Valley Gospel
A Pentecostal church experience.
Valley Gospel
The Spirit of Memorial Day
As we continue, we express our profound gratitude to those who have served and are currently serving in the military. In this spirit of appreciation, we commit to holding annual Memorial Day services to ensure their sacrifices are never forgotten. The episode builds up to a stirring rendition of "America the Beautiful," celebrating our nation's beauty and unity. Pastor Bob's closing blessing reaffirms our respect and appreciation for the service of these brave souls. Tune in for a heartfelt tribute that beautifully interlaces themes of gratitude, sacrifice, and ultimate redemption through Jesus Christ.
Well, a God will open. He'll open up the windows of heaven and He'll pour you out a blessing. My God will open. He'll open up the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing. My God will open. He'll open up the windows of heaven and pour you out of blessing and you will not have the room to know doubt because of you, but because he is good, and you will not have the room to receive Him.
Speaker 2:Hello, welcome to Valley Gospel Church Podcast. We are an independent full gospel church, worshiping in spirit and in truth, located in Springdale Pennsylvania. Worshiping in Spirit and in Truth, located in Springdale, pennsylvania. Our single mission is to present a message of truth and hope centered on Jesus Christ and Him crucified. So let's go into a service recorded.
Speaker 3:Live at Valley Gospel Church. Welcome you to Valley Gospel Church. This is our third annual I was thinking four, but it's third annual memorial service. We have come to honor and remember. We've come to worship and to pray and to receive the word of God. So please feel at home and let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come to you in sincerity. Pray, heavenly Father. We come to you in sincerity. We come to you in truth. We come to you to remember. Lord. As we honor our fallen tonight, we do so in gratitude and thanksgiving and we remember the awful price that you paid and the battle that you won and the salvation that you won for us. In Jesus' name, amen. I just want to share.
Speaker 3:I shared this little snippet this morning. I read a transcript this week. It was by the Reverend Billy Graham and it was a Memorial Day message. However, it was delivered 15 years before Memorial Day was recognized, in 1971. Billy Graham is in Boston to deliver this memorial address to the VFW and I'd like to take just a minute to share a bit of that message. It's not an accurate rendition, a bit of that message. It's not an accurate rendition and I kind of borrowed from Dr Graham this address. And so today, as we remember with gratitude the sacrifices of so many for our nation.
Speaker 3:In all the American idiom, there is no more endearing word than buddy. It is warm, it implies friendship, brotherhood and common purpose. Buddy, we're assembled today to pay tribute to those, our buddies, who poured out their full measure of devotion upon the altar of freedom. And as I bring it a little more modern and a little more to today, many of you gathered here could tell accounts, could relay dramatic stories of heroism. Tell accounts, could relay dramatic stories of heroism, whether it's in Europe or in Korea, or Vietnam or Afghanistan or Iraq, by your buddies, those who poured out their last measure of devotion in the theater of war. The sacred memories of the selfless attitude and the freedom they died to obtain will live forever.
Speaker 3:Those men and women in all the wars America has fought, purchased by their blood the freedoms we enjoy today in this, the land of the free and the home of the brave. The battlefields of the world should be hallowed and sacred to every American. And we pause, not only tonight but tomorrow morning, to give our highest honor, humbly realizing the sacred trust that these, our war dead, have handed to us the freedoms that we enjoy, the freedoms we sometimes take for granted, the freedoms we sometimes trifle with, were not bought with gold of billionaires or the intellect of science or the politicians at home, but by the blood, sweat and agony of those we remember today, the names that will be read tonight, the names on the honor roll tomorrow, the names we honor those that died that we might live, those that died that we might live, those that found and brave men and women of all the ages have found that there are principles that were worth dying for and our freedom comes at the price of shed blood. In fact, the greatest sacrifice of all time was made by a man on the cross. He died that men might live. We have neglected him, we have rejected his peace plan.
Speaker 3:All the wars fought all over the world, all the bloodshed, is the result of that rejection. Yeah, the bells of liberty will ring this weekend, but in my heart I go back 2,000 years to the Battle of Calvary One young man against all the forces of evil. It seemed fruitless, it seemed hopeless, it seemed helpless. And as Jesus, the Christ, defeated the prince of darkness, I envision it this way One hand stretched toward God, one hand stretched toward fallen man, and it connected. Hallelujah, hallelujah, and he cried it is finished.
Speaker 4:And he cried. It is finished. Those who were born closer to the middle of the 20th century. We happen to know who Joyce Kilmer would be If not somebody wasn't paying attention in English class. Joyce Kilmer was a poet. He was a New Jersey, new Yorker. He was over 30 years old when he went to the First World War and by this time he was already a published poet and a Roman Catholic and known throughout the city of New York, and he was also a National Guardsman. He chose to go with his regimen. When he was killed in 1918, his effects and his wife were standing on the steps of the armory when the 69th came home and she handed his crucifix.
Speaker 4:She handed Kilmer's crucifix to Colonel Donovan. Colonel Donovan was the regimental commander at the time and then it was passed on down through the ages. In World War II it was lost. The regimental commander was killed in the South Pacific and the effects were handed to a man who was not a New Yorker and he was told take the crucifix back to the regiment when the war is over. And he said okay, the next time you're in New York, okay. Well, the next time he was in New York was in the 1980s and he said okay, the next time you're in New York, okay. Well, the next time he was in New York was in the 1980s and he walked into the armory and said I have something that belongs to us, that belongs to the regimental commander. It's Kilmer's crucifix and to this day, if you were to go to the armory and the regimental or the battalion commander is there in his pocket is the crucifix.
Speaker 4:The crucifix went to Iraq and also went to Afghanistan. The military is based on tradition and I think Christianity is too. I hope that follows through with what you were saying. That's my story, and you can look it up.
Speaker 4:If you go to Google 1 slash 69 infantry, New York National Guard, there is a picture of Joyce Kilmer's crucifix.
Speaker 5:I'm working, bob, I can't be passing out no water and stuff. Anyways, it is. It's really good to be here. It's an honor to be here. I want to start with John 15, 13. Greater love has no one than this than to lay down one's life for another. Well, that's not exactly the way the scripture goes. Jesus says to lay down his life for his friends, and I believe that in this verse he uses the word friends because Jesus is telling these people who come to follow him that now that you've made this decision to come with me, you're not just nobody, you're my friends now, which makes it more willing for him to lay down his life for them. You know this personal relationship. But what about now? What about now? We come to honor the fallen, but I want to talk more to the ones that serve now. I'm going to honor the fallen, but I want to talk more to the ones that serve now.
Speaker 5:From the time you put your name on the application to serve in a uniform I don't care whether it's a military, fireman, policeman, first responder the time to weigh the cost of what that service might be isn't somewhere after you've signed. You have to weigh the cost before and during the signing. After that point, you're done. Jesus told his followers in Luke 14, before you begin this walk to follow me and I want you to, but before you do you need to look ahead at what it's going to cost. And if you don't think you can do this, my goodness, don't do it. Don't sign the line. If you don't think you can do it, weigh the cost. And our fallen soldiers have done that. They weighed the cost. The moment you signed, you've non-verbally told your family and your friends I may not be home today, your family and your friends, I may not be home today. I may not ever be home again. There's no more deciding whether you will go into battle, run into a burning building or even make that usual but potentially dangerous traffic stop nowadays. No, no, there's no deciding, it's an automatic yes, I'm there, I'm doing this. There's no time for hesitation. It's like you've got to go and this cannot be the land of the free without first being the home of the brave. It can't be One, don't precede the other. This has got to be the home of the brave. It can't be One don't precede the other. This has got to be the home of the brave and many of those who served to protect this land of the free didn't make it back home, and that's why we're here tonight to honor not only those on the list that you just read and those who couldn't make it back home, but we want to honor also those who leave their homes every day now, not knowing what this day is going to bring, whether their children will have a father or mother at the end of shift. Only God knows. Amen, amen.
Speaker 5:How is there any greater love than this? You may humbly say, it's just my duty. You may not even consider those you protect to be real friends. They may not even consider you to be friends and may not think that the service that you do is that important. If the war is not here at home, or the house that's and isn't mine, or the school that's being shot up isn't the one my kids go to, how is that any concern of mine? That's the way a lot of Americans feel nowadays. But yet, but yet you serve.
Speaker 5:Let me say this. You may not understand this. I don't know how many of you have accepted the Lord as your Savior, but you carry the same characteristics that we, as followers of Christ, see in Him Selflessness, willing to lay down their life for those around Him. I mean, if you don't know Him, I pray that you do. You guys have so much in common you and Him could have him. I pray that you do. You guys have so much in common you and him could have a good talk about what you do.
Speaker 5:Amen. I mean you just do this, you do this stuff without thinking. You run in there I mean, even in normal traffic style nowadays you got to be real hesitant about walking up to the door. I see the news, but who appreciates it? There's no greater love than this, and that's why we're here today. We want to show honor and respect to those who not only serve, but those who still serve. We're here at Valley Gospel Church to tell you that we see your love and we love you back, okay, three years in a row. We love you. That's why we love you. That's why we're here.
Speaker 5:None of us can predict what this year will bring or how many of us will still be here next year for a Memorial Day service, but we can predict this. We can predict this there will be a Memorial Day service at Valley Gospel Church next year. Amen, because we will not let the world forget the lives that were sacrificed so they can have the freedom to do what they do and to live safe and to be free. And to all those who served and those who still serve, we just want to say may the Lord bless you, and we do really hope that I'm not joking about the familiarity between you and our Lord Savior. I mean the courage, the humbleness to put this out. And for why? Why Love is the only answer, amen, Amen. I'm going to ask you to stand and Steph and Collette and Vicki are going to do a dedicational hymn for closing the service and then I'm going to have Pastor Bob come up and release us. But again I want to say, and we all want to say, thank you for serving.
Speaker 1:Oh beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, for purple mountains. Majesty Above the fruited plains, rooted plains. America, america, god shed his grace on thee and crowned thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea. Oh beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife who, more than self, their country, loved their country. Love and mercy for the blind. America, america, god shed his grace on thee and crowned thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea. Hey, crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea. Hallelujah To shining sea, hallelujah America.