Remember | Topic 35 | GIBC | 2nd Cycle | Topic 35 | GIBC | 2nd Cycle Remember Ps Leslie Hessel | By Dr Arthur Frost | Welcome to Generation Impact Bible College this evening. My name is Pastor Leslie Hessel and we are going to cover a topic number thirty-five tonight and the title for this particular topic is remembers, revealing and talking about memories. It's talking about what you and I can remember and the experiences we have with our Lord Saviour, Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. So before we carry on, let's just commit this time to the Lord in prayer. Father, we just thank you for this evening. We thank you for this opportunity to be able to come together to study your word once again. Father we understand faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God and therefore I pray that every single person under the sound of my voice, Lord, every single person that encounters this particular recording or this particular broadcast, Father God, will be anointed to receive that which the spirit of the Lord has. And Father God, I thank you now that you also help me to communicate accurately and properly and wisely Father God. Lord that I'd be able to take the, the topic material and share it in a way that is clear and that they will not misunderstand or take it incorrectly, but they'll take it exactly the way that you intended to be. So Father we give you all the glory, honour and praise. All the Thanksgiving for everything that's accomplished tonight in Jesus mighty and precious name. And everybody said amen. Hallelujah. Welcome to those that are joining us. Uh you are joining Generation Impact Bible College and tonight as I said we're covering topic number thirty-five and the title of this particular topic is memories or remember. Now remember means that you have to have a memory to remember. So therefore it talks about having experiential knowledge of your relationship with Christ and being able to come into a place where you don't only know about him but you actually know him. And that is how you and I build up memories. That's how we get to a place where we have stuff that we can recall and that can form a foundation or or place of strength for us to be able to launch and do the things that we believe God wants us to do. So let's look at this look at Ps alm 1 06 verses six through seven. It says we have sinned with our father we have committed iniquity. We have done wickedly. This is Ps almist talking. He says our fathers in Egypt did not understand your wonders. They did not remember and I want you to look at that word remember. The multitudes of your mercies. But they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea. So here you can see in the book of Psalm that the Ps almist is busy talking and he says that that they have sinned and they have committed iniquities and they've done wickedly. And then they said, in Egypt, much happened to them. Uh, many mercies extended to them. God's grace favour was extended to them. Yet they did not remember any of the wondrous works that God did. They did not remember the multitude of things that they experienced. And so therefore they rebelled when they got to the Red Sea. Now I remember Red Sea parted that went through it. So when they got there they were a betting against all the things that they had experienced and gone through in their relationship with God. So here we encourage to remember absolutely everything that ever happens to us. Um in in our relationship with God. And, you know, I pray very often, I say, Lord, allow me to recall absolutely everything that I encounter in the, in your, in my relationship with you. What I read, what I see, what I experience, what I hear, everything. That I can recall it. So in spite of me, part of who I am. So be able to live the life that you want me to live. Then we see in Psalm a hundred, sorry, Ps alm 7seven, verse one through six. And this is talking. He says I cried out to God with my voice. To God my with my voice and he gave ear to me. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. My hand was stretched out in a night without ceasing. My soul refused to be comforted. I remembered God. And was troubled. I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed. You hold my eyelids open. I'm so troubled that I cannot speak. I've considered the of old. There again he considered the days of old. The years of ancient times. I call to remembrance my song. in the night. I meditate within my heart and my spirit makes diligent search. So there you see in verse six quite an interesting observation by David that he says first and foremost he calls to remembrance my song in the night. So therefore he formed a song to God. You know the whole of Ps alms is really a a song glorifying, exalting and uplifting God. He says then I meditate within my heart. You know I think that is something that we as as believers have most probably neglected and have not fully entered into the whole concept and the idea of meditation. Meditation allows me to not only meditate on the word of God that which is written word of God but it also allows me to meditate on that which God has accomplished and done in our lives which is really the word of God that he is speaking to you direct. And so for it's important for you and me to to come to a place where we not only know about God, we don't only know what the word of God says, the Bible, but who also experience God for ourselves as detailed in Ephesians chapter three. And so we need to experience God because it talks to me and tells me that in that particular chapter, that experiencing God is more than just mere knowledge of him. So we need to have experiential knowledge with God, and therefore he has to show himself true in our lives. We have encounter his power in our lives and we gotta see him answer our prayers. And as we experience that we will be able to meditate not only on the written word, but we also meditate on the experiences and the things that God has done in our lives, which what is the end result of the meditation is builds faith. It builds believing, it brings us to a place of encouragement, so we can trust God, believe God and stand on the word, knowing that God will take us through. So David had a handle on how to worship in the night hour by using songs. But at the same time he meditates on everything that has happened and everything that God has done. So it becomes part of him and not just a a thought and a mere head knowledge. But actually comes part of his day to day life. Then he carries on to say and my spirit makes diligent search. You know that is part of your meditation. Part of your meditation should be searching out the things of the Lord. And allowing his spirit to communicate with your spirit allowing his spirit to illuminate his word to your spirit. So it's more than just taking the word of God and just reading it or just repeating it in your memory or in your mind. Um so meditation is a hangover of a lot more than that. And I think that is where we as believers have lost it a little bit and we need to come back to a place where we meditate on God's goodness, mercy and grace, his love. Meditate on who he is, his character, his personality. So that when you see him, when you you can recognise him immediately and you can see the fulfillment of of what he has accomplished and done in your life. Then in Ps alm seventy-seven verse ten through twelve it says and I said this is my anguish. But I will remember the years of the right hand of the most high. I will remember the works of the Lord. Surely I will remember your wonders of old. I will also meditate in all your work and talk of your deeds. So here you can see that he is anxious because he says this, this is my anguish, he's anxious, that he does not forget any other stuff, but he continues remembering and continues allowing his mind to be renewed with the things the Lord. You know, there, there's a whole, the whole concept of a mind being renewed. Um, if you meditate even on that and think about that, it means that we have to have our minds change in the way things. Now in Isaiah fifty-five, we know the story there where it basically says, God's ways are higher than our ways, God's thoughts are not our thoughts. Etcetera, etcetera. And we understand that God does not think the way we think, nor do we the way God thinks and God's way is the way of doing things. It's not the way we will do it. And so therefore we need to keep that in mind because very often we want God to answer our prayers in a specific way. And when God doesn't answer the way we expect him to answer it. We think that God's not a dealing with it and God hasn't heard us. But very often God wants God's got a different route in a different way of getting to the result that needs to be accomplished in the prayer request that we have made. So therefore we need to allow God the flexibility. We need to allow God the freedom to be able to move in our lives the way he wants. That's why we want to remember. That's why we want to sit down because not only does it encourage us, memories, doesn't, not only does it uplift us and encourage us and and make us meditate on the things that God has done in our lives. It also strengthens us and allows us to go forward in our knowledge and understanding of the word and that is so critical in today's world. Because the day today's world the the world self throws so many things at us. Our minds, our eyes, our ears is so consumed by every billboards and adverts and I mean it's the list just goes on. Radio, TV, now social media platforms and and you know the whole scrolling exercise and before you look at it you can actually you know time has gone past and you've already lost so much time. So the the whole world system. If I can call it that where the median, the advertising, all that kind of stuff is designed to just about occupy 90%, if not, 00% of our time, if it can. That's what it wants to do. So therefore, we have to make a decision, a concerted effort to break away from that so that we're not consumed by it and it doesn't keep us back or, or restrain us, but we are able to move forward in the things of the Lord and get things done quickly and efficiently and in the that God wants it on. So but we need to remember that God ways is not our ways. Now here's some results if that if you and I cannot grasp or hold on to that which God has done in our lives and keep the memories alive. I won't say fresh because some of the memories can be quite old. But keep them alive at least. Keep the memories alive in your in your heart. And in your mind so that you can you can recall things and you can encourage things that God has I've seen God do this before. He can do it again. I've I know that God has done that in my life and he can do it again. So therefore as we use our memories to recall the written word, recall our experiences, recall God's testimonies in our lives and maybe even in other people's lives. We use all of that to encourage us and to lift us up. Now here's some examples or some some things that could happen if we forget. We see that the first thing that could happen is you can land up turning your back on on on battles or in a battle or when you are finding that you're facing certain onslaughts in your life, you can land up turn your back on it and moving away. In Ps alms seventy-eight verse nine through ten, it says the children of Ephraim being imamed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle. Okay, so they didn't carry on. They turned back, they were going help us in direction. They did not keep the covenant of God, they refused to walk in his law. And God, you see in verse eleven, and for God, his works and his wonders that he had shown them. So forgetting his works and his wonders was a motivation as to why they turned their backs in battle. Because they didn't remember that God will break them through, see them through and do what is necessary to make them victorious. They didn't remember that God is a covenant keeping God, they didn't remember that. They even had a covenant with God, that God will come through for them. But not remembering thinking and knowing and and and staying in tune with what God was doing and what God had accomplished in their lives. They obviously were now in our place where they could now get scared. They could get discouraged. They could get all these things because they were they were they were being influenced by what they see with their natural senses and what they or hear and see what the natural senses. So those things were influencing them and that is why the land up turning back in battle. We also see that your soul gets lean, okay? So in Ps alm a hundred and six, verse twelve through fifteen, the Bible says and they believed his words. They sang his praises. They soon forgot his work. So here again we see the Ps almist remind us that the people were forgetting the works that God had done within their lives. They forgot that all the good things that God had accomplished. The fact that he sustained them. He fed them. He kept them. Um and all those things. That basically becomes a challenge, becomes a problem. It says, it says then, they did not wait for his counsel, they didn't wait for God's counsel. They, but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tested God in the desert. Alright. And he gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul. Now, you know, we, we, leaners obviously means there's a lack of flat, fat talks about, fatter than is the exces and the and the and the reward and the blessing and so on forth. So when we see the leanness into their souls it basically talks about the fact that in their soulish area they maybe weren't getting the revelation that they should have. Maybe they didn't have the peace that they should have. Maybe they were just not hearing the voice of God the way they should have. Um so there's many things that could happen because again they don't remember that which God has done. So therefore they not eating of the fat of the land. Therefore they not pursuing the things of the Lord. Therefore that is not a priority in their lives. And so we see in Ps alm hundred and six then that when you and I do not take a bit of time just to meditate on the things of the Lord and remember what he had done. And remember what he had achieved in our lives. When we do that we are causing that cleanness comes into our soul. So therefore the fatness, the the rewards, the blessing, we not experiencing the way we should. Very interesting deduction just of these two points already Is that we see that that the that with turning away in battle and experience leanness in God. You know these things are all because they are forgetting about what God has accomplished. And that is the requirement there is that there are works that are accomplished in their lives. So therefore we need to allow God to work in our lives. We need to allow God to give us the experiences with him to reinforce our faith in him. Because if we do that. We don't have the memories. We can't remember. And so therefore it's purely a flat out faith. But that's not the way God wants to operate. God wants to become real in you and my life. He want to show himself true. So he wants to your prayers. He wants to answer them. So you've gotta start developing an expectation in your life of answered prayer. So you don't just want to pray prayers that are empty prayers and never see them fulfilled. No. Your comes from your prayers being fulfilled. And that's how your faith even gets stronger and stronger and develop more and more. And we need to walk according to that knowledge and that understanding. And if you don't have that knowledge and understanding, how do you then strengthen your faith? How do you develop your faith? How do you build your faith? We have to do that to be able to to see the hand of God move in our lives. God wants us to experience him for who he is and what he has done. Then we also limit God when we do not remember what he has done. His works and everything else. We see that in Ps alm seventy-eight as well verse forty through 42. How often they provoked him in the wilderness. We know that God was provoked many times in the wilderness. And he it grieved him in the desert. Yes again and again they tempted God. And limited the holy one of Israel. They did not remember his power. The day when he redeemed them from the enemy. So if they can think back of what happened to them when they were taken out of Egypt, remember Moses was there and he brought the whole nation of Israel out of out of the out out of exile in the land of Egypt. And we see that in the book of Exodus. How they brought out and how God, you know, with the plagues, dealt with Pharaoh and, and all those things we see all that happening and we see the hand of God and the power of God and the works of God. And here the nation of Israel does not remember everything that God accomplished and did for them in the wilderness, in Egypt, and in the places that they were, when they were coming out in towards the promised land. At this point, obviously they have not yet entered the promised land. So here the Ps almist is just remembering and thinking about that. So you and I cannot limit God by not believing or not remembering or not experiencing God. We have to experience God to be able to receive the fullness of what he has for us. That's why I love Ephesians three so much. Because Ephesians three challenges us to not only have mere head knowledge but to have experience of God. An experiential knowledge of God. Which necessitates a relationship with God that is real. Where God shows himself real in your life. And he you and I. It's not just a wish. It's not just a dream. But it's a reality. Is God in your life? God coming through and showing himself true. And that's why we have to believe and trust God to allow his spirit to move in our lives so we can become people that have got the experiential knowledge of God. Then you see also in Ps alm seventy-eight verse 2032 to thirty3. It talks about in spite of this they still sinned. And did not believe in his wondrous works. Therefore their days he consumed in futility and the years in fear. So your life will become futile and fearful. If you do not remember the Lord your God. So you can see the the importance then of us remembering the Lord our God. In all life. In everything we do and we and when we encounter him, when he shows himself real to us, we need to take note of that document that and and meditate on that and make that part of who we are. So that when we are in the the the contract situations or the difficult situations or the situations that are are testing us and trying us, that we can remember the Lord our God, and remember what he accomplished and done in our lives in previous days. And as we do that, it will develop and deliver our faith and grow our faith so that we can trust God for even greater things. And that was that is what God wants ultimately. Ultimately he wants our lives to be fruitful. Ultimately he doesn't want a life that's futile. Because the thing is that a futile life means that it's producing nothing. And if it is producing anything it's of no value. So we need to come to a place where our lives are relevant. That our lives are fruitful. And they're not it's not futile. It's a life it means much and achieves much and does much and God is able to work through and do the things that need to be done on this earth. So we need to remember that. We need to remember that God is a good God. His mercy endures forever and we can lean and trust on him for who he is and what he has accomplished. Then in Mark chapter eight and verse thirteen through sixteen, the Bible says and he left them and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side. Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat. Then he charged them saying, take heed, beware of the eleven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. And the reason amongst themselves saying, it is because we have no bread. But Jesus being aware of it, said to them, why do you reason? Because you have no bread. Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Jesus asked you a question. Is your heart still hardened? Another question. Having eyes do you not see? And having ears. Do they not hear? And ultimately do you not remember? So there he now comes because he knows that he they have forgotten the previous time. The previous times where God has shown them the wondrous works. Where God has shown them the power of his hand. Yet hear the coming now and they have they have forgotten what God has done previously. They've forgotten what God has achieved previously. And so they are thinking of the of the moment. And they think it's just because they forgot to bring bread. But it's not because they forgot to bring bread. It's because they forgot what Jesus did previously. And so in verse nineteen it says when I broke the five loaves for the 5000 how many baskets full of fragments did you take up? They said to him, 12. And when I broke the seven for the 4 thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments that you take up and they said seven. So he said to them, how is it that you do not understand? So here, here God is now using, Jesus is using previous experiences. In other words, there's two occasions where he felt the fed the multitude. The first one was where there was 5000 and there were twelve baskets left. And the next one, there were 4thousand. And, there were seven baskets left. So you've got a situation that Jesus twice already took a little, multiplied it, increased it and fed many. And then there was a remainder, there was a leftover, which they could use to then still continue blessing and feeding others if necessary. There was a overflow. There was a more than enough. And Jesus now again is now challenging them And because there's now again an opportunity to feed people. And and here they not even thinking about the supernatural power that Jesus already manifested and shown them. All they thinking is about the physical action, the things that they did. And that because they they forgotten bread, they forget that Jesus could multiply whatever. The quantity was actually irrelevant because the one the boy had five and the next time they were seven loaves and and so the number of loaves that were there was not the issue. The issue was God could do a miracle. And God did a miracle and they were a testimony that that as a testimony. Because they were present. They saw it. They were witnessing it. They were part of the whole exercise. They even handed out the the bread and saw the multiplication happen in their own hands. So here Jesus is now challenging them. And because they have forgotten the miracle. They've forgotten the power of God. They forgotten the ability that God has to work and to make a little into much. And so Jesus challenges them at the end. He said to them, how is it that you do not understand? How is it that you still don't comprehend that I am the great I am so to speak. That I am Jehovah Jireh, the provider, that I am the one that can increase and multiply and feed the multitude. So he challenges him. Jesus challenges them to believe. So we see then in all of this, every time you remember it will bring back the same faith that brought the last miracle. And released the new one for us. So as you remember old miracles and we remember old previous times that Jesus moved supernaturally and made a difference and provided for whatever needed to be provided for. That every single time there was a repetition of the previous miracle. And not only that it also release them to believe God for even greater things. So the same thing applies today, nothing has changed. Today Jesus said I'm the same yesterday, today and forever. God is not a man that he should change. So whatever Jesus did previously, he can still do. Nothing has changed. And your life today, he can still do the same thing. And that is the challenge we have, you and I have, to believe God and to trust God, to still continue doing that which he did before. So our memories we see in Romans twelve who would say that we need to renew our minds. And our minds we know are the part of that process is a meditation process. And we understand that we need to get the word of God into our hearts and lives. So that we can exercise that word and we can start trusting God and believing God for him to move by his spirit and to achieve much. And so then as you and I remember the works that he has accomplished and done in our lives. Those works will fire up the faith in our lives. And we will not operate out of the place of unbelief but we will be operating out of a place of faith and confidence. And we will see of God move and will witness the miracles that that only God can do. And so you and I, that's our responsibility. That's what we do. So we have to make sure that our minds do not forget. And that's so easy to happen. It's so easy for our minds just to to let go and to slip. Why? Because of the everything that's attacking our minds all the time. So your mind is occupied by something. Your mind very solemn comes to and actually I don't think your mind ever switches off completely. But your mind is always active. There's always something going on in your mind. And as that happens so we need to learn how to harness and, and, and, and pull together that power and that faith that we have, so that we can see the hand of God establish the word of God in our lives. So, here's the challenge then as we close. You need to spend time remembering what God has accomplished and done in your life. It's a good practice. At the end of day when you've gone through the day, to think back into the day and remember the good things that God has achieved in you. Develop then your testimony, because that's basically what you're doing, because as you remember that, you now going to moul upon it, you're going to think about God, and you are so good, you are so merciful, you are so gracious, look how you work today. Look how you changed my life, you brought in provision, you brought in food, you looked after my physical body, healing was, is, is my portion. And you can carry on and and think about how God has affected and changed us. Or provided for us or protected us. And that is the confidence and the faith that you and I have. It's a confidence and faith in that God is is with us. Works in us. Works through us and that which is already done. He can do again and we will continue doing it and we can see and feed a new miracle every single day. God is faithful. He'll never leave you. He'll never forsake you. He'll never let you down. Until next time. May the Lord bless you.