Leading The Way

Dr. Michael Youssef: If you examine the scripture closely, you will find that the word that is most recorded is the word "remember". Remember. Remember. Remember. As we conclude this series of messages, "To Know Jesus is to Love Him," I want to talk to you about how to love Jesus with your memory and how vitally important that is.

Guest (Male): If you want to be encouraged spiritually, one of the first things that you can do is look back and remember. Remember how God guided and protected you from and through challenges of life with His mercy, His blessings, and His grace.

Up next on Leading The Way audio, a reminder of this from Dr. Michael Youssef, as he takes you to the words of Psalm 42. This message is part of the "To Know Jesus is to Love Him" series. And please remember that you can listen to Dr. Michael Youssef's timely teaching on the radio, online, and through the Leading The Way app and podcast. Guidance for all of these and more is available at ltw.org. All right, right now, listen with me as Dr. Michael Youssef begins today's encouraging episode.

Dr. Michael Youssef: Our memories is one of the Lord's most awesome gifts to us. We have an astonishing capacity to store up millions of bits of information. This information data is kept in perfect order. This information is stored and codified, ready for recall as needed.

The latest research have shown that the brain can store enough data to fill several million books. Mind-boggling. The brain's capacity would make modern computer to be literally insignificant in comparison. But also the human brain is very capable, whether deliberately or involuntarily, of forgetting. We forget things.

Did you know that modern technology is ruining our memory power? I just learned this recently. A number of independent studies have shown that cameras and video cameras and the cell phones and all those modern technology, which we love, but they wreak havoc with our ability to store up memory.

They tell us that when you trust remembrance of a certain event to a photo or to a video or chips and all those kinds of things, we become less inclined to remember or store things in our memory bank. I know we joke about old age and how when you get older you're forgetful, but that's really not true.

I know some older people who have absolutely phenomenal memory. So it is not accurate. And that's what they do to senior citizens. They take it for granted that they can't remember. Let me give you an example. Suppose a teenager—teenagers, forgive me ahead of time—some of you are forgetful.

You forget where you laid keys, where you forgot your homework, they forget this and forget the other thing. What we say? "He or she is just forgetful." You get an older person who misplaces the keys or forgets something, what do we say? "Oh, it's old age." Right? It's not true. It's not true.

The fact is that we all remember what's important to us. It's a fact. We all remember what's important to us. And that is why people can forget prayer meeting, but they will never forget an important business meeting. They're there ahead of time. See, we remember what's important to us.

Now, that is why if you examine the scripture closely, you will find that the word that's most recorded, one single word that's most recorded, is the word "remember". Remember. Remember. Remember. As we conclude this series of messages, "To Know Jesus is to Love Him," I want to talk to you about how to love Jesus with your memory and how vitally important that is.

Throughout the scripture, we see how the Lord is offended. He really is offended when His people forget Him. When His people forget His past mercies. When His people forget His past favors. When His people forget His past graciousness. When His people forget His past deliverances. When His people forget His past supernatural intervention in their life.

And I know why we remember what's important to us. God wants us to remember what's important to Him. Amen? What's important to Him. In fact, numerous times both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, you see the heart of God, that depth of His disappointment when people forgot Him and when people forgot all about His past mercies and blessings and grace.

In Luke chapter 17, you read about how Jesus healed ten lepers. Ten. Nine of them were Jewish, people who were in the covenant with God. One was not, a Samaritan outside of the covenant. All ten of them are healed. All ten of them were cleansed. And yet, only one came back to say thank you.

Only one. The Samaritan who's considered to be outside of the covenant of God, he returned and said thank you. No wonder Jesus gave him an extra blessing, far greater than the healing of leprosy, and that is He gave him eternal life. He gave him salvation.

Look at the depth and the sense of disappointment in the words of Jesus in Luke 17:17. You cannot help but feel the depth of His disappointment. "Were not all ten healed? How come only this foreigner gave glory to God for his healing?"

In the Old Testament, God knew that they're going to forget all about Him once they get into the promised land. God knew. And so, He warned them again and again and again and again. And He told them that the greatest temptation they will be faced when they prosper in the promised land is they're going to forget who prospered them.

That's exactly where we are in America today. We have forgotten who prospered us. It is God's hand that prospered America. And I'm talking about all kinds of prosperity. I'm not just talking about material things. His protective hands, His guiding spirit.

Time and time and time again, prophet after prophet would warn them. Why? Because right on schedule, as soon as they got into the promised land and they began to prosper, guess what? Exactly what the Lord told them will happen, happened.

They forgot who God is and that He's the one who prospered them. But they will tip their hat to Him on Saturday; for the rest of the week, they are with the pagans and Baal worshippers. Remember. Remember. Remember. No wonder in the end God let barbarians and terrorists hold them captives.

What does this say to us today? Please listen carefully. Don't let your prosperity make you forget who prospered you. Don't let your success make you forget who gave you success. Don't let your busy life be so filled with all sorts of activities that you crowd out the very one who blessed you. Remember. Remember. Remember.

In fact, the reason God established all these festivals and festivities and celebrations from Yom Kippur to Rosh Hashanah and all the celebrations, all the feasts, the Passover, the Succoth, and all those feasts. God established all that so that they constantly physically with their own eyes remember God's gracious hand that delivered them out of the slavery of Egypt and brought them into the promised land.

He established all these festivals so that they'd be a visible reminder for them. But what happened? They turned these memorials into self-centered indulgences. In the New Testament, the reason our Lord established the Lord's Supper and baptism, those two ordinance that He Himself established, is for us to remember His indescribable love toward us.

And sadly, many a church today, either they ignore them altogether or they turn these ordinance into hollow and shallow and empty rituals. Why does God constantly remind them and remind us all the time? Here's why. Please listen carefully.

Because every time you recall to memory God's past sacrifice, God's immense sacrifice, it gives us ultimate hope. Because every time you vividly remember the depth of God's love for you, He is inviting us to love Him back more deeply and more fully.

Because every time you take time to remember His matchless love, it brings us healing and wholeness. I want to give you an example from the scripture. Turn to Psalm 42. And I'm only going to refer to three verses: four, five, and six.

I want to tell you that Psalm 42, particularly those three verses, is the best example of how forgetting God's past mercies, God's past generosity, His past blessings, His past graciousness, His past interventions, His past healings, can lead you to discouragement and despondency and even depression.

Psalm 42 is a great example of how loving the Lord with your memory can fill you with hope. How loving the Lord with your memory will pull you out of the pit of discouragement. How loving the Lord with your memory can propel you into more fervent faith.

Let me tell you very quickly the historical background to this Psalm. When David wrote this Psalm, he was fleeing Jerusalem and he went all the way north near Dan, and he sat there by the waterfalls and he wrote this Psalm.

His son Absalom, rebellious son, evil son, turned on his father and he conducted a coup d'état, pushed his father out of the kingdom. And if I can tell you that David was really down in the dumps, it would be the most gross understatement ever. I don't think any of us can even comprehend what that means.

And so he sits in this pit of discouragement, in this pit of despair, and he writes this Psalm. Verse four: "These things I remember." Please, if you have your Bible, underline the word "remember". "These things I remember as I pour out my soul."

What does he remember? Still verse four gives us the answer, rest of the verse: "How I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng." Then he goes to verse five, and there he begins to talk to himself.

Now, I don't want you to raise your hand, but let me tell you, whether you know it or not, you talk to yourself. All right? We all talk to ourselves. It doesn't make you crazy; it's just we all talk to ourselves. In fact, we self-talk in such a speed that it will surprise you. But we talk to ourselves all the time.

Because you already self-talk, three things I want to tell you to help you in your self-talk. Okay? It is better that you talk to yourself than let your circumstances talk to you. It's better for your mind to speak to your emotions instead of the other way around.

And the third thing I want to tell you is, it's better for you to preach to yourself than let the evil one do it. Amen? Question: What do you say to yourself when you speak to yourself? Here's the best example from David.

He said verse five: "Why are you downcast, oh my soul?" Help me preach it, brother. "Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God." That's not a bad sermon to preach to yourself. "For I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God."

Verse six: "My soul is downcast within me; therefore, I'm going to do what? And therefore I will remember." What is he saying? He's saying that only the memory of God's past faithfulness can lift me up in hope.

That only memory of God's past interventions in your life will deepen your love for Him. That only your memory bank of the Lord's past blessings will renew and deepen your intimacy with Him. Well, with this introduction, let me get to the text.

Actually, I don't have three points and a poem. I just have two things to tell you. One: When you're down, it is because you have forgotten. When you're up, it is because you have remembered. See how simple it is?

When you're down and defeated and discouraged, it is because you have forgotten something very important. You've forgotten something vitally important. Now, I know that sometimes this forgetfulness can be deliberate or other times really involuntary. It doesn't matter.

Sometimes that forgetfulness is by design; sometimes it's not. Sometimes that forgetfulness is intentional; other times are not. Either way, doesn't matter. I want to get to the solution here. It doesn't matter.

You must take these things out of your memory bank and bring them to the surface. You say, "How, Michael? How?" Very, very simply. It's in the Word of God. Retrace your steps. That's what he's doing. Retrace your footsteps and find out where and when you have fallen.

How you got to where you are down in the dumps. Retrace your steps. Find out how you got there. Go back in your memory bank and find out when you have fallen into that pit of despair, into that pit of discouragement. Find out when that took place and what got you there.

And when you do that, you're going to run smack into forgetting His past blessings. In the book of Revelation chapter two, Jesus—the resurrected, the ascended, the glorified Jesus—speaks to the seven churches in Asia Minor.

Chapter two, He speaks to the church in Ephesus. And here's what He said in verse four of chapter two in the book of Revelation. He said, "I hold this against you." What was it? "You have forgotten. You have what? You have forgotten your first love." That dreadful forgetfulness again.

And so, in verse five of Revelation two, He gives them the prescription: "Remember the height from which you have fallen." What is Jesus saying? He is saying, let your memory do the walking. He is saying, retrace your steps.

Go back to the point where your trouble began. Don't gloss over or ignore the original cause. Examine your memory bank. It is important. It is that important because you cannot make progress, you cannot go forward without going back and finding out how you got there.

Beloved, you must understand when the Bible said that sin is very deceitful, you must let alarm bells ring all over you when you read that. Why? Because if you think that you are above sin's deception, that's the beginning of trouble.

I got deceived by sin I don't know how many times. And I continue prayers as, "Lord, I need to get over this." Just remember the deceitfulness of sin. Because the moment I think I'm above the deception of sin, beginning of my trouble.

Why am I saying this? Why am I telling you this? Listen carefully, please. Because by nature, we all reluctant to face up to the reality of our forgetfulness. But here's the good news. I never leave you without good news.

Here's the good news. You see, the Bible never, never point out to a sin that does not give you the way of forgiveness for that sin. The Bible never points to a problem without pointing, offering the solution to that problem.

You see, the Bible never convicts us about something without showing us the way of expressing that conviction. Why? Because our past memory is linked to our future hope. Did you get that? Our past memories are linked to our future hope.

Our past memories are linked to our future anticipation. Our past memories are linked to our future vision and our vision of the future. And that is why so many people are held back from coming into intimacy and growth and walk with Jesus because they're held back by those chains from the past. You've got to cut them off.

That is why loving Jesus with your memory is of vital importance. And that is why when you're able to remember what Jesus did for you, you can experience renewal of love for Him, as we've been seeing in this whole series of messages.

And that's why I did not begin the series about knowing Jesus to love Him with your memory; I began with the mind because that's the decision-making process. It has to begin with a decision. Then we went into the imagination of loving Him with your soul and then loving Him with all your heart, that is the totality of your being.

And now, I can come to loving Him with your memory. And that is why the Psalmist said, "My soul, why are you discouraged? Remember what God did in the past." And when you love Him with your memories, you will become filled with hope for the future regardless of the present.

There may be someone here today who feels discouraged, despondent, disappointed. Some here might be fearful, anxious. What does the future hold? Go back to your memory bank. Get a withdrawal slip and get a bunch of it out.

Go through past blessings. Go through past mercies. Go through past interventions. Go through past healings. Go through past strengthening. Go through God's past faithfulness to you and start loving Him with your memory.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining Dr. Michael Youssef for the final message in his "To Know Jesus is to Love Him" series. This is Leading The Way. And if you have any questions about beginning a personal faith journey or deepening your faith walk, please begin a conversation with one of the Leading The Way pastors or counselors. All you have to do is fill out a contact form at ltw.org/jesus.

Guest (Female): As I daily become more aware of the threat of terrorism in the U.S. and in my own city, I feel a greater responsibility in helping to fight against it. Michael's evangelical approach in rescuing Muslims with the freeing gospel of Jesus Christ as their savior is so powerful.

Only in changed lives can we hope for a freer, safer world for our children and grandchildren. I'm a monthly supporter of Leading The Way and am extremely grateful for its work. My heartfelt thanks to Michael and all the folks who help him to carry out his ministry.

Guest (Male): Now, you may have heard us mention Dr. Youssef's new book, "An Unholy Alliance". This book takes a close look at the awkward but powerful partnership between radical Islamism and secular progressivism.

Going beyond political ideologies, Dr. Youssef equips you with clarity, conviction, and clear steps that you can take today to preserve freedoms for the next generation. He approaches this vital topic with the heart of a pastor and the insight of an international expert.

This is an engaging read that you will not want to put down—except you will put it down because you're going to want to share it with your family or your friends. Get pre-order information now about "An Unholy Alliance". Give us a call: 866-626-4356.

Dr. Youssef is actually offering to send a copy of his book upon request as soon as it's released to all of you who give a gift today of any amount to the worldwide ministry outreaches of Leading The Way. Again, the place to learn more and get your copy upon release, ltw.org, or call us: 866-626-4356. This program is brought to you by Leading The Way with Dr. Michael Youssef.