Quoting from the 8th chapter of the Book of Nehemiah, verses 1-3, 5, 6, and 8-10, as well as the Gospel of Luke 4: 14 – 21, this was given at the Lynnville (IL) UMC on January 25, 2004… and it rings true even More-so today!?! 😦

       “Mayor Dawgmeat… and my beloved constituents of Dogpatch… I could stand heah and bask in the sunshine of your warm greetin’… forever!” “Bask on your own time Phogbound!” “Yeah. Git to the point!” “Now, I bet you’all been wonderin’ what Ah’ve been up to in Washintin these last eighteen years.” “We didn’t care just so long as you wus there and we wus here!” “Go ahead, Senator… tell ‘em!” “I done got the United States Senate to pass the Jack S. Phogbound Bill!” “Hurray!! … There’s no Jack S. like our Jack S.!” “Through ma’ efforts, little old Dogpatch… poor, unknown, poverty-stricken Dogpatch… is gonna’ be world famous!”

       I think that’s enough for now!

       During my junior year of high school at Edwardsville I played the part of Senator Jack S. Phogbound in the Edwardsville Junior Theater production of ‘Lil’ Abner’. These words are from my big speech at the beginning of it… yes, after all these years I still remember most of it!

       The fact is, many of my friends and family are sometimes amazed as how much I do remember. I can remember songs that I sang in eighth-grade boys-chorus as well as from each of the succeeding years … I can remember many of my teachers’ names as well as most of those of my fellow students… I can recall bits and pieces of different poems and speeches that I had to memorize for various classes…“I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree.” That was from the second grade. “How I love thy wondrous story, Illinois, Illinois!” Fourth grade! And I can certainly recall many of the incidents and experiences that I thought were ‘momentous’ in my life. I remember being baptized when I was fourteen or so, and almost word-for-word the talk that the elder had with me beforehand. I remember my first kiss (second grade), and my first new bike (eighth birthday). Indeed, I could go on and on and on.

       Over the years, though, some memories begin to fade… or to become ‘mixed up’ with others. It is also very true that we tend to remember those things which were pleasant and forget those that were not! So, occasionally I find myself being ‘called to task’ for a faulty memory by someone who claims to remember better than I, or by finding some physical piece of evidence that reminds me of what actually was! Furthermore, it sometimes gets difficult to remember something that happened just last week… they say that’s a sign of something, but I forget what! Generally, though, I do pretty well, and it has been my privilege to draw on many of those memories for the stories that I use in my articles and sermons… in other words, in the service of God!

       In the verses from Nehemiah we read how the Israelites gathered in the street and clamored to have the Law read to them. What is missing from these verses is the fact that the nation of Israel was just returned from captivity in Babylon… a situation that was precipitated by their falling away from God yet again! Now, God had forgiven them and reconciled them back to their promised land. But with the older generations not having followed the statutes nor passing them on to the younger before that captivity… and the fact that during their captivity most had not been allowed to hear the Law on any kind of regular basis, if at all… many would have had no memory of ever hearing these words and would have been hearing them now for the very first time!

       In these verses and those that follow we hear how the people of Israel opened themselves up to what was being read… they let the words of God spill over them and into them, filling their very soul, their very being… and even more importantly, they vowed to follow what they heard, and took steps immediately in that direction. The only problem was… we’re told that they went through this cycle of abandonment and atonement over and over again throughout the centuries… in other words, they would continually ‘forget’ who and what God was and all that He had done for them!

       In our verses from Luke, Jesus has just returned from His time in the wilderness where He was tempted three times by Satan. We learn that He “taught in the synagogues, and everyone praised him.” Then, while in His home territory of Nazareth, He attends the synagogue and reads this passage from Isaiah… “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

       How many of you could pick up a Bible right now and turn to that passage in Isaiah? (It’s from Isaiah 61.) Furthermore, until I just read it, how many of us remembered this particular passage from Luke? Just how good is our memory of the Word of God?! Even I rely on my computer and the programs that I have there to help me find various passages that I’m looking for! And yet, if each of us were to pick just one book of the Bible and commit to reading four chapters a day, the longest would be read through in one month, while many would be read through as many as four times in that same month… we would come to KNOW it! And we really do need to know it in order to make use of it… and defend it!

Now, it only makes sense that Jesus knew the Scriptures… after all; He had firsthand knowledge in writing them! But knowledge of the Scriptures doesn’t necessarily mean that one knows how to use them, or is using them properly. After all, Satan quoted scripture to Jesus while tempting Him in the wilderness. The Life Application Commentary points out what a sobering thought it is, “that Satan knows Scripture and knows how to use it for his own purposes! Sometimes friends or associates will present attractive and convincing reasons why you should try something that you believe is wrong. They may even find Bible verses that seem to support their viewpoint. Study the Bible carefully, especially the broader contexts of specific verses, so that you understand God’s principles for living and what he wants for your life. Only if you really understand what the whole Bible says will you be able to recognize errors of interpretation when people take verses out of context to make them say what they want them to say.”

It has been said on more than one occasion that Christianity is always just one generation away from extinction. Think about it! If the generations growing up behind us fail to grasp the true meaning of Christ… if they twist His words to mean things that better suit what they want to believe instead on what He meant… or even go so far as to dismiss Him as ‘legend’ or ‘folklore’… just ‘somebody who was a very good teacher and a really nice guy’… Christianity will die with us! Because you can be certain that people who do not believe in the validity of Christ will certainly make no effort to pass the story of Him on to their children, or to their children’s children!

I have been looking at some older Books of Worship and other period pieces, and I am amazed at how much things have changed even in just the last fifty years! The things that I can remember being taught as a child are argued openly by those who are supposed to be learned in such things. The truths that our parents and grandparents never questioned are now held up to ridicule or ignored. If we were talking strictly of social issues or matters of technology then I would say YES, by all means, change is sometimes good… and sometimes even necessary! But… if we are talking about the word of God, we MUST remember that it NEVER changes! It is as valid and accurate today as it was when Jesus Himself walked this earth! The only thing that should be different in today’s world is how we apply its principles to today’s issues! And the only way we can address that with any certainty is if WE know what it says!

Don’t trust your memory! Read your Bible! Read it regularly! Know what it says! Listen to what God is telling you while you read it! Then, when someone in Satan’s employ (even if they themselves are unaware of it) tries to tell you that what it ‘really’ means is this, this, and that, you can state unequivocally that they are wrong, and back up you declaration with the facts!

But, whatever you do, don’t stop there! Once you know it… once you have let God’s word flow over you and through you and around you… once you have let it fill you, just as the people of Israel did in the verses from Nehemiah… then you must pass it on… you must tell the story to others! And I don’t know about you, but I love to tell the story!

What story? Jesus Himself said it in the last of these verses… “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” The Messiah has come!