Nineteenth century biologist and chemist Louis Pasteur, revered throughout the world for his remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and preventions of diseases, once said, "It is surmounting difficulties that make heroes."

Yes, surmounting difficulties do make heroes, and I believe this weekend is not only about remembering our military heroes, but also I believe this Sunday is about recognizing and creating new Godly heroes who not only carry the cross but also know what it means, what it truly means, to have, as our scripture tells us, the Holy Spirit within us. To begin our time together this morning where again we will be both recognizing and making heroes, I'd like to share a story some of you may not readily recall, and that's the story of the USS New York.

First I should tell you that in our US history there have actually been six warships named the USS New York. As points of interest, I'm going to talk very briefly about the first and the fifth ships of the same name, and then settle on the encouraging story of the sixth USS New York, the one that came from shattered lives and steel, and is currently patrolling the high seas.

The first ship to own the name the USS New York was actually a gondola built on Lake Champlain during a significant year in our American history—that year being 1776. The gondola, which essentially was a flat-bottomed row boat, participated in the Battle of Valcour Island.

The next USS New York I'd like to share with you is the one used in World War I and World War II. Like the first USS New York, this one also has a significant date in its history and ours. It was laid down on September 11^th, 1911. (For the non-naval of us here today, when a ship is 'laid down' it means that the vessel undergoes the first step of being built, and this construction usually happens on drydock.)

Now this fifth USS New York, speaking of remembering this weekend, provided gunfire support for amphibious landings at Casablanca in the European Theater, and Iwo Jima and Okinawa in the Pacific Theater. She was decommissioned in 1946 and sunk as a target after surviving two atomic bombs tests.

And then came the sixth USS New York out of what many can name as the modern Pearl Harbor Day, a new day and date that also live in infamy, September 11, 2001. Out of a broken past, something new and strong can emerge.

See seven and three quarter tons of steel from the World Trade Center were used in making this modern marvel's bow stem, and the bow stem, as we know, is the foremost part of the ship. It's the front, or tip, of the ship.

Imagine this. Seven and three quarter tons of remolded steel from the World Trade Center is the very essence that cuts through water today, and from an engineering standpoint, the bow stem is the part of the ship that offers the boat hull integrity.

We are cutting through our own waters today. We are forging our own future. I know it. I feel it. I live it with this congregation.

We have come from our smoke-filled skies, from our own broken pasts, from our own shattered dreams and perhaps from our own sense of a past defeat to live as this ship lives, and how we live, according to this scripture here, is in the Spirit of our Holy Spirit, Christ Jesus. How we live, according to this scripture here, is in this theology, which I want you to underline in your new Bibles. It's found so clearly in the latter half of verse 20. With your pen or pencil underline this:  I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. What you just underlined is our first sermon point. Here it is again for those with your sheets out and ready. I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.

Now those anywhere near this church over these past couple of months know your very recent confirmation class had to write three one-page papers on the trinity—God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. If you yourself were asked to write about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Agent (and as your pastor I am mulling about this idea!), you may want to hold to this perfect, interrelated triangle. You may want to commit fully to this verse and its truth. We are connected, so deeply, truly connected by the one Advocate mentioned here today, the Holy Spirit. As Jesus is in the Father, and we are in Jesus through the Spirit, Jesus is in us.

Jesus is in us. Jesus does not abandon us.

Someone once asked Ann Graham, Billy Graham's daughter, where God was during a significant tragedy. Now I don't remember what tragedy it was—it very well could have been a sizeable tornado through the south, a devastating earthquake in Japan, or the morning two monstrous, magnificent twin towers fell to ruin by pure evil. "Ann," someone asked, "where is God during this tragedy?"

Ann answered that God is where God has always been, and that's in a place that is waiting for us. God is always waiting for us, and God is connected to us through Jesus by the Holy Spirit. Jesus says, "I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.

When we recognize this first point, when we know where God is and how we connect to God, we come to understand our second point. It is sequential though. We must know how we can relate to God before we really understand the second point today which is also the motto of the USS New York. It's this: strength forged through sacrifice. Never forget.

Strength is forged through sacrifice. Remember Louis Pasteur said that difficulties make heroes. Difficulties or hardships are nothing but a means in which we can know and understand God better. Let me repeat that. Difficulties or hardships are nothing but a means in which we can know and understand God better.

The USS New York's motto has been shortened by some to just this: never forget. I understand that, and you can understand that too when, through the living word of Christ that we have today, you never forget Jesus. Never forget Jesus.

I didn't lose anyone I directly knew on the morning of September 11^th, but do realize that we are all connected. Therefore, my loss is systemic as your loss is systemic. In other words, as Christ is connected to me, Christ is connected to you, thereby creating between all of us believers a bond far beyond this earthly place. Live in that bond. Trust in that bond. Act in that bond.

There's another fact I want to share about the USS New York. That ship was laid down in New Orleans. And in speaking of strength forged through sacrifice, that living piece of American history was laid down in New Orleans not just at any old random time in that city's history. No, the USS New York was crafted right through Hurricane Katrina. When that city was leveled, when that city's hopes were washed away, when homes and businesses and factories and farms were swept back into the ocean when the waters receded, some held to what we can hold, and it's this: never forget Jesus.

Get it. Spiritual strength is forged through sacrifice. The USS New York is a living testament to the indelible American Dream, just as we today can be a living testament to the one indelible Spirit that never, ever leaves us, and that's the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ. Never forget Jesus. 

How do we get this spiritual strength? Obey the Lord's commandments. That's our final point today. Obey the Lord's commandments.

And Jesus says that if you love him, you'll do just that. If you love him, then you'll do what he asks.

That's not complicated. It's instinctual.

For example, if you love your husband or your child, or that sweet little neighbor of yours, you'll do certain things—certain caring things that are specific to maintaining what you already enjoy—and what you already enjoy is a good relationship.

Obeying the Lord's commandments is not a difficult or daunting task. It's not something that burdens you. In fact, it's the opposite.

Now to love Jesus, which is what Jesus shares with us at the opening of this passage this morning, you have to know Jesus. In knowing Jesus, you'll soon become a part of the refiner's fire that we may know about in Malachi 3:1-2. In knowing Jesus, we we automatically love Jesus. Fact. In loving Jesus, we become like the metal used in the sixth USS New York. We take what tragedy or hardship or difficulty that has happened to us and turn it around because we are obeying the Lord's commandments. We melt away what some could consider "the bad" and use it toward something so good and so wonderful.

Jesus changes lives!

We will begin to close as we began. Nineteenth century biologist and chemist Louis Pasteur once said, "It is surmounting difficulties that make heroes." Remember, Pasteur is known and remembered throughout the world for his remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and preventions of diseases. Be it known today, by the presence of the Holy Spirit within you, that the difficulties you may face are all situations where you can know, trust, hope in and love your Savior all the more.

I know, some of us don't want to be 'heroes'. We'd just rather not ride the road of hardship or pain like Pasteur describes.

But in God's eyes, as seen by his son, Jesus, we can do it.

One more boat metaphor before we go. You can sink or you can swim. Now that's something you've heard before, many, many times. In light of what we've heard today, how about this? Now, by following the Lord's commands, with strength forged through sacrifice, you can be the part of a ship that forges its way through new water.

How? Never forget Jesus.