PLAY IT AGAIN DOOLEY

Hello friends...Quick...what animal never forgets? If you are my friend Red...the Sweet Canadian Mist (and I don't mean the drink)...you immediately said ELEPHANT. I don't know if that is true...but I never forgot that somebody has said that an elephant never forgets.

You must REMEMBER this
A kiss is just a kiss
A sigh is just a sigh
The FUNDAMENTAL THINGS apply
As time goes by

IN 1942...the movie Casablanca was released starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. It is a classic movie with classic, quotable lines. It also has one the most misquoted lines in the history of quotable movie lines..."Play it again Sam." It was never said...but we REMEMBER it that way. (You get extra points if you e-mail me back..what was really said). Sam...was played by Dooley Wilson who played piano and sang at Rick's. The song that was to be played was one that evoked bittersweet memories for the two love birds in the story...AS TIME GOES BY. In preparation for the Lord's Supper today at church...I was in my shower getting ready...and was RUMINATING on a Scripture that I read from II Peter 1:3..."This second epistle beloved, I now write unto you ; in both which I STIR UP your pure minds by way of REMEMBRANCE." As the water was cascading over my head...I began to hum...As Time Goes By. The words REMEMBER...and the phrase...the FUNDAMENTAL THINGS APPLY jumped out at me.

The person picture here is a great character actor...who has been in movies like the 1939 classics...Gone With The Wind (Gerald O'Hara)... and The Hunchback of Notre Dame with Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara. He was also in High Noon with Gary Cooper and in the movie Lost Horizon. Of course we Wonderful Lifers...no him as UNCLE BILLY...that lovable scattered brain Uncle...who lost $8,000 and set into motion...the loss and recovery of George Bailey. One of the hallmarks of Uncle Billy was he was so forgetful...that he would always wear various series of strings around his fingers...so he would not FORGET.

Since we are NOT elephants...we...or at least I do...tend to FORGET things with the PASSAGE OF TIME. Elvis' song MEMORIES...sings of memories, pressed between the pages of my mind...memories...softened through the AGES, just like wine. Of course...you have heard the old adage that.. "time heals all wounds." But there are some things that you just don't want to forget. When we tend to forget...we tend to repeat the same mistakes over and over again. As Randy Matthews sings..."Forget the mistakes...LEARN THE LESSONS." Darell Worley...sings about the tragedy of 911...HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN?

I think Jesus knew the nature of our minds. Out of sight... out of mind. With the passage of time...we either totally forget...put things on the back burners of our minds... or we tend to romanticize the event.

Jesus also knew that we would need a tangible reference point to trigger the important thing that he wanted us to remember. The song...from a 1942 movie reaches back to the time of book written in 66 A.D.(II Peter 3:1)...back to a book written in 56 A.D. (I Corinthians 11:23-34)...back to the original statements by Jesus back before A.D...became A.D (Matthew 26:26-30/Luke 22:19).

DO THIS IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME. Do what? Take bread...symbolic of His Body...take wine... symbolic of His blood...and REMEMBER. Remember What? As the song As Time Goes By speaks about... THE FUNDAMENTAL THINGS APPLY. What are the FUNDAMENTAL THINGS? I'm glad you asked.

DEATH...BURIAL...RESURRECTION...NOTHING MORE...NOTHING LESS.

"Now I make known to you brethren...THE GOSPEL which I PREACHED to you, which also you RECEIVED in which also you STAND by which also you are SAVED...if you HOLD FAST the word which I PREACHED to you, unless you BELIEVED in vain." (I Corinthians 15:1,2)

This Gospel...good news...was preached...and even as you are reading this rambling...is still being preached, proclaimed. According to Romans 10:14-17...this act of someone (either from a pulpit...or sitting with you over a cup of coffee sharing)...are bringing you words of glad tidings of good things. As you are listening...FAITH is coming to you...by HEARING...and HEARING BY the word of Christ. What you do with that word...with that faith is up to you. You can either accepted it...or reject it. Notice the progression of what you do with it once you've got it....

a. The Gospel preached to you
b. You Receive the Gospel
c. You Stand in the Gospel
d. It is by this Gospel that you are Saved.
e. If you hold fast to the Gospel preached.
f. If you don't hold fast to the Gospel preached...you may have believed in it intellectually...but you have
believed in vain.

WELL...WHAT IS THE GOSPEL? I'm glad you asked.

THE GOSPEL IN A NUTSHELL (I Corinthians 15:3-4)

For I delivered to you (preached) as FIRST IMPORTANCE what I also received (the Gospel is delivered the same way and received the same way from the beginning...by word of mouth)"

a. That Christ DIED for our sins according to the Scriptures
b. And that he was BURIED according to the Scriptures
c. And that He was RAISED on the third day according to the Scriptures.

This is where we get the phrase...D. B. R....nothing more...nothing less.

This is what Jesus knew...that over a period of time...if we did not have something to jog our memories...we would FORGET...the FUNDAMENTAL THINGS...that applied back before His death...and applied after He died...and applied after he was raised from the dead...and have applied from that point in time to September 2nd, 2007.

The question is...what are you gonna do about it? I know what I did back in the fall of 1970...and it has made a difference in my life. For me...it was a matter of life or death. I'm glad I chose life.

Love and Remembered Kiss (after all a kiss is just a kiss)
Rodney "Memory Like An Elephant" Boyd

P.S.
Shameless Self Promotion Time: Starting in October...as Smyrna Assemblies on Wednesday nights...I will be teaching a class called THE ART OF BIBLICAL MEMORY. Now which finger did I put that string on to help me remember?