Don't forget

I had the fortunate pleasure of speaking a sermonette at the CNW Jurisdictional Holy Convocation this year. This is the message I brought, with a change at the end of my personal testimony. It's long but I suggest reading! :)


Don’t Forget

We live in a world that tends to forget things. Some of you in this room right now might not even remember what you had for lunch today. So, to help cope with the forgetfulness, we have things day planners, cell phone reminders, email reminders and calendars to help us stay on schedule. There are many reasons that we forget, some might even be health related like Alzheimer’s disease, Dementia, Amnesia or Thyroid problems just to name a few. But apparently these memory problems didn’t just start in present day, the problem has been affecting people for awhile.

Luke 17:11-19-New King James Version (NKJV)
11 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. 13 And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
It looks like these lepers had heard about Jesus, and remembered of His healing power.
14 So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.
15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.
17 So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? 18 Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

See, when we read and think about the story of the lepers, we tend to say how ungrateful they were, and how could they act like that? But I would like to propose the idea that maybe they just forgot! And I must say it’s probably understandable. Just think about it if you were in their shoes: you’ve been sick for so long, you have to yell out “unclean” when you come into town, can’t be around people you love and care about, and you can’t come up in the world because all your friends are sick just like you. Have you seen a person with leprosy? Gross!!! I’m sure they were so excited when they were healed they went banqueting and seeing all of their family and friends they forgot about who it was who healed them. They forgot about saying “thank you”. Only one of them didn’t forget. See, we do this also. So when we talk about the lepers, we might as well be talking about ourselves. We forget too. We forget the Psalms 121:1-2

Psalm 121:1-2 -New King James Version (NKJV)
121 I will lift up my eyes to the hills—
From whence comes my help?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth.

We have too many things nowadays that are accessible to us that we forget where all of our help comes from!
Let’s look at why we forget today:
• When we have a problem we talk to Dr. Phil
• Searching for something? We turn to Google
• When we’re sick we go to the Dr.
• In times of trouble we call on our friends instead of calling on God!

We forget God is our healer, our helper, we forget God is our provider, our way maker, our protector and so much more.

We act like the Israelites who were so blessed; God stayed with them but they forgot about Him, and constantly were complaining, serving idols and disobeying, as if God had done nothing.
Even when we say “thank God” or “thank you Jesus” we forget about the POWER in those names. We forget Acts 4:12 (The Holy Spirit speaking through Peter)

Acts 4:12- New King James Version (NKJV)
12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Jesus’ name is the only name by which you can be saved! We should say “thank you Jesus” with power, authority, and total sincerity!

We’ll say “oh thank God I missed that traffic…” instead we should be thanking God that we weren’t the accident that caused the traffic. We forget that it could have been us, like we’re exempt from tragedy. Remember it is by the grace of God we are protected.

Remember when Jesus was on the cross with the two criminals, one on each side and the SMART one said

Luke 23:42-43-New King James Version (NKJV)
42 … “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”
43 And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

Now if we call ourselves Christians, that means we ought to be Christ like. So, if we are being like Christ, and He didn’t forget about us, why do we forget about Him and the power he has?

A few months ago, I found myself having to go to the doctor. But it wasn’t because I was feeling sick, it was because I was feeling so good and I knew something had to be wrong. I was missing my regular monthly cycle. I knew I wasn’t possibly pregnant, so I decided to go to the doctor and see what was going on. When I was checking in, the young lady asked me did I want to do my annual physical because if I did it’s free, and making the whole visit completely free. As I’ve said in previous blogs I love free things, so of course I said yes!!

When I went in the appointment the doctor was asking me different questions about my family health history. Something I said prompted her to have me take a blood test for a few specific possible conditions.

I was in no rush to get the blood test done, but I went a few days after my appointment on a Saturday morning. The results came in on Sunday, and shortly after I receive an urgent email message from my doctor telling me I have an extremely underactive Thyroid and I need to start taking a medicine for it immediately. She was rushing a prescription over and I needed to get it today. I saw the results for my Thyroid Stimulating Hormone. It was 305.15. The regular range is about .10-5.5. I had over 55 TIMES the high/normal level in my body. To feel so great, I could have went into a condition called Myxedema Coma, or I could have died from having such a high level of TSH in my body.

The Thyroid Stimulating Hormone does exactly what the name says. It’s a hormone that sends a signal to the Thyroid to tell it to do its job. Obviously, the Thyroid was a sleep because that was a bunch of signals to send! The doctor told me that when the condition gets so bad things happen, like a lack of a monthly cycle.

I started taking the medication, but I was not sure how I felt about it. I went back 6 weeks later to take another blood test, assuming my levels would be down to probably 100, the results said that my TSH level was .77!! Thank God! And then, 4 weeks after that down to .16!! It was amazing. My Endocrinologist confirmed that I have a condition called Hoshimoto’s Disease. He claims that I will most likely be on medication for the rest of my life, and that also my Thyroid will eventually stop working. Now, this is what the doctor said, but I’m trusting on what God says! Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity!
See I didn’t forget about God watching over the Israelites, nor did I forget about how he protected Daniel and raised Lazarus from the dead. I surely did not forget about Jesus healing the ten lepers. All

I can say is watch God work a miracle in me!
God didn’t forget about us and hasn’t forgotten about you, and you don’t forget either!