When Jesus Rewrites Your Memory: Encounter and Renewal

Because we live in a culture where all we believe is in yesterday's headlines, today's Facebook post, today's YouTube influencers, my question to you is, what would do you believe in that you would die for? That you would die for. See, you cannot deny an encounter with Jesus. You cannot deny Jesus once you've seen him for himself. That's why we have written above me, we would see Jesus. I don't want you coming and seeing me. I want you coming and seeing Jesus. [01:26:48] (34 seconds)  #EncounterJesus

Why? Because our memory is not just mental. Memory is spiritual. Memory is emotional. Memory is powerful. It's not just something you recall, but a memory becomes a monument, an altar in our minds. And our minds tend to build bigger monuments to painful moments than to powerful ones. You could forget the 10 blessings and remember the one betrayal. You can forget the 20 answered prayers and remember that one disappointment. [01:04:03] (32 seconds)  #MemoryIsSpiritual

But every king that left those altars standing gave power to the wrong thing, and their kingdom was cut short. See, some kings then would try to play both sides. They would honor God, but to appease the people, they would leave the altar of Baal standing. It was a divided loyalty. We will follow God, but I want to be true to my culture. What do you do when your truth because you hear that now, my truth. Well, what if I told you your truth is off? [01:08:17] (36 seconds)  #BewareCompromise

The man who once said, I will not believe, became a man who carried the gospel to the ends of the earth. The church of India traces its roots back to Thomas. And at the end of his life, he did not die of old age. He died a martyr. They told him, deny Jesus. He said, I will not deny my lord. I cannot deny a Jesus I've encountered for myself. Bible says that what's interesting to me is, you know, how he died? They pierced his side. For him, it was joy. [01:26:05] (36 seconds)  #ThomasTheMartyr

It replaces the trauma with the testimony. It shifts his entire future. And when we encounter Jesus for ourselves, we stop living off of other people's stories. We stop borrowing someone else's faith. We stop pretending, and we begin to walk in a personal relationship with a risen king. Philippians three ten eleven says this, I want to know Christ. Some of that say that with me. I want to know Christ. [01:23:16] (32 seconds)  #TestimonyOverTrauma

You know, it's interesting. And as I was writing this sermon, I hear the lord saying there's some people in the room watching online. You're getting ready to walk into a surgery this week. Some of you are getting ready to walk into a courtroom this week. Some of you are walk getting ready to walk into a job interview, into a difficult family into situation, and you're a bit nervous. But I hear the Lord saying, today it changes. [01:28:48] (30 seconds)  #PeaceBeforeTrials

But it's interesting how trauma has a way of making us forget what God says. Pain has a way of erasing the promise from our memories. And some of us today are living stressed. You're living in fear. You're living anxious. You're living a paralyzed life. Yes. Because what happened to us was hard. It was difficult, but also because the pain of the moment, because of that pain, we forgot what Jesus promised us. [00:58:42] (32 seconds)  #TraumaErasesPromise

So my question to you today is what have you been through that's made you forget what your savior already said about you? And from this story, we take three truths from this text. Number one, remove. Tell your neighbor, remove. We need to remove the wrong memory. And I've been praying all week that God would do something supernatural in this room online to all of those under the sound of my voice. [00:59:15] (30 seconds)  #RemoveWrongMemories