The Tale Of Two Ships

i bring to this great congregation a true story a story of two ships each was named after one of the 50 states each was a battleship each saw action during the second world war yet for our purposes the similarities end there one saw action on the first day of the war while the other saw action on the last day of the war the fates of each were very different one lies in the feet at the bottom of a harbor the other floats just a few hundred yards away a victorious monument to the massive effort put forth by the united states of america to win that war if you haven't guessed already or your mind has not already went into this direction the first battleship was the uss arizona it was on that sunday morning december the 7th 1941 a day that still lives in infamy navy crewman prepared for worship services but to their amazement waves of japanese bombers flew across the hawaiian islands toward pearl harbor home to the united states pacific fleet the bomber pilots ignored lesser targets and focused their attention on the kings of the seven seas the battleships parked on battleship road like the roll call of the united states the oklahoma the california the nevada the west virginia each were attacked yet they fade in comparison to the sinking of the arizona the average age of the nearly 1200 crewmen was 23 years young they all sank on this ship and that ship remains where it sank floating just a few yards just a few hundred yards away is the second ship the uss missouri the mighty mo some call it it joined the pacific fleet close to the end of war world two it would later do battle in the conflicts of vietnam korea and even the persian gulf but its supreme moment came 75 years ago it was while anchored in tokyo bay delegations from the allied axis powers met on the mighty moe's deck here the japanese surrendered and the second world war became history the missouri now floats close to the arizona her guns drop in salute to her sunken comrades on the arizona

hear me the uss missouri represents the place everybody say of victory and the uss arizona represents the place and everybody say with me of defeat you've got two vessels that represent two spectrums of time uss missouri represents a place of victory the uss arizona represents the place of defeat but i stand before you on this on this cloudy and somewhat dreary sunday morning and declare that within our lives are two similar ships one is loaded with our victories and our successes our own personal mighty mo while the other ship is filled with our defeats what i would call our failures our mistakes our shortcomings and as at pearl harbor we normally choose to float our victories but put our defeats out of sight

it reminds me of the two statements made by the apostle paul at first glance they seem to suggest such a great contradiction but hear me in first timothy 1 12-15 and i thank christ jesus our lord who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful putting me into the ministry who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor an injurious but i obtained somebody shout mercy i obtain mercy because i did it ignorantly in unbelief and the grace of our lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in christ jesus this is a faithful saying and worthy of all exception that christ jesus came into the world to save sinners somebody say that with me jesus came into the world to save sinners despite what you may think despite what you may have been taught that jesus christ his main purpose in ministry upon this earth was to save people just like you and i hallelujah paul would ride on to the church at philippia at philippi philippians 3 13-15 brethren i count myself not to have apprehended but this one thing i too forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth under those things which are before i press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of god in christ jesus let us therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded and if anything ye be otherwise minded god shall reveal even this unto you a war raged in the great with it within the great apostle paul the war centered upon what he chose to remember and what he chose to forget have you ever felt that way have you ever prayed a prayer like lord you're the one who created this mind who created our memory who created the capacity to remember but god you're the one who can remember and forget god and we're made into your image were made in your likeness we too remember and forget but lord sometimes it's a little more difficult to remember both our victories and our defeats

so i present to you today the tale of two ships paul one of the greatest men to ever walk this planet a writer of two-thirds of the new testament i like to look at paul as he had selective memory what we do normally what do we normally do what do we normally choose to remember each of us has a trophy room in our lives we want people to gaze into it we want them to see our successes and our accomplishments we want them to see the good side of us but we don't want to you know look at the trophy room but don't look at the room of my failures don't look at the don't look in the room and peer into the room of my mistakes and my shortcomings and my you know what we're really doing in the tale of two ships we like to float our victories but we love to sink our failures in a seeming contradiction in spirit in scripture and in spirit paul argued the exact opposite brother weaver he said that's not really the way that we should be thinking and embracing this thing called life paul chose to forget his victories i know that's contrary to a world that we're living in sister paul where where it's debating the the divine realization and the divine relevance of the word of god that it was inspired by god paul said to the philippian church this one thing i do forgetting things which are behind and i've read this scripture many times and how often i've used this verse to justify forgetting our mistakes i would suggest that more times than not when i've used that scripture in pulpit and in message i've used it in context or in this context forgetting those things which are behind forgetting those things that i've done forgetting our failures but is that really what paul had in mind what did paul choose to forget what did he choose to forget

for the setting of this verse is found in paul paul's weariness with the with with the judaizer the judaizers of the day those hebrew christians who attempted to drag gentile christians back under the jewish ceremonial laws these men bragged about their heritage their bloodline their primacy paul's pen anointed by the holy ghost took issue with these people who would brag about their victories and who they were and we find in philippians 3 4 through 7 7 though i might also have confidence in the flesh if any other man think it that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh i more i'd circumcise circumcised the eighth day of the stock of israel of the tribe of benjamin and hebrew of the hebrew do you hear his lineage of qualifications or what i would call victories man he had paul had it all together he come from the right stock then he would say a hebrew of the hebrews as touching the law of pharisee concerning zeal persecuting the church touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless but what things were gained to me those i counted it lost for christ what everybody else thought was a victory what everybody thought well paul's got it going on paul's done this and paul's done that paul said i don't look at those victories the way that you look at those victories i i count it all lost for the cause of christ paul listed the seven acts that he did in the flesh had paul so desired he could have sailed the seven seas of the jewish faith on these accomplishments but paul in effect said no i will not rest upon these successes i will i will forget these things whatever was a success to paul he forgot about it and set about to win christ it was christ and him crucified everything but christ in paul's trophy case was forgotten and treated as nothing but garbage and in light of what christ had accomplished for him church paul sank his successes he forgot his victories but paul remembered his defeats contrary to most under the sound of my voice this morning paul not only forgot his victories he chose to remember his defeats his success stories were deep beyond the surface they were submerged in his thought process but his failures is what floated to the top and was ever before him and was quick to talk about quick to share with those that were around him to timothy the son his son in the gospel paul said i was a blasphemer i was a persecutor i was injurious timothy don't ever forget that all of us are sinners and jesus came to save but he would look at timothy and say i am chief of the lot he didn't put it in past tense i was the chief center he put it in present tense i am the chief center paul didn't get far in his mind from the past he knew how far god had brought him from i think that's the danger that we live in today we're so focused on our victories that we forget our defeats and where god's brought us from how he brought us out how he delivered us how he saved us how he ransomed us we forget where we came from we're so victory minded and i'm not against being victory minded i believe we are overcomers why not because of our be we're overcomers by the words of our testimony what has god done for you where has god brought you out of what has he brought you through never forget those things may we never forget where he brought us from there's no contradiction there's no contradiction that paul was sharing with us paul forgets his successes but in first timothy paul remembers his failures

i feel in our altar service in just a few moments of time i feel there's going to be a divine exchange some of you some of you walked in here heavy burden and heavy with guilt and condemnation but there's about to be a divine exchange if you'll get these two points i'm gonna make god will remember what i choose to forget you hear me somebody just like the judaizers that paul faced throughout his ministry we too tend to measure our righteousness and worth by victory we measure our i i guess our worthiness by our victories we notch our belts we we walk into the house of believers that are that are filled with the spirit and we we march in with with a sense of accomplishment and then attempt to tower over everyone around us because we feel superior because of our victories but god wants us to forget her accomplishments in the flesh our victories are nothing but traps in disguises if we're not careful let me let me help you right here that's what gideon learned his army was of 32 000 went to fight the midianite force of approximately 135 000. the enemy stacked up against him it was a five to one odds but god wasn't satisfied with these odds he told gideon to tell the fearful and afraid go home they did it left ten thousand warriors i get inside and the odds went from five to one to thirteen to one but finally when god got finished reducing the army he was left with 300 men and odds unlike any that he had ever seen 450 to 1. the lord allowed gideon to lead his people that 300 on that fearful and frightful night would take 300 pictures of clay 300 lamps that were lit 300 voices that would be heard shouting the sword of the lord and of gideon and victory was proclaimed and received on that night victory was in the count victory was being noised and talked about the sword of the lord and that of gideon the sword of the lord and that of killian but hear what happens next time would pass as it always does and soon gideon forgot about the sword of the lord he seized upon the gold he seized upon the silver he seized upon the precious stones that captured they captured in victory and over the midianites and fashioned them into a shrine the bible says the thing became a snare to get in into his house judges 8 27 if we're not careful church we can become a lot like gideon we too soon forget about the sword of the lord and all we focus on is the sword of our own selves we forget the power of god that was at work in our life that caused us to succeed in the triumph and to be victorious and we focus on our own intellect our own abilities and we engage in what i call a little rewriting of history where we minimize god's involvement and maximize our involvement god knows that the enemy would love to use our victories as our biggest snares god help this church help us as individuals help us as families never forget it's all because of him it's all because of the lord it's all because of his power working in us oh i've seen this happening you've seen this happen we matter of fact let me just level the playing field we probably all have been guilty in this time from time to time more people lose out with god during times of prosperity than in times of poverty more people walk away from god when things are good than when things are bad we usually make shipwrecks of our lives while we're sailing on the seas of self-confidence i can fix this i can do this i've achieved this i've done this and if we're not careful that sea that was flowing and it was just smooth everything i had the word had the cat by the tail i had the world i i had it all together but one storm come one wave come and our ship is taking on water and here we are crying out to god help me

the first exchange that i believe the lord wants you to do today in this altar in this time of prayer in a few moments it's offered by god god will remember what you choose to forget if i forget my victories he'll remember them brother smith if i forget my victories if i forget my accomplishments if i forget everything you know who's remembered he's remembering it doesn't become a snare to me anymore it doesn't become a distraction to me anymore what i choose what god wants to do today is ensure you i'll remember what you choose to forget perhaps this is why paul boasted of his weakness he glorified in his inabilities because the more paul forgot his strengths the stronger he became my strength in my weakness thy strength is made perfect he acknowledged that in second corinthians 12 5-9 what he was really saying is what i choose to forget god chooses to remember i can't do this by myself i can't live i can't walk the halls of my high school by myself without the power of god i'm going to fall i'm going to fall prey to temptation i can't walk to schools i can't go to college i can't go into my workplace that's littered with all manner of liberal liberal thinking that this antichrist the spirit of the world it at work right now it's gonna take god to see us through this hour i wanna i want you to listen to what john the baptist proclaimed he must increase i must decrease we magnify god's abilities and not our own the smaller i get the bigger he gets i said the smaller i get the bigger he gets could it be the wise writer that would say oh magnify the lord with me and let us exalt his name together i think the magnifying glass has been too long on us and we need to flip it around and say god i know i can't make you any bigger than you already are you feel the universe the earth is your the heaven is your throne and earth is your footstool but i just need a fresh revelation of how big you are and i just need to magnify you and not me i had to ask myself last evening as i was praying why did god allow david to defeat a lion and a bear and finally a giant with nothing but a slingshot because god didn't want david thinking that these feats had been done in his own strength first samuel 17 37 david said moreover the lord that delivered me out of the paw of the line and out of the paw of the bear he will deliver me out of the hand of this philistine and saul said to david go and the lord be with thee david wasn't about to step on a battlefield without knowing that god was with him he knew he was powerless without god by his side he knew he could not win this battle david was a man after god's own heart he knew that victory would happen victory would be accomplished as a result of the mighty god not the mighty moe the mighty missouri is a whole lot different than the mighty god in christ the battle the victory the glory belonged to only god yet yes i say this if we forget our victories god chooses to remember them heaven has a crown waiting for those who forget their victories down here oh i believe some of you are going to receive a soul winner's crown a martyr's crown for some crowns of rejoicing crowns of faithfulness crowns of eternal life god keeps good records much better than you and i hebrews 6 and 10 for god is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor hear this that labor of love which you have shown toward his name and that ye have ministered to the saints and do minister i know this is almost uh an oxymoron it maybe it's maybe it's it's challenging your thinking and i thought we were supposed to remember our victories and i thought we were supposed to relish in those great accomplishments of life but hear me for the context of this message maybe we should do a better job for getting our victories and know that god won't god never forgets a cup of cold water given he doesn't free he doesn't he doesn't forget a sleepless night where you got on your face before god and pray he doesn't forget those times you visited the homeless the incarcerated the hopeless the destitute he never forgets a cloak or a shirt giving away a car giving away a home given god keeps good the least may forget your friends may forget but jesus said i won't forget first corinthians 15 58 therefore my beloved brethren be ye steadfast unmovable always abounding in the work of the lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the lord that's a divine exchange no sacrifice church goes unnoticed nothing is in vain we can forget our victories because god will not the best part of my message today is going to be how i am the first part was god will remember what we forget but i've come to help somebody in the holy ghost

god will forget what i choose to remember somebody needs to hear that right now in the holy ghost god will forget what i choose to remember what's that mean to me we learned this lesson early in our and our born again experience god forgives us when we confess our shortcomings to him but as we remember our failures god forgets them why shouldn't it be that way throughout our whole christian experience if we continue to remember our failures we may not come to church with pious on our face game faces on self-righteousness in our spirit thinking we're better than somebody else and forget where we came from oh god help us we might come to church next sunday understanding i am vulnerable i can be transparent i am media i am hungry we all are in this i know we've got most of us in this room we've got a house to go home to we've got food we've got a car we've got gas we've got a job more than likely we've got the necessary means to survive but hear me there may be fewer pharisees and more publicans in the church if we heard god you're so good to me i can't complain so i feel like sometimes we get the attitude god i'm so good instead of god you're so good to me we might hear people confessing their complete inability and ultimate reliance upon god if we just chose to remember our defeats this is a place where we should hear more of woe is me instead of wonderful as me hear me sometimes we can be quick to point out others mistakes but not our own but if we place our ears to the rails of the scripture and we look at history we would hear great saints remembering their failures not in condemnation not in condemnation but in conviction that god is able to do whatever you need him to do in your life we find throughout the books of this great bible a list of great men and women remembering and talking about their failures but when i hear the stories of paul and i see the stories of david and i see the transparency of what i'm hearing i'm hearing a man i'm hearing a woman that falls upon the rock of self-judgment rather than having the rock of divine judgment fall on them it's one thing to understand and we fall upon the rock and are broken instead of the rock coming and falling on me and shattering me to pieces david said in one of the most famous psalms ever written my sin is ever before me i can't run from it it's always before me i know i'm forgiven yet i won't forget how weak i really am and how much i need god i'd never want to wake up a day brother chris and say i don't need to pray i don't need to cover my mind in the word i don't need to cover my spirit i don't need to quit watching my surroundings i don't need to quit watching my peer influences i don't need to silence the voice of my pastor i don't need to silence the voice of my youth leaders i don't need to silence the voices of those that are looking out for my good i need god scripture won't let us forget that mary magdalene was a woman from whom jesus cast out seven devils i just wonder if it's found in scripture because mary wanted it there or god wanted it we know god wanted it there but i wonder if in the transcript if mary got a got an insight you're going to put me in the printed word you're going to put me in the bible you cast out i don't want nobody to know when i had seven devils that's the way we want to think in 2020. i don't want anybody to know i'm struggling i don't want anybody to know i fall and i don't want anybody to know i've got a struggle but mary i believe she didn't want anybody to forget how far she had come how far that god found her yes i had seven devils but on that day jesus spoke into my life and changed me oh may we never forget where he brought us from oh listen to paul give his resume gone are the seven works of the flesh that he had performed to qualify him they're sunk now in the bottom of the what i would call the sea of forgetfulness no those things that should have qualified him are sunk but paul chose to float his failures before us so we could all see what he had done he allows us to see his defeats he knew that he persecuted blasphemed and tormented god and his church he knew that he was the chief of sinners and he told people that the more paul described his failures the greater and more abundance god's loving grace came to him pastor why should i remember my failures hear me write this down god's mercy can only be measured by my failures oh god's mercy's measured my vic by my victories no god's mercies are measured by my failures that's the second divine exchange god forgets what i remember the more i remember my failures the more he forgets them isaiah 43 25 i even i am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sakes and will not remember thy sins i remember him he forget i remember him but he forgets them i forget my victories in my flesh and he remembers him he takes good notes he understands when i remember my sins

musicians come god forgets them as i keep my failures on the surface and realize the frailty of my human existence i never internalize them with a self-righteous spirit god allows them to disappear from his memory micah 7 18-19 who is a god like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage he retaineth not his anger forever because he delighteth in mercy he will turn again he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea god god one of us has got to forget god i'm choosing on this sunday morning to forget my victories and remember my defeats because when i remember my defeats i remember my reliance on you please stand all over this house i don't know who i preached to today but i know you may have to let this settle in your spirit because it's quite contrary to the way we think but if i could convince somebody to walk to this eye walk down these aisles and come to an old-fashioned altar and say god i'm choosing today to forget my victories i'm choosing to forget my victory that's right just respond i'm choosing to forget my victories because you remember them but god i'm choosing to remember my failures my inadequacies my shortcomings i'm choosing to remember them because i can do nothing without you when i choose to remember you choose to forget there is a spirit of condemnation that is going to lift off of your mind today the guilt of your past the shame of your past is going to begin to lift as a heavy weight off of your shoulders and you're going to start walking in a dimension of power and authority as god begins to shift something in you in your weaknesses god's strength is going to be made perfect in your inadequacies in your shortcomings and your failures in your acknowledgement god i can't do this by myself we're going to turn our reliance to him and him alone oh where would i be he only knows i don't know where i'd be today i know where i'd be i can give you a guesstimate i promise you me and this lady would be in a divorce court would have been in a divorce court i would be an alcoholic today i would be strung out on drugs today i would be tossed to and fro from here to younger i know where i'd be if it had not been for the grace of god but i'll never forget my failures floating to the surface i forgot all of my successes in life we had a good life we had a good career but this was broken this was shattered we had it going on had a beautiful young family in the enemy dost has rocked us to sleep distracted us but something happened it was something that happened one day that something shifted in my spirit something shifted in her home the power of confession a confession that i could not do on my own a confession that could not come just casually but when i choose to sink my successes and float my failures the tale of two ships would rewrite my life story i stand before you on pastor appreciation day our 11th pastor's appreciation day because i let once what because i let one ship sink and one shield flow i stand before you today and tell you let me just tell you what mercy did for me mercy restored a home mercy restored children mercy restored and put a ministry inside of two individuals mercy put a future in us mercy put compassion in us mercy took condemnation and guilt and shame but it breathed purpose in us it allows me to stand and preach a message that i feel that god allowed me to give you today and to tell you emphatically without reservation if you'll cast your victories at his feet you'll remember but if you'll let your failures surface not in guilt not in shame but in thankfulness for his mercy

maybe somebody in this room needs to repent maybe you need to confess your sins maybe you need to surrender your life to the lord maybe you need to say god i stand here like paul a sinner in need of grace i want to tell you when you open up your mouth and ask god to forgive you he does just that and you'll live the rest of your life in appreciation you'll live the rest of your life in gratitude for his mercy that would be shown to you i just wonder today if there's one or two or three that will slip up their hand we're not looking we're not looking and observing anybody but ourselves that would say pastor i need to lay some things at the cross today i need to lay some things i need to lay some successes i need to lay some self-reliance at an old-fashioned altar and i need to remember i am nothing but dust i am nothing but flesh i can do nothing without you anything and everything i am is because of you lift that hand right now all over this house and why don't you lift that hand and lift the other one with it and begin to cry out unto the lord some of you need to respond to this altar find you a place to pray god wants to forgive you of your sin god wants to forgive and forget what you choose to remember other in the name of jesus that's it let there be a response let there be a response of the heart god i'm sorry god i need you god i surrender my life to you i pick up my cross and i follow you what on a husband take a wife by the hand why don't a wife take a husband by the hand why don't somebody standing near you you just joined if it's appropriate place your hand on their shoulder maybe it's a maybe it's a dad with their children or a mom with their children grandparents aunts uncles find a place of connection and may we never forget our need of mercy our need of grace it's all about it's all about you it's not about me i decrees it's all about you it's not about my degree it's not about me and i decree is i'll be heard in the sanctuary today god today god degrees you