Synopsis of sermon 3.2.24

Delivered by Bishop Joseph W. Walker, III

Psalm 103:1-12 NKJV
Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! 2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: 3 Who forgives all your iniquities, 
Who heals all your diseases, 4 Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, 5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. 6 The LORD executes righteousness And justice for all who are oppressed. 7 He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel. 8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. 9 He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. 10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities. 11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; 12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

I. INTRODUCTION 

1. One thing important in child of God’s life is remembrance. You have not subscribed to the spirit of amnesia.
2. Memory serves as record of God’s past deeds, and it gives us strength to go forward.
   1. Remember the children of Israel would say, the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob? What about the 12 smooth stones they left behind when they crossed the Jordon?
3. It is important we don’t forget what God has made available to us. He has protected us and made stuff available to us, stuff we thought we would never have.
4. Our posture and our pride are evidence that God is with us.
5. This Psalm in the lesson today is written by David. David was anointed as King by Although David was anointed, he didn’t take the position of king until much later.
6. David has incredible victories, including his victory over Goliath.
7. David had many gifts too. David would play the harp and sooth King Saul when he would have episodes of depression.
8. David was not always the best. We see David in a bad light with his incident with Bathsheba, yet God still used him.
   1. Just like David, there were episodes that happen in life that make you wonder who the person really is.
9. Some people are not kind about your low times. Some people try to hold you to the stuff that you did in your 20s, but God looks beyond your faults.
10. Don’t lose your empathy. Because of your past, you can’t be critical of others. We can’t lose sight of where God has brought us from.
11. David is giving us an understanding of how God takes our flawed life and still uses us. God’s faithfulness is greater than any flaw you have. God can still use you.

II. REMEMBER WHY YOUR SOUL SHOULD REJOICE 

• We don’t praise God out of reaction. Instead, we praise God out of what He has done in our lives and who He is to us.
• Forget not his benefits!

A. He Gives Us Benefits That Money Can’t Buy 

1. God forgives my iniquities. Money can’t buy that.
2. God heals our diseases. All healing doesn’t mean you had the disease. Some healing is based off His preventing you from getting it. You ought to thank God for the stuff you didn’t get, the stuff that God blocked!
3. God redeemed my life from destruction. He saved me from myself. The enemy sometimes is what’s inside of me.
4. How did God keep us from destruction?
   1. He didn’t let the car start at that time we were headed for trouble.
   2. God let you get sick the time you were going out to turn up. There are many ways that God kept us from destruction, and we didn’t even know it.

B. He Fills Us with Good Things and Renews Our Strength 

1. God fills my mouth. That means that He fills it with the Word of God.
2. God has a tendency to train us. God gives me what I need to be
   1. You can be on the edge and God can give you the right word, at the exact time you need it. In the world, you thought another drink was going to strengthen you or maybe even another smoke. Later, you matured and realized this is why you have the Word of God. The Word of God strengthens us. We get our strength through the Word of God.
3. The scripture says he strengthens me like an eagle. The eagle has strength because it welcomes the storm. Instead of avoiding the storm, the eagle flies into the pressure of the atmosphere. This is how the eagle gets so strong.
   1. Look at how you pray. It is much like an eagle. You wouldn’t pray like you do, if you hadn’t gone through all that you’ve gone through. The storms made you stronger.
4. We thank God for the Word for the storm, but it doesn’t dismiss the fact that we have become tired. Sometimes we get tired of trying, tired of our supervisor, tired of people, tired of work, and tired of church folk.
   1. Isaiah 40:29-31 says He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

III. REMEMBER THE STRENGTH OF HIS RECORD 

A. He Always Takes Care of Who Did Us Wrong 

1. God brings just to those who are oppressed.
2. Many of us want God to get people in our name. We act like God is supposed to be our personal bodyguard. Romans 15:4 says ”For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.“ – God will handle people that did you wrong. This means that you have to be spiritual enough to know that God fights your battles.

B. His Record Is a Public Reference 

1.     God told the children of Israel to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. God told Jehoshaphat to put the Praise Leaders out front and the enemies turned on each other. Know that your praise is your weapon!

2. If God will be for us, who can be against us? God’s word demonstrates this over and over.
3. God will release me of fear. God fights your battles every day!
   1. When you know God fight your battles, you are freed to focus on your assignment.
4. God said of David that he was one after His own heart, even though he had messed up a few times.

IV. REMEMBER THAT GOD DOES NOT SEVER THE RELATIONSHIP 

• God is still concerned about maintaining a relationship with you. After all we have done, we would think God would be done with us.
• We have to remember that God is not like us. He is merciful and long suffering.

A. We Are Here Because Of His Grace and Mercy 

1. We are able to do what we do, because of God’s grace and mercy. God has always been holding back the consequences.
2. Peter was hood and holy at the same time. You would think Jesus would have stopped dealing with him, but Jesus never gives up on us. He knew that this was something Peter would outgrow through
   1. Example: Bishop said he was a terror as a kid. He was the kind of child that gave the teachers a headache. He would not sit down, he wouldn’t stop talking, and he was always into something. Who would have thought he would have ended up as a Pastor and better yet, Presiding Bishop over the Full Gospel.
   2. Bishop’s parents never gave up on him. Just like this, God never gives up on us.

B. God Does Not Hold a Grudge

1. We have generational issues going on where we don’t even speak to some of our family members. We have a habit of holding grudges. If God doesn’t hold a grudge, then why should we?
2. God doesn’t keep up with all that we have done. Psalm 30:5 NKJV says 5 For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But [a]joy comes in the morning.– Concerning anything you may have done, God is over it!  
3. If God is over it, what did he do with it?

 
V. REMEMBER OUR SINS HAVE BEEN REMOVED

• Roman 8:1 NIV says 8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,- There is no condemnation. Religion condemns, but Relationship doesn’t.
• Church people love to pile on when people fall. It makes some people feel good to kick a person while they are down. Remember though, it could have been you that fell.

A. He Could Have Punished Us, but He Was Patient

1. We are not in a position to make light of someone else’s situation. We were only one more drink from being in their same situation. We were one person shy of being in a situation, because of someone we slept with.
2. It could have been us outdoors with no clothes or no food to eat.
3. God took your issues as far as the 3rd heaven. You have 3 heavens. The first heaven is the place where the birds fly. The second heaven is where space and the solar system are. The 3^rd heaven is where we believe God resides. God took you issue all the way to the 3^rd
   1. Psalm 107:2-3 NKJV says ² Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, ³ And gathered out of the lands, From the east and from the west, From the north and from the south.
   2. Psalm 103:9-12 NKJV says ⁹ He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; ¹⁰ he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. ¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; ¹² as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
      1. As far as the East is from the West. When you look at this, this is really amazing!
      2. North and South are different from East and West in that North and South are absolutes — you can go north only until you hit the North Pole. Once you are at the North Pole, any direction you go is South, and the same thing at the South Pole — there, any direction is North.

• East and West, though, are relative. There is no “East Pole” or “West Pole”. Any point on Earth is east of somewhere and west of somewhere else. You can keep going East or West forever, and just wrap around the Earth again and again. – So, the phrase “… far as the East is from the West…” is a really a Big Deal.

4. Reaching towards those things that are behind me I press towards the mark of the High Calling. I can’t dwell over what was done in the past.
   
   

B. He Puts Distance Between Our Past and Promise

1. Can God use me? Romans 6:1-4 KJV says 1What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
2. Openbox:
3. Bishop explains going to the store and seeing sign that said, “Sale Open Box”, so he asked the Manager what this meant. The Manager told him that this is Product that came from the Manufacturer with a minor cosmetic flaw. Since it had that flaw in it, they could no longer sell it as “New”.
4. Bishop wanted to know, does it still have the same warranty, and does it still work like it should? The Manager said “yes.”
   1. We are open Box too. We’ve got flaws, but we still work like everyone else. Some people send me back, but that doesn’t mean God can’t use me. I’m open box, but I still function the way God intended.
5. Refurbished Section:
6. Bishop moved to another section of the store and saw a sign that said “Refurbished”. He asked the Manager what this meant and the Manager said, “This product was broken, so it was sent back to the Manufacture to be Repaired, and now it is good as new”.
   1. If you take a look back over your life, you will realize that you have been broken. You found out that a drink couldn’t do it! You found out that a smoke couldn’t do it, so you went back to the Manufacturer and God fixed you up!
7. Recycle:
8. Finally, Bishop went to a section that had a sign that read “Recycle”. Bishop asked the Manager what this meant. The manager said this is Product that was used, thrown away, cleaned up, and prepared for
9. Just like this, you’ve been used, messed up, and dirty, but God picked you up and cleaned you up. He recycled you and made you where He could use you again!
10. Never forget what God has done for you!