Part 3: If You Knew What He Did, You Would Understand What I Do

Sermon Synopsis 01/18/26

Delivered by Bishop Joseph W. Walker, III

Scripture: Psalm 66:8–17 (NIV)

Praise our God, all peoples,

let the sound of His praise be heard.

He has preserved our lives

and kept our feet from slipping.

You let people ride over our heads;

we went through fire and water,

but You brought us to a place of abundance.

I will come to Your temple with burnt offerings

and fulfill my vows to You—

vows my lips promised

and my mouth spoke when I was in trouble.

Come and hear, all you who fear God;

let me tell you what He has done for me.

Prayer: Lord, we give You praise. Lord, we thank You for every bona fide miracle. Thank You for this place and for what You are doing all around the world.

Thank You that we will leave better than we came, because of what we are about to receive. In Jesus’ name, Amen!

I.         INTRODUCTION

• Look at somebody quickly and tell them: “If you knew what He did, you would understand what I do.”
• The way we respond can look excessive. The way we worship can appear over the top, but our response is tied to revelation.
• What people are observing is not emotion — it’s
• Revelation is personal. Nobody can tell your story like you can.
• You can learn through books, seminary, catechism, social media, or instruction — but there is no substitute for encountering God for yourself.
• This Psalm was not meant to be read silently. It was intended to be sung — loudly, publicly, communally, so others would know what God had done.
• When the psalmist says fire and water, the hearers understood both literally and metaphorically:
• Seasons that burned like fire
• Moments that felt like drowning in water
• Yet in those moments, they saw the hand of God.
• And when God brings you out, He doesn’t bring you out the way you went in. He brings you out to bring you up.
• If you are in it right now — feeling the heat, feeling the pressure, feeling overwhelmed — understand this: God will not let your pain exist without purpose.
• God allows what you go through not to destroy you, but to develop you. That’s why your praise may be louder.
• Excuse us if our hands stay lifted a little longer. You don’t know what He’s done for us.
• Excuse us if our generosity offends you. You don’t know what He’s done for us.
• Don’t measure my worship without knowing my rescue. Don’t critique my devotion without knowing my And don’t judge my glory unless you know my story.

II.            REMEMBRANCE PRODUCES RESPONSE

• Many of you are survivors. And surviving should have taught you something: Remembrance produces response.
• Throughout Scripture, God repeatedly commands His people: Remember, He wasn’t asking them to rehearse facts.
• He was asking them to re-anchor their trust, because whatever people forget — they replace.
• That’s why God established:
  • Feasts
  • Altars
  • Memorial stones
  • Testimonies
• Joshua placed twelve stones in the Jordan so future generations could ask, “What do these stones mean?”
• Passover wasn’t about history — it was about
• Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of Me,” because remembrance keeps the cross central when life gets crowded.
• Memory guards you from pride. Memory protects you in pain.
• Memory reminds you: If God did it before, He can do it again. That’s why you should keep a “faith file.”
• Every time God makes a way — file it. Every time He heals — file it. Every time He delivers — file it, so when the next storm comes, you can say: “If God did it then, God can do it again.”

A.  Memory Fuels Maturity

1. The more you remember, the more you mature.
2. The psalmist remembered being tested, burdened, overwhelmed — but he also remembered never being abandoned.
3. Tell somebody: “I’ve been through it — but God was right there.”
   1. Some of you remember praying in your car.
   2. Some of you remember whispering prayers before meetings.
   3. Some of you remember waiting on test results saying, “Lord, I trust You.”
4. Memory reframes pain and gives it purpose.
   1. Joseph forgave because he remembered the God who kept him in the pit and the prison.
   2. The same God who sustained him there promoted him later.
5. Four Hindrances to Remembering

1. Comfort Can Erase Consciousness –

When life gets easy, memory gets weak.

1. God warned Israel: When you live in houses you didn’t build and eat from vineyards you didn’t plant — don’t forget Me.
2. Comfort dulls gratitude.

• Bills get paid.
• Prayer shrinks.
• Devotion fades.

And we start believing we did this ourselves.

1. Pain Can Distort Perspective

1. Trauma can silence testimony.
2. Pain can make your “right now” so heavy that you forget what God just brought you through.

• Israel crossed the Red Sea — then complained in the wilderness.
• That’s what pain does. But when you look back over your life, you can’t help but give God glory.

1. Distraction Can Diminish Devotion

1. Life moves fast. You get busy. You stop telling the story.
   1. Judges 2:10 says a generation arose that did not know what the Lord had done.
2. They didn’t stop believing — they stopped remembering.
   1. Pride Can Rewrite the Narrative

1. Pride says: “My grind did this.”
2. Until God pulls the rug from under you and reminds you: In Him we live, move, and have our being.

B.  Response Reveals Priorities

1. Your response shows what comes first.
   1. Anybody can praise when life is easy, but priorities are proven after life tried to take you out — and you still showed up.

• Still worshiping when wounded.
• Still believing when betrayed.
• Still giving when finances are unstable.

2. Still here. That’s a sermon by itself. “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed.”
3. Mercy held you. Grace covered you.
4. Your presence is proof that God preserved you.
5. Some people have no idea what it cost you just to be here today. Tell your neighbor: “You have no idea what it cost me.”

III.            REFINING PRODUCES RELIABILITY

• A faith that has never been tested cannot be trusted.
• The fire was intentional.
  • Silver must be heated so impurities can rise.
  • God removes what cannot be trusted, so what remains can be relied upon.

A.  Pressure Proves Purpose

1. Pressure exposes whether faith is decorative or deep.
2. Pressure strips pretension and reveals assignment.
3. You can’t fake it in the fire.
4. Joseph’s purpose appeared in the pit.
5. It matured in the prison.
6. It manifested in the palace.
7. Pressure doesn’t create purpose — it uncovers it.
8. Three Ways Pressure Reveals Purpose
9. Pressure Exposes What You’re Called To – When you’re called, pressure reveals you — it doesn’t remove you.
10. Pressure Clarifies Who You Depend On – People promised they’d be there — then disappeared. The fire taught you where your help truly comes from.
11. Pressure Prepares You for Who You’re Assigned to Serve – You can’t speak hope to broken people, if you’ve never been broken yourself.
12. God uses imperfections to minister to imperfect people. – This isn’t sanitized Christianity. We are all broken — and God still uses us.

B.   Reliability Requires Surrender

1. God can only trust what we surrender.

1. Abraham surrendered Isaac.
2. Hannah surrendered Samuel.
   2. Obedience does not end when the crisis ends.
      1. When God is first, surrender isn’t seasonal.

IV.            REVELATION PRODUCES RESPONSIBILITY

• You are responsible for what you know.
• This Psalm wasn’t private — it was public. “Come and hear “ the Psalmist said. — In other words, let me tell you what God has done for me.”
• Every encounter demands expression. Blessing creates obligation — not guilt. It creates but gratitude.

A.  Vows Must Outlive Valleys

1. Many of us made promises when times were hard, but the danger isn’t in making vows — it’s in forgetting them once stability returns.
   1. Jacob said: “If You bless me, I’ll serve You. I’ll give back a tenth.”
2. Integrity is proven when your blessing doesn’t cancel commitment. God remembers what we promised when we were desperate.

B.   Giving Reflects Gratitude

1. Psalm 66 says: “I will fulfill my vows.” Everything I said I would do — I will do.
2. Deliverance deserves demonstration.
   1. Does your worship reflect your rescue?
   2. Does your giving align with your outcome?
3. When you truly know what God has done, nobody has to beg you to respond.

C.   Why We Respond the Way We Do

1. I’m grounded because He didn’t let my feet slip.
2. I’m generous because He brought me through.
3. I give Him glory because He heard my cry.
   1. It’s not that I’m doing too much — its that I’m remembering too much.
4. When you remember what God has done, your response changes.