Deja Vu Series

Numbers 11:4 “Then the foreign rabble who were traveling with the Israelites began to crave the good things of Egypt, and the people of Israel also began to complain. "Oh, for some meat!" they exclaimed. 5"We remember all the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic that we wanted. 6But now our appetites are gone, and day after day we have nothing to eat but this manna!"

"Deja Vu" By Antonio L. Torrence

I. The gospel according to billboard, whereby we are looking at some modern selections of music through the lenses of the gospel because we understand that it is not only important for us to be biblically correct and theologically sound, but we as evangelist must be socially relevant as well. So, thus far, we have talked about:

a. Whitney’s “Tell me No”- having a faith of tenacity.

b. Christina’s “Ain’t no other Man.”- dealing with the Christological nature of Jesus.

c. Barkley’s “Crazy”- having Godly wisdom in a world of madness.

d. So today we are simply referring to the song entitled “Déjà vu.” We’ve all had déjà vu moments whiling walking around a corner, driving down a street, or simply putting away dishes whereby we ask ourselves, “Haven’t I done this before? Experienced this moment before? Haven’t I been here before?

II. The term "déjà vu" (French for "already seen", also called paramnesia) describes the experience of feeling that one has witnessed or experienced a new situation previously.

a. Three Types of Déjà vu:

1. Already seen’ or ’already lived through: Charles Dickens in his book “David Copperfield” describes this as: We have all some experience of a feeling, that comes over us occasionally, of what we are saying and doing having been said and done before, in a remote time - of our having been surrounded, dim ages ago, by the same faces, objects, and circumstances - of our knowing perfectly what will be said next, as if we suddenly remember it! When most people speak of déjà vu, they are actually experiencing déjà vécu. Déjà vécu refers to an experience involving more than just sight, which is why labeling such "déjà vu" is usually inaccurate. The sense involves a great amount of detail, sensing that everything is just as it was before.

2. ’Already felt” :What is occupying the attention is what has occupied it before, and indeed has been familiar, but has been for a time forgotten, and now is recovered with a slight sense of satisfaction as if it had been sought for. ... At the same time, or ... more accurately in immediate sequence, I am dimly aware that the recollection is fictitious and my state abnormal. The recollection is always started by another person’s voice, or by my own verbalized thought, or by what I am reading and mentally verbalize; and I think that during the abnormal state I generally verbalize some such phrase of simple recognition as ’Oh yes - I see’, ’Of course - I remember’, but a minute or two later I can recollect neither the words nor the verbalized thought which gave rise to the recollection. I only find strongly that they resemble what I have felt before under similar abnormal conditions.

3. Déjà visité: This experience is less common and involves an uncanny knowledge of a new place. Here one may know his or her way around in a new town or landscape while at the same time knowing that this should not be possible.

b. Been there! Done that- There some of us who tend to find ourselves going through the same things over and over. It seems that we may be repeating a cycle and revisiting old issues.

i. Relationships:

1. The same issues that caused us to leave our ex are now the same issues surfacing in our current relationship.

a. our ex was physically abusive; our current may be verbal abusive; Ex different have a job, our current just got unemployed. The last ‘baby’s daddy was trifling, and immature; the new baby’s daddy is acting trifling and immature. Have I not been here before? It’s a different man but same old issue- Could it be déjà vu?

2. We may see it in our children. One may be failing out of school. One may be promiscuous at with the boys and/or girls. One may be argumentative, defiant, and lazy. One may be constantly in trouble with the law? Have we not been here before? It’s a different child but same old issue-Could it be déjà vu?

3. We may experience in our workplaces. Leave one job for another in hopes of more money and yet, we are still struggling to get our bills paid. The co-workers at the last job were getting on our nerves. Our new co-workers are getting on our nerves. Our last boss was demanding and mean. Our new boss is demanding and mean. Have I not been here before? It’s a different job but the same old issue-could it be déjà vu?