Jeremiah 31:31-34 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘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.”
Second, we are told is to remember God’s covenant and promises that He has made for us. We stand on those promises, so we need to remember them. We need to have a memorial in our heart for God providence. The covenant that God desires for us to remember is His new covenant. God instituted this new covenant and promised to fulfill it Himself. The Cross is a memorial to the atoning sacrificial death of Christ for the payment of the sins of the world and our redemption; empty in His Resurrection, conquering sin and death. The Lord Jesus gave His disciples a memorial in the Lord’s Supper as a remembrance of everything that He did for them. Through the bread and the cup of Communion, we remember His death on the Cross and the blood that He shed in God’s plan of Salvation. There is praise when God moves on our behalf because we know that God has never forgotten us and delivers us.
Isaiah 49:15-16 “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.”
The perfect love of God never forgets. The Lord is our providence because God’s love is unconditional and all encompassing. It is difficult for us to know, understand or believe the depth of the love that God has for us. In saying: I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands, our heavenly Father’s love is indelible (fixed and permanent). You cannot be washed away because you are inscribed on the hands that created the Universe and His hands lovingly hold us. Jesus’ nail pierced hands show the love that has engraved you on His also.
Third, we need to set a beachhead on the ground that Jesus has already taken and secured. Once we have experienced God’s deliverance and enter into His promises, we need to set up a memorial in our hearts for our lives. It is a protected area, safe to enter, supply ourselves and dispatch into enemy territory for campaigns within the Promised Land, then return, refresh, re-equip and redeploy from. That’s the way that the Christian church needs to be today. The devil is the enemy and he is out there wreaking havoc on this lost and dying world that is fallen in sin. We have to take the ground and souls for the Lord. The church is for the equipping of the saints (those who have been sanctified), trained up, stocked up, and ready for battle in winning souls for the kingdom of God. Jesus came to seek and save the lost. That is our calling and commission. The devil is making great strides in the darkness of sin and unbelief to supplant God and increase the population of Hell. Christ’s church needs to restock, replenish, dispatch and take the land back. There are some pseudo-Christians that they do not need Christ’s body of Believers in the church. They do not understand the value of what has given them to do through the church united as servants and soldiers for God.
The pillars of the Christian church are (a) the Fellowship of caring Believers supporting and building each other up with share and prayer in the faith and mission. (b) is the pillar of Evangelism, which disciples reach out to others, witnessing for Christ of the Gospel of Salvation and to make disciples in the knowing knowledge that leads to saving faith. (c) is the pillar of Discipleship, where the house of God is taught and knows in the nourishing knowledge of Jesus Christ from within for equipping and improving the body for Good Works. (d) is the pillar of Mission, winning souls and making a difference in our community, nation and the world for the advancement of the kingdom of Christ. We need more missionaries in this country winning souls for Christ because the devil is aggressively taking ground here in media, government, schools and in many pseudo-churches. (e) is the pillar of Ministry, which is a structure and environment that enables the church body to compassionately participate to help to our community by our gifts, strengths and passions for the kingdom of God.
Church is not a place of exciting entertainment, but of heartfelt worship and praise. For gratitude in salvation, adoration of the Almighty and His amazing grace, repentance of sin, prayer for guidance and the filling of the Holy Spirit. For group study, community, accountability and rejoicing together. We need to move forward and take ground from the enemy, winning it back for the King of kings. What’s next? Set up a memorial in your heart for Jesus Christ, who gave His life that you could have eternal life in Him.
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