Synopsis of Sermon 6/4/23

Delivered by Bishop Joseph W. Walker, III

Isaiah 44:21-23 NKJV 
“Remember these, O Jacob, 
And Israel, for you are My servant; 
I have formed you, you are My servant; 
O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me! 
22 I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, 
And like a cloud, your sins. 
Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.” 
23 Sing, O heavens, for the LORD has done it! 
Shout, you lower parts of the earth; 
Break forth into singing, you mountains, 
O forest, and every tree in it! 
For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, 
And glorified Himself in Israel.

I. INTRODUCTION 

1. Take a moment and think about the word reflection. It is a deliberate act of looking back on your life and asking where you were and what you were doing in the past. You also ask, “What was happening around you.”
2. Reflection causes us to pause and to look back over our lives. We have to reflect to understand that God has always been active in our lives. The fact that you are alive and well is a testimony that God’s hands have been on you. God has been molding you and maneuvering things in your life all the while.
3. Remembrance is important to God. We have developed amnesia when it comes to remembering how much God has done for us. We have no response to God for what he has done for us.
4. We don’t forget the blessing, but we often forget the Bless-or. We’ve gotten the money we asked for, but we haven’t given a dime back to the Lord. How can God do so much for us and we do so little for him?
5. Israel is an example of the importance of remembrance. It is God that redeems us from our sins and delivers us from our situations.
6. Jesus even told the disciples at the Last Supper, “…do this in remembrance of me…” It is important to future generations, for us to share our remembrances, so that they know how we arrived where we are. It allows others to understand the journey. We’ve had failures shortcomings, and trials, and etc. The generation behind you needs to understand that you came up by the stairs, not the elevator! You learned peace in the process, and you also have learned how to fight!
7. There comes a moment after remembrance, where you mature in God. There is a sense of gratitude for things that people take for granted.  You start to thank God for the little stuff. We used to think it was all about the big stuff, but now you are grateful just for being in your right mind, for not waking up and wanting to brush your hair with your toothbrush.
8. The book of Isiah is a good book. The book of Isaiah is made up of the following parts:
9. Judgement – Israel had to face the sin of their idolatry.
10. Attack upon them that failed because God blocked it.
11. The prediction of Israel’s rescue from Babylon and the coming of the Messiah.
12. In this book, you will see how God would eventually flip the script for his people. God’s people would have to be made whole, before they were ready to receive the blessing.
13. God wanted his people to have a Golden age, similar to the golden hour. A Golden Hour is that period of the day just before the sun sets or after it rises. It is when the light is redder and softer than usual, so that photographs taken in it have a pleasing quality. This is when Photographers often do their best work.  God was interested in giving His people a Golden Movement, not just a Golden Hour a movement, not just an hour. It was going to be a Golden Age of peace and prosperity.

II. HAVE A CONSCIOUSNESS OF GOD 

• This seems like a small thing, but you will be surprised at the people that don’t have God consciousness. This is essential to walking out your salvation.
• There use to be a time where even the wino would cross the street when he passed the church. We just don’t have the same God consciousness we used to have.
• When I have this consciousness, I have:
• God’s Presence – I know that I am alive. I know that God is real.
• God’s Providence – He’s always moving in my life.
• God’s Power – I’ve been around long enough to know that nothing is more powerful than God.
• Don’t let culture Rob you of your spiritual foundation. 
• Culture is fickle, but God is consistent. There is nothing new under the sun. Things we see in one generation, have happened in another. Some things that we think are new ideas, were actually thought of before.
  • Walk towards the door and it opens. We thought this was cool, when it first come out. We thought it was amazing, but if you think about it, they used to show the same thing on the cartoon, “The Jetsons”. What about machines making drinks, instead of humans? This was also on the same cartoon.
• Culture changes. Things we fussed about in in one season, we laugh at in another season.  Remember the generation that wore baggy clothes? We thought that was so cool, now no one wants their clothes baggy.
  • What about Pee Wee Herman’s suit? How many of you laughed about that, but now these types of suits are worn to the Prom. Culture comes and goes. This is why we hold to God’s Unchanging Hand.
• Some people don’t come to church, because they say that they can get sermons online or they can study on their own. The truth of the matter is, you can run after the world as much as you want, but somebody can testify that prayer still works. You can’t replace God. You look for peace in all the wrong places not realizing that you have all you need in God.

• We serve God, He doesn’t serve us 
• In order to serve God, we must:
• Acknowledge His word – We have to allow the Word of God to govern our lives. If you think about it, some of the things you were upset about in the past, you are thankful for now.
• Accept His word – We must do what His Word tells us to do.
• Be Aware of our witness – We have an obligation to tell the world how good the Lord has been to us.

III. YOU WERE CREATED WITH A GOAL 

• God allowed you to be born and aimed you towards a purpose.
• You were created with a purpose. 
• We have to remember that purpose is in the mind of the Creator. The Creator knows what he created you to do.
• What did God do when he created us?
• He put greatness on you. 
• He put glory in you – The reason you didn’t go under when you should have, is because of God’s glory.
• He put grace around you – God put enough angels around, to save you.
• You will never make it without your Maker 
• Goals are only reached when you are aligned with God. Even when you are not faithful, God doesn’t forget you.
  • It’s similar to this: Sometimes, you need a break from your children. Even though it is bad say, it is true. Our kids do stuff that we just don’t understand, but we still love them despite what they have done. God does the same for us. He never disowns us, despite what we have done.
• With our Maker we have:
• Divine Alignment –Alignment never begins with the external. It’s always Internal.
• Divine Ability – I know I am not accomplishing it. It is the God in me.
• Divine Acknowledgment – Don’t be confused about who is going to get the credit. This is why we don’t say we are lucky. We always acknowledge that it is because of God, that we do what we do and have what we have.

IV. YOU ARE COVERED BY HIS GRACE 

• The Bible says, God blotted out our sins with a thick cloud. It took a thick cloud to cover our sins. God knew our sin nature and blotted it out with a thick cloud.
• He hid the worst of me so He could use the best of me 
• God knew when he created you, that others would be looking to see what is wrong with you. Some people are watching to discredit you. They want to prove that God shouldn’t be using you. The good thing is, Grace covers stuff.
• I’m flawed but He was faithful 
• God uses us through our flaws. We don’t walk entitled, because we know God used us in spite of us.
• The church is a hospital. We are all here with various forms of sickness. The church is a place where you go, trying to well. It’s not a place where you go to check in and just hang out.
• If you go to the Hospital and leave early, you can’t blame the Hospital if you leave with the same issue. Just like the Hospital, you can’t blame the church if you leave with your same issue, after you checked out early.

V. YOU SHOULD CELEBRATE HIS GOODNESS 

• Because God has redeemed us, we are instructed to sing to the Lord for what he has done. We should audibly show our thankfulness to God, for all He has done.
• If you reflect you have to rejoice 
• Pall and Silas sang praises to God while locked up in jail. These Songs of Praise triggered a response. Everything around you sing praises to God (the trees, the birds, and etc..). Even the lower parts of the Earth praise God. Praise makes equals of us all.
• There is no certain way, we praise God. Often, we put on our doctrinal hats when we express our praise. We must know that God does not have a denominational deliverance. He has one deliverance and one redemption.
• When you go to a game in Denver, there are Warnings posted about your lungs. The air is thin there. When you overexert yourself with screaming, it can cause harm to you. During the playoffs, everyone there forgot about the warning and cheered like crazy. The reason they disregarded the Warning is because they think that what they are praising is greater than the problem. We have to praise God, no matter what is going on, because we know that what we are praising is greater than our problem.
• God gets the glory in all my story. In my story, there is:
• Personal transformation. 
• Power of our testimony. 
• Praise that transcends.