Don't Forget to Remember - Rev. Dr. Claybon Lea, Jr.

54:05 You know the Lord didn't have to wake you up this morning. You know the Lord didn't have to give you another chance. You know that you and I don't deserve to have the day that we have. And yet God, who is abundant in grace and inexhaustible in mercy, has seen fit in the words of our ancestors to let our golden moments roll on a little while longer. Just throw your head back and tell the Lord, thank you. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. I greet you in the marvelous and majestic, magnificent, magnanimous name of our miracle-working Messiah, who is Jesus Christ of Nazareth, our risen, living, reigning Savior, King, and Lord, the one in whom we live, move and have our being.

54:59 And what a joy it is to be back with you again. And I am so privileged and honored that your pastor, my friend, your visionary, your leader, your prophet in residence would think enough of me to have me come back and share again today. And so, Dr. Haynes, thank you for this privilege and this opportunity to come and to be a part of the closing of this revival week. I am always honored to be in the presence of his dear and beautiful, precious, brilliant mother, Miss Lynetta Haynes Oliver. I just love that lady to life. I'm telling you, I'm telling you, I am grateful for her. Grateful for Deborah P. Haynes. Grateful for Albany Jewel. Grateful for Dr. Magruder, my Morehouse brother, that great titan from Morehouse College who continues to hold it down to all of the reverend clergy that share with us one of my little brothers that's here today always glad to see dr thomas garner garner who's here today and always delighted to be in his presence and all of you that are the officers and the leaders and the followers of the lord jesus christ here at the friendship west church it's just good to be here today. Pastor Haynes didn't tell me that today was HBCU and Divine Nine Sunday and so I happened to be traveling and already was packed and I had a little Morehouse shirt and cap with me but when I learned of it I wanted to make sure that not only Morehouse was represented but that other fraternity that your pastor likes to talk about a lot that protects him and guards him and watches over him keeps him safe who let the dogs out huh so i wanted to make sure that i was represented today and one of my good bros uh made sure that i was straight for today and so i'm glad to be standing here representing the mighty men of omega psi 5 fraternity incorporated hallelujah

57:08 the greatest men in the entire planet we're grateful jesus did say i'm alpha but he also said i'm omega and he did say that the first shall be last and the last shall be first so we give the lord thanks hallelujah listen let's get to the word of god i want to call your attention in the holy word of God to Deuteronomy chapter 6. Music ministry, thank you so much. Divine Nine Choir and band, thank you so much for your ministry to us today. And what a wonderful way to celebrate the Lord's Supper today with our young people leading us. I'm so impressed and so grateful for what God continues to do to form believers who are conscientious Christians through the Friendship West Baptist Church. God be praised for the awesome leadership of Dr. Frederick Douglas Haynes.

58:04 And I always remind you when I'm here of the importance of keeping your pastor lifted in prayer. I will say it every time I stand before you because it is so critical, even if your pastor didn't have everything going on that he does. But because he does, he needs all the more prayer. And as the Lord favors him to ascend to the seat of congressman, this fall he's going to need even more prayer because people are going to be coming for him that he didn't send for. And we're going to need to cover him because he's going to be dealing with far more spiritual warfare, not only in heavenly places but in earthly places. And so we want to cover him and lift him up in prayer as he lives out God's calling upon his life to make a difference in this world by reminding America in particular of the moral conscience that it is supposed to have in the way that it treats its citizens. Amen.

59:13 Deuteronomy in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy chapter six. Deuteronomy chapter 6 and I just want to lift up verse 12. I want to encourage you to read the entire chapter in your quiet moments as it constitutes the context out of which the content of this consecrated communication will be shared. But for the sake of time and our focus I simply want to lift up verse 12 in Deuteronomy chapter 6. If someone close to you virtually or in person doesn't have a bible would you please be kind and christian enough to share your bible with them this is the way the new international version translates the original hebrew text be careful that you do not forget the lord who brought you out of egypt out of the land of slavery be careful that you do not forget the Lord who brought you out of Egypt out of the land of slavery you may be seated in the presence of the Lord heaven and earth may pass away but God's word will stand forever be careful that you do not forget the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

1:00:43 I want to put a tag on this text today. And for the moments that are ours to share, I want to ask you to pray with me and for me. I still believe in the 21st century that when there is prayer in the pew, that there's more power in the pulpit. And one of the beauties of the black church is that preaching is a communal event. you don't just sit and watch the preacher you pray with the preacher and you talk back to the preacher i want to tag this text today as i'm led of the holy ghost don't forget to remember don't forget to remember be careful that you do not forget the lord who brought you out of egypt out of the land of slavery i ask you to keep your bibles open do your best not to go to sleep I don't want you to accuse me of making anything up. Don't forget to remember.

1:01:39 The Hebrew children have been liberated from the oppressive hand of Pharaoh by the almighty outstretched arm of Jehovah. Following the directions given by the divine GPS, Yes, Moses led them forward and camped them within days of entering the promised land. In preparation for the gift of a brighter and a better imminent future than they ever could have hoped for, Moses is led to share his and God's most pressing concern. it's noteworthy that their human liberator does not talk to them about strategy. He does not talk to them about how they will get into the promised land.

1:02:41 He does not talk to them about military maneuvers that may be required of them if they engage opposition. know of all the things that Moses could have talked to them about prior to going into the promised land. He emphasizes the critical importance of memory.

1:03:10 Remembering. Not forgetting. Read and hear afresh his command and God's admonition to these Hebrew believers. be careful that you do not forget the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Some translations render it out of the house of slaves. Israel is geographically and circumstantially free. But Moses is concerned about something deeper. Namely, it's one thing for a people to be bodily delivered from an oppressor. But not psychologically delivered from oppression.

1:04:07 It is one thing to get the people out of Egypt. It's another thing to get Egypt out of the people. It's one thing to free bodies, but it's another thing to free psyches. It's one thing to break the chains off of people's wrists and ankles, but it is another thing to break the chains on their minds and on their wills. this is what naim akbar highlighted as a post-slavery crisis for black people in his book breaking the chains of psychological slavery because he argued that while we have been emancipated for quite some time one of the greatest threats to us is that our minds have not had the shackles broken off of them.

1:05:07 As a result, many people walk around free living with a slave mentality. There is a concern about the confluence of amnesia that accompanies affluence. In other words, Moses is concerned that when they finally start bawling and shot-calling that their affluence will cause them to get a case of amnesia. He's concerned that as God prospers them in this promised land that they might fall prey to what's called apostasy that is forsaking the faith because they have an arrested development. He's concerned that they might start relying on themselves. You know we don't need God anymore. We can buy whatever we want and go wherever we want and live wherever we want and do whatever we want to do. And then they might start thinking that they are self-made women and self-made men who no longer need the God that brought them out. Eugene Peterson translates verse 12 in this way. Listen to it. When you take it all in and settle down, pleased and content, make sure you don't forget how you got there. God brought you out of slavery in Egypt.

1:06:46 Did you hear that? Don't forget how you got there. It's been said that at Alex Haley's farm in Tennessee that there was placed on the fence post as you enter and exit his estate a turtle and someone visiting him on one occasion was curious about the turtle and its significance and they asked Alex Haley they said why do you have a turtle on top of a fence post as you enter and exit your estate. And he said, because that turtle didn't get there by itself. And it's a constant reminder that with all of my success, I didn't get here by myself.

1:07:40 The Lord is the one who brought me. Come here, children of God. The Old Testament is shaped by what some call memory theology. The idea is that God has a way of working in the lives of people that causes them to remember God's mighty acts. Let me ask you, do you remember God's mighty acts in your life? whether you are gen a or gen z whether you are millennial whether you're a boomer whether you are a buster do you remember god's mighty acts in your life the ways that god made that you couldn't make the prayers that god answered that you thought would never come to fruition the doors that god opened that nobody could close and the doors that god closed that nobody could open do you remember God's mighty acts? That's the theme of the book of Deuteronomy. The book of Deuteronomy is a book of remembrance. Moses is preparing them for the promised land by making sure that they don't forget the God that brought them out. Are you listening to me? And so the question then becomes then what does Moses tell them they need to do in order that they don't forget to remember the Lord their God. Here it is simple and clear. One exercise your memory as rehearsal.

1:09:25 Exercise your memory as rehearsal. One more time exercise your memory as rehearsal. One of the worst things you can do is stop your memory from recalling what God has already done. Moses says, listen, God is the one who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Much of the Bible, Abraham, Joshua, Keshel, that rabbi of the Jewish faith, says that much of the Bible and what it demands is comprised in one word, remember.

1:10:19 History is, brothers and sisters, a confession. It's an idea that causes us to remember and recall and rehearse what has already happened in the past. The reason this Divine Nine choir could sing the way they did today and the reason that these musicians could play the way they play today is because they had something called rehearsal. And what do you do in rehearsal? you learn you review and you repeat and once you learn it and then you review it and then you repeat it you keep going over it and over it and over it and over it why? because you don't ever want to forget what you now know come here for a minute I don't want to allow this to be so simple that it insults your brilliant intelligence But sometimes you and I have a bad case of amnesia and we stop rehearsing the Lord, our God, who has been active in our lives, in the ups and in the downs, in the good and in the bad, in the ugly and in the beautiful, in the happy and the sad, the sick and the well.

1:11:37 God says, whatever you do, you need to keep exercising your memory as rehearsal. Anybody that's a physical trainer can talk to you about something that's called muscular atrophy. If you've ever had an injury, ever been in a cast, not been able to walk or not been able to move your arm, over time you experience what's called muscular atrophy. In other words, you lose the ability to use your muscle because you haven't been using your muscle. come here for a minute when you stop rehearsing how good God has been and then life comes in like a flood you'll panic because you haven't been rehearsing how God brought you through the last flood, through the last fire, through the last crisis I hope somebody's listening to the Lord today.

1:12:54 And God knows the history of black people must be rehearsed because it is a means by which black people remember and stay connected to God. There's no way black folks could have made it in this country without God. And so you got to exercise your memory as rehearsal, not just during Black History Month, but all year long, every single day, because our history is replete with beauty and power and brilliance and innovation and strength and royalty and riches and rulership and faith and family and community and tragedy and oppression and betrayal and fratricide and slavery. slavery and being regarded as property and not human.

1:13:49 The Jim Crow segregation, lynchings, murders, injustices, achievement, colleges, universities, congresspersons, senators, mayors, governors, a president of the United States, a vice president of the United States, a Supreme Court justice, at least one. Thurgood Marshall, corporate owners, pastors, professors. That's our history. And I'll just throw this in for free. I won't dwell on it. But you got to remember that black history didn't start on a slave ship. It started in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve because that's where white anthropologists and archaeologists have dug up the oldest human fossils ever found. And they were found in East Africa. Have you ever seen what folks in East Africa look like? None of our triumphs nor our tragedies could have been achieved or survived without God.

1:14:55 And so let me say to you, if you are a middle school student or a high school student or a college student, don't you ever forget God. don't ever take God out of the equation of your life keep rehearsing what God has done in your family and what God has done for you because the biggest threat to Israel which is the biggest threat to us is not ignorance of God's power it is amnesia about God's faithfulness Yes. Be careful that you don't forget to remember. How do you make sure you don't forget to remember? You make sure that you exercise, keep in motion your memory as rehearsal.

1:15:53 When you wake up tomorrow morning, I want you to wake up and start rehearsing. while you're brushing your teeth I want you to start rehearsing while you're putting on your makeup I want you to start rehearsing while you're putting on your sneakers I want you to go ahead and start rehearsing while you're putting on your tie for the day and your suit for the day start rehearsing how good God has been to you it'll make a difference but here's another thing What we learn from Moses is not only that you must exercise memory as rehearsal, but secondly, exercise your memory as resistance. Let the church say resistance. Exercise your memory as resistance. When he says to them, do not forget the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

1:16:57 remember that he is preparing them for what is to come. And as he prepares them for what is to come, their memory is going to be a tool of resistance. Because they will be challenged to commit themselves to refusing to forget God, refusing to rely on themselves and refusing to return to Egyptian bondage. Let me see if I can help you. When you exercise your memory as resistance, you are refusing to forget God. Now I know for you super spiritual saints that have been walking with God a long time, you're listening to me and looking at me like duh preacher tell me what I don't know I know that I don't need to forget God but are you committed to refusing to forget God remembering spiritually works like an antibiotic in the physical body that reduces and removes infection the flip side of making it being made prosperous doing well is forgetting who is the cause and who to remain loyal to and dependent on once things are better than they've ever been See, it's easy to remember God when you're broke, busted, and disgusted.

1:18:41 But you've got to refuse to forget God when you're making seven figures. Don't play with me. I've been on this earth too long. Oh, yeah, it's easy to remember God when things are chaotic. oh but when things start clicking and your career is going and you're popular and you're like a star rising in the stratosphere and things are i mean your partner now you're in the c-suite now you got your own business now i mean you doing the doggone thing that's when it's most dangerous to your memory. And you have to refuse to forget your God. Remembering as resistance requires the refusal to delete or be deleted from history.

1:19:38 What God has done for you. It's the refusal to permit the banning of our books. It's the refusal to permit the re-chronicling of our history. It is the refusal to not testify about your loving, liberating, justice savior, who is Jesus Christ. It is the refusal to be silent about our story and silent about injustices because we've seen how God has worked and defended us.

1:20:14 We have to refuse to forget God. So when you get up and when you get to the next level, whatever that is, make sure that you refuse to forget God as an act of resistance. But there's another element to it because you have to refuse to resort to self-reliance. dr king warned us about a tranquilizing drug of gradualism that gradually as you do better in life you can start to drift away from god you know how it is i don't mean to get in your business but in the words of your pastor i'm gonna get in your kool-aid because i know your flavor yeah because some of us are showing signs of self-reliance and the evidence is when things are going well we don't pray as much when things are going well we don't read our bible as much when things are going well we may or may not come to church. We may or may not log on.

1:21:32 Mm-hmm. Yeah. When things are going well, our fervor for God, our praise even, is not at the same level. But you watch people that lead praise and worship. Very often, when they really, really go up, it's because they're really, really going through. because there's something about trouble and trial that keeps us grounded and there's something about prosperity and goodness that causes us to ease up and start thinking that we pulled ourselves up by our own bootstraps. gotta be careful because we're always in this country and in this world fighting against self-reliance dr william augustus jones called it the evil triumvirate of the empire that is militarism and capitalism and then of course racism are always at work against certain people in this land and sometimes we can be victims of some aspects but then perpetrators of others yeah yeah yeah militarism will cause us to think that if we just put more money into ice than we're putting into the fbi and the cia that we can keep our country safe from people that we've demonized We don't need more troops.

1:23:08 We need more trust. We don't need more reinforcements. We need better recall. We don't need more weapons. We need more worship. We don't need more bombs. We need more genuine relationship with the bomb in Gilead. We don't need more might. We need more majesty. We don't need more secret intelligence. We need more divine dependence. We don't need more nuclear power. We need more of God's power. We don't need more atomic power. We need the one who has all power. We don't need more electric power. We need the one who has eternal power. We don't need more horsepower. We need the one who has heavenly power. We don't need somebody with physical power. We need the one who has supernatural power. We don't need more systemic power. We need more sovereign power. This nation will never be what it could be as long as it does not rely on God, but rather relies on itself.

1:24:04 Yeah, yeah. Oh, but then there's capitalism. Oh, there's capitalism. I'm not just talking about the systemic capitalism. I'm talking about the capitalism that you and I like. where we attach more of our self-worth to the brands that we can put on our shoulder and that we can strap up on our feet and that we can wear around our necks and around our wrists and and the like where you know we we create a culture that you're not really with it and you're not really doing much if if you don't wear certain brand names when all we're doing is making people that don't look like us more and more rich and then won't support our own community and engage in cooperative economics. Oh, I got one more for you. And then we're so caught up in capitalism, so caught up in greed, so caught up in ourselves that we don't even tithe.

1:25:03 I'm not the pastor here so I shouldn't have said that but it is true right we so busy trying to do our thing that we suddenly forget about God in something like our finances when Jesus said where your treasure is there will your heart be also Lord have mercy you gotta guard yourself against greed, brothers and sisters. Your net worth should be greater than your asset sheet and your investment portfolio and your accounts and your property and your jewelry and your wardrobe and your vehicles and your businesses because your ultimate worth is in God. Yeah. Yeah. You gotta refuse self-reliance. You gotta make certain that you fight against racism.

1:25:57 yeah you need God to win that fight we've been fighting this fight so long there's only one way we're going to win this fight and that's with God because policy is not going to do it the changing of laws is not going to do it you know what's going to be required for things to change regarding racism in America changed hearts if there's no change on the inside of people i don't care how good a people they claim to be that cancer inside of them called racism is gonna raise its ugly head every single time because it safeguards their place and space in society lord have mercy i don't mean to take too much time here but I need to make sure that I challenge you about making sure that you are making your memory work as refusal. Are you listening? And here's the ultimate thing especially for people of color people that have been in bondage before a part of this refusal means that you refuse to return to bondage.

1:27:18 yeah yeah it's gonna get good in just a second but let me just hang out here for just two minutes yeah the refusal to return to bondage in other words we've got to borrow a page from the modern jewish community in the aftermath of adolf hitler and all that the nazis did to try to annihilate the Jewish community. Those that survived made this vow and have required the same vow of every one of their descendants and it's couched in two words, never again. You better not allow Dr. Frederick Douglas Haynes III to be the only one out there fighting to make sure that our rights are upheld.

1:28:17 You better not allow him to be the only one out there championing justice. You better not allow him to be the only one out there on the front line. We all have to come together and we all have to say never again. No matter what you all do, we are never going back. We're not going back to being forbidden to read. We're not going back to believing in the curse of Ham. We're not going back to pass books as in the days of apartheid. We're not going back to voter ID cards without driver's license, real ID passports that have already proven our citizenship. We're not going back to a contemporary American iteration of Nazi Germany's Gestapo's under Hitler. We're not going back to Jim Crow. We're not going back to separate drinking fountains. We're not going back to back seats on the buses. We're not going back to back doors at restaurants. We're not going back to service regarded as subservience.

1:29:13 We're not going back to demonization, being disregarded, or being disrespected because we're children of the Most High God. We refuse to go back because our memory is intact. Are you listening to me? And so Moses helps them and helps us to understand, and I'm done. Helps them and helps us to understand that whatever you do, don't forget to remember as God moves you forward. The way you ensure that you don't forget is that you exercise your memory as rehearsal. Wake up every morning, rehearsing God's goodness. You make certain that you allow the exercise of your memory as resistance. That you're not going to go back, that you're not going to succumb to the things of this world and you are not going to allow God to escape from your daily practices.

1:30:17 But finally, finally, you've got to exercise your memory as rejoicing. Somebody say rejoice. Yeah, you got to exercise your memory as rejoicing. One more time. Moses writes Deuteronomy, preparing them to move forward by not forgetting where they came from. Wait, wait, wait, you missed it. He's preparing them to move forward by not forgetting where they came from. Which means that while he's talking to them about where they came from, he's rejoicing over where they came from. Oh, y'all missed it. I'm going to try it one more time.

1:31:10 He's talking to them about where they're going. Reminding them about where they came from. Which means he's rejoicing over where they came from. They're not where they used to be. They're not in the place that they used to be in. They have been set free because God heard their cries. God saw their affliction. And God, God's self came down to deliver them. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, what you have to get over in order to rejoice is you have to get over your scars. If you're going to go forward and rejoice, you got to get over your scars. Scar tissue has memory.

1:32:10 Scar tissue is the body's memory of trauma. If you have a scar anywhere on your physical body, it is a reminder of something that happened to you that created that scar that is on you.

1:32:37 For some of us, it was a cut. For some of us, it was surgery. For some of us, it was an injury. It was a tear. It may have been any number of things. But if you've got a scar, it is a recorder of your body's memory of trauma. It proves, however, that while you were hurt, you have been healed. Come on, I'm about to shout myself. that even though your heart was broken, that you've been healed because you had a God who was on your side. Are you listening to me? There's a piece of Japanese art, kintsugi. And kintsugi is a way that the Japanese found to make something beautiful out of broken pieces. What they discovered was when their precious pottery would fall and break, that it was not a hopeless cause.

1:33:51 what they decided to do was to put the pieces of the pottery back together again and then use gold to fill in the cracks. And the gold would then bind the pieces of pottery back together. And when people assessed the value of the pottery after it was broken with the gold that had mended it it became worth more after it was broken and put back together than it was before it was ever broken come here for a minute what god will do with your life is god will make kintsugi art out of your life and god will allow the broken pieces to be put back together and use your scars as a testimony.

1:34:48 oh he'll do it church i've got some witnesses in here that don't look like what they've been through because god was able to take their scars and make them stars i'm done i gotta get out of here now i've kept it too long but what i've come by to tell somebody today is that you ought to start rejoicing that you ought to look back over your life at the good and the bad and you ought to thank God for what God has done for you and when you think about your history and you think about what God has done for you D flat and we'll shout on out of here when you understand what God has done for you, then you'll understand that God has been a mighty good God to you. And that's why when I was a boy in my daddy's church, the old choir would come down the center aisle in procession and they'd start singing an old song and they'd start singing Woooo hey partir