Remember

here in the United States we

celebrate we have three holidays where

we celebrate soldiers We have uh armed

services

day and that's a day

for men and women that are serving in

the military that are wearing a uniform

Then we have Memorial uh Veterans Day

and that's for men and women that served

in the military and came home and hung

up their

uniforms And then we have Memorial Day

and Memorial Memorial Day

um is for those that never got

back And

so tomorrow you're going to be running

around with people that

are grilling hamburgers and hot dogs and

maybe throwing steaks on the grill And I

want you to keep this in mind Memorial

Day is the most expensive holiday there

is is far more expensive than Christmas

or any other day that we celebrate

because we're celebrating Memorial Day

and the freedoms that we have because of

all the men and women that have died to

give the people in this country the

freedoms that they

have I was looking this morning I saw

that almost 60,000 men and women died in

Vietnam They didn't come home from

Vietnam

My

grandfather Harold Hensley lived over in

Typton My mom was born in October of

1943 And my grandfather enlisted in the

US Army And

um they sent him to

England And while he was there and

marching around waiting on his orders

from Dwight David Eisenhower whom he met

face to face

um they decided they were going to

land on

D-Day and my grandfather when if you

ever watch that old TV show World at War

and you see those amphibious troop

carriers that are going up to the

beaches at Omaha Beach and Anio my

grandpa was in one of those

He said as the storms and the sea was

tossed by the waves that men grown men

were puking over the sides of those

ships And when they hit the beach and

the front came down and they come out of

the front of those troop carriers seven

out of 10 men died on the

beach My grandpa survived

One of my dad's uncles was on the USS

Indianapolis in the south in in the

Indian

Ocean Had this ship shot out from under

him He watched 650 of his fellow

soldiers get eaten by sharks as they

were floating in the water waiting to be

found They were sunk by a Japanese

submarine

When you see a a man or a woman wearing

a

uniform remember that when they

leave they may not come

home And when they don't come

home it's because they

believed that the rights that we have in

this country are worth dying for

It it it hurts my heart in the worst

kind of way when I see people disrespect

soldiers You may not You may be a person

that believes we shouldn't go to war or

any of those things but you know what

that person has put that uniform on and

they volunteered because we haven't

drafted anybody since the end of Vietnam

Okay so everybody you see today wearing

a uniform chose to

go knowing that when they go they may

not come

home When they struck the Twin

Towers thousands of young Americans join

the the

military to protect the country we live

in This is what Jesus said about it He

says "Greater love hath no man than

this that a man lay down his life for

his

friends." That's John

15:13 Stop and think about it

When those people put those uniforms on

those young men and women when they

enroll into a military academy to become

an officer in the in the United States

military they're agreeing to do

something and that is to serve and

protect this

country against all enemies foreign and

domestic They don't want to go to war

They don't want to shoot other people

They don't want to launch bombs and

rockets or or torpedoes and missiles

from ships and

submarines They want their families

safe They want them free from

harm And they put the uniform on for

that

reason I remember talking to brother Koi

several occasions on campouts about his

time in

Korea And while he was in Korea where he

was at he was guarding the Hoch Min

Highway the Hoch Min road That's where

the Hochmen Trail My uncle was on a ship

out in the

sea in the United States Navy at the

same time They were both in Korea

Brother Coy told me that for half the

time he was in there they froze to death

because they sent him to they sent him

to Korea with jungle with jungle

equipment And Korea is not the jungle

It's mountainous snow cold He said they

froze every

night But eventually they got the right

equipment and they had good food And

what they were doing was they were

trying to keep communists from coming

down the Ho Chi Min trail and invading

South Korea That's why they were

there My uncle used to tell stories

about it But I'm going tell you about

the stories my grandpa told

They landed on Omaha Beach and they were

charging up the beach and the Germans

were firing on them and seven out of 10

men were dying within 5 minutes trying

to get up that

beach trying to

stop tyranny in

Europe going to protect the people in

France and all the other parts of Europe

And my grandpa was there and he talked

about how they they were finally able to

get up to the line and blow up some of

the the uh the machine gun nest and

things that were there on the beach And

then after they got they actually got

through Omaha Beach and they went in

there my grandfather went to the Battle

of the

Bulge in the United States

Army and fought there Saw men die from

both

sides And when they finally won my

grandpa's last duty assignment before he

got shipped

home they sent him to a concentration

camp to liberate the

Jews And my grandpa had

pictures It was the most horrible thing

you have ever seen of what one human

being can do to

another My grandpa said they were

walking skeletons They were skeletons

with skin stretched across them They

could just barely walk

6 million Jews die My grandpa said they

couldn't even bury them They used

caterpillars you know cat trackers to

dig mass

graves and through the body sick and

covered them with quick line and buried

them because there were so many of them

there was no place to bury them

He said it was a smell he could never

forget the

atrocities that were committed on these

people And this last week as I was

watching the

news there's a young couple in

Washington DC outside the National

Jewish Museum of

Washington The young man was a Christian

The young girl was a Jew They were

getting engaged They were going to get

married and somebody who has

been galvanized by all this stuff we see

in there walked up and killed them

both simply

because and he was he was a Christian

but he was also Jewish by birth and

killed them because they're

Jews and I

think that on this Memorial

Day when you're eating that hamburger or

you're having that hot dog or you're

eating that steak or you're having some

brisket I think you should

pause and I think you should recognize

that the fact that you're sitting there

able to do that is because somebody's

dad somebody's mom somebody's uncle

somebody's

grandparent somebody's

ancestor put it on a United States

military uniform and says "I will make a

difference."

and they shipped somewhere they had

never been to before because we haven't

had a war in the United States since the

Civil

War There's been no wars here We've been

in wars but not here not in our homeland

And all of these men and women have been

shipped worldwide all over the

world to bring peace to a world that

doesn't want

it And know that the rights that we have

as

Americans are rights that nobody else in

this world

has And so I want to remind

you that when you see a

soldier shake their

hand tell them you appreciate what they

do Tell them thank you for your service

Cuz they didn't have to put that uniform

on They chose

to They chose to

But those aren't the only heroes that we

need to remember We also need to

remember the heroes that were police

officers and first

responders and firemen that have also

died who puts that uniform on and goes

to work every day Do you know it's

actually harder on a police officer than

it is a soldier because every day a

police officer goes to work is a day he

has to keep in mind that he may never

never ever see his family again

that

day This might be the last time I get to

hold my child kiss my wife and walk out

my front

door because cops aren't protected

either They wear a lot of protective

equipment but they aren't protected

either There's a whole lot of people in

uniforms that protect us

They protect us from ourselves and from

each

other Remember who they

are And remember the people who came

before

you who stood in the gap in this

church who prayed for this

church who taught in this church so that

you today would have an opportunity to

do the same thing

can't bring them back from the

dead nor would they want to come They

went on to be with Jesus They kept the

course They finished their race They're

out of

here Now it's our

turn But what we should do is focus in

on what they did Not wishing they would

come back but realizing that we when you

had people here for

decades that prayed over this church

they fasted over this

church and their focus was on how can I

keep this church open and growing and

going forward And that was their focus

That is what they focused

on And so for 70

3 years 72 years actually for 72

years These church doors have remained

open There are no big eyes and little

U's in the sight of God And there are no

big eyes and little U's in the kingdom

of God There's only one King of Kings

and one Lord of Lords The rest of us are

under

him But not a single one of us sitting

in this church can do it alone It takes

all of

us Jesus said "Wherever two or three are

gathered together in my name there am I

in the midst of you." He said "A

three-fold cord cannot be easily

broken." When the church is in unison

pulling together all going the same

direction the church overcomes The

church has victory

If you ever see one of these movies

where they show where the lines in a

military action are broken you have all

these I like movies that's got knights

in them I thought that was pretty cool

that their armor and their swords and

all that kind of stuff I always liked it

when I was a kid But you would see what

would happen if the lion got

broke When that line got broke everybody

scattered But when they held the

line and they stood against the

tyranny they overcame the enemy that was

coming against

them And we

as the

church have to realize we have to do the

same

thing there There is no way not to The

enemy would love and I mean love to see

this church die

And we can't let

it We have to say "No not

today No not tonight I refuse to allow

this church to be killed because we

still have people to reach and we still

have people to minister

to The harvest is

ripe The workers are few Look around you

This is what God's going to use to build

this

church And so I want to remind you as

we're getting ready to go into Memorial

Day and you're going to have this

week ask God a

question Ask him "What can I

do how can I serve

help me to keep my focus on the things

you called me to

do so that I can help somebody

too We all have

ministry Your ministry is your ministry

My ministry is my ministry But all those

ministries work together They go hand in

hand for one purpose One purpose

only To reach the lost

to protect them just like the soldiers

protect

us And if we lose that focus and when

the if the focus

shifts we begin to lose

So I want to encourage

you take this

week ask God what do you want me to

do how can I

serve tell me how to reach

somebody Give me the

courage Cuz it takes courage Anyone

tells you that being a Christian is easy

thing is lying to you to your face It's

not Being a Christian is the hardest

thing in the world because you have to

take a stand against what's wrong for

what's right And I'm not saying what's I

mean what's right God's word You have to

take a stand for what's right God's

word So if you're a Christian you're a

warrior And remember that just like

those soldiers put that uniform on and

go to protect this country Paul said

"Put on the whole armor of God." That

makes you a soldier too with just as

much responsibility as anybody

else So with that I'm going to wind it

up I'm going to ask you guys to think

about

it and ask God "How can I do more what

do you want me to do

how can I reach the unreachable how can

I teach the unreachable how can I bring

those that are lost and dying but into

the light to receive everything they

need from

you and pursue

it everybody stand

Heavenly Father we just thank you and

praise you