long before we were even born. So what does that have to do with walking it out? Well, let’s talk about what does it mean to walk all this out? So at the end of the last service, I talked about the sacrifice that Jesus made to give us the Holy Spirit, to cleanse us of our sins, to do all these things for us. And let’s look a little bit more at what all the things were that Jesus died to give us. If we’re not aware with why we’re doing something or why something was done for us, it loses some of its meaning. So as we talk about memorials, as we bring people to life by telling their stories, it’s important to get the details and the why, the wherefores in our mind so that we can now walk this out with purpose. So Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice, but what did that bring? What did that ultimate sacrifice yield? I’m so glad you asked. Jesus died first and foremost to give us eternal life. He wanted to reconcile us back to God so that we could have eternal life.
Conia [00:23:09 – 00:24:06]
And it’s in first John 5, 11. And this is the testimony that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. No one comes to God except through Jesus Christ. And when we’re reconciled to God, we get to live with him. We are seated at the right hand of God in heavenly places. And that is what gives us eternal life and separates us from the evil one that is reigning in the earth, that has influence in the earth. Jesus separates us from that and reconciles us, brings us back to God, adopts us into sonship as dear children through his death and resurrection, he gives us eternal life. Not just life after death, but a new quality of life right here and now.
Conia [00:24:09 – 00:25:08]
It’s said on earth as it is in heaven. It was never meant for us to be separate from heaven. We were supposed to walk as being in heaven, even though we were on this planet, planet Earth. So making sure that we are able to walk out what God originally wanted for us before the fall. Okay, the second reason or the second thing that happened when Jesus made his sacrifice, when we are adopted into God’s family, and I mentioned that a moment ago, but to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12 and Romans 8:17. And if children, then heirs, it’s a big word, heirs. Take some time and study that out.
Conia [00:25:08 – 00:25:55]
We’ll probably do a whole thing on being an heir and what it means to have sonship, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If you are a joint heir, you get everything the other heir gets. And we did not have to do what Jesus did to get it. That’s the ultimate sacrifice. That’s why we go walk out what Jesus died for. We’re not just saved, we’re adopted. And if you look in Old Testament, you research adopted, you’ll find that those who were adopted have had more status than those who were born in the household via blood. It’s a big deal.
Conia [00:25:56 – 00:26:52]
Adopted kind of seems like a second rate thing sometimes in our society. Adopted in God’s society is first rate. We got forgiveness of our sins when Jesus died in him. We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the richness of his grace. God’s grace is so rich, so rich, incomprehensibly rich. And our sins are forgiven because of that. There’s nothing that we have to feel guilty about once we have repented sincerely and come to God and said, I am so sorry, I don’t want to ever do that again. God says, okay, you’re forgiven.
Conia [00:26:53 – 00:27:17]
Let’s forget that and move on. And God forgets that for himself, not just for you. He wants to see you as lovely and beautiful and wonderful as he created you. And that’s his choice. And that’s what he chooses to do. You get the benefit of it. We get the Holy Spirit. I said a moment ago that Jesus said, if I don’t leave, the helper won’t come.
Conia [00:27:18 – 00:28:08]
But he did. And Ephesians 1:13 says, Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit Guaranteeing our inheritance. We don’t just have an idea of an inheritance. We have a guaranteed inheritance because the Holy Spirit comes to live and dwell with us. When we invite Jesus into our heart, it’s pretty cool. We get peace with God. There’s no enmity anymore. Romans 5:1 says, Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Conia [00:28:10 – 00:28:49]
We were at odds before. There was a tension, there was a disconnect between us and God. And there is none anymore. When you think of that word peace, all the complete, the total definition, any part of peace that you can think of, we got it all, every single bit of it. All of it. We get victory and authority because of what Jesus did for us. Luke 10:19 says, Behold, I give you authority over all power of the enemy. Satan now has no authority.
Conia [00:28:50 – 00:29:19]
None. He’s under your feet. The only authority he has, the only impact he has, is whatever you give him. It is your decision what happens with what Satan suggests, yours. Because God gave you that authority. We were given hope and a purpose. Now Pastor David talks often about hope. It’s a confident expectation.
Conia [00:29:21 – 00:30:20]
There’s no doubt there, and hope, there is no doubt. We say, oh, I hope so in our common slang. But I hope so the way we say it and I hope the way the Bible means it are two different things. The way we say it is like a wish and a maybe hope in Christ. It’s a confident expectation. And if you believe it, that’s the key, is you believing in God and trusting in him that hope comes to fruition. Ephesians 1:18 says, I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know, not think about, not get a glance, not have an inkling that you may know the hope to which he has called you. The riches of his glorious inheritance and his holy people.
Conia [00:30:21 – 00:31:18]
You’re holy. You are holy. So Jesus died to give us eternal life, adoption into God’s family, forgiveness, freedom, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, peace, victory, authority, a heavenly inheritance, hope and a divine purpose. That’s a lot. Now it’s time to honor that which Jesus died to give you by walking it out here and now in the earth. We don’t just get our train ticket to heaven and say, okay, I’m going to hold on and be good until I die and go to heaven. It’s on earth as it is in heaven. We get to walk this out now.
Conia [00:31:19 – 00:31:58]
And it would be dishonoring to Jesus and all the things that he went through. All that he died to give us. If we simply sat on everything that he has for us. I go back to my first example. If I don’t vote, that’s dishonoring to all those that fought for me to have the right to vote. If we didn’t abolish slavery in this country, or if we abolish slavery in this country, pardon me. And those people who were here said, you know what? I’m going to go to a country where there’s slavery and submit to being a slave again. That would be dishonoring to those who fought to set them free.
Conia [00:31:59 – 00:33:12]
If you have a refugee from a country and their parents left with the clothes on their back and their children under their arms to give them a place where they could be free and have a better life, and that child was to go back to the country under which they’re oppressed, that would be completely dishonoring to those parents who fought so hard to get those children out of the oppression. For us not to walk out, everything here in the earth that Jesus died to give us would be dishonoring to him. And not only would it be dishonoring to him, it would deprive God of the joy of seeing us walk that path out. Parents sacrifice in our country to give their children a college education. And they especially, especially when that child wants one. Right? Or when you. Let’s make it simpler. When your child wants that Barbie Dream Band for Christmas and, and you know what? Mom has to work a little extra harder or we have to scrimp here or save there to give them that Barbie Dream Band.
Conia [00:33:12 – 00:33:58]
That parent does that because they know the joy that the child is going to experience. And not only is it about the child’s joy is that parent gets joy when they see the child enjoy. So if we’re not enjoying everything that Jesus died to give us, we’re actually depriving our father, God of the joy. Watching us walk out what he sacrificed for, walk in what God gave you, walk in it so that he gets joy, you actually have the ability to give God joy. And we’ll talk more about that later. There’s some more. There’s more about joy. Just love joy.
Conia [00:33:59 – 00:34:34]
So having been restored to God through the death of Jesus allows us to live well here in the earth. We live free from guilt and shame. We have peace with God, and within ourselves, we gain access to divine wisdom and guidance. We walk with identity and purpose. We can live with joy even in trials. We receive strength and grace for daily living. We become vessels of healing and hope. To others.
Conia [00:34:34 – 00:35:08]
We walk in divine provision and care. We live with an eternal perspective and a heavenly authority. And we carry hope and unshakable confidence. And I’ve got to just leave you there. We’re going to look at how being restored to God through the death of Jesus allows us to live well here. We’re going to look at it a little more in depth here. In a couple weeks, I’ll get to part three because we’re about out of time. Brother David, Pastor David, he’s going to come and close us out.
Conia [00:35:09 – 00:36:02]
You’ll get to see him for the next couple of weeks, but I’m going to come back because we need to talk more about this joy that God gets from watching us walk out. Everything that Jesus died to give us. Father, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you for the sacrifice that you made and that Jesus made on our behalf. Father, give us your eyes to see that path that you have laid out for us, knowing, Lord, that when we walk that path out, it is the best possible path we could ever have. That when we walk it out in those footsteps, we get to feel your joy and you get joy from us. We love you, Lord. We praise you and we thank you.
Conia [00:36:02 – 00:36:05]
In Jesus name, Amen.
