Making the Best of a Bad Situation
Bishop Vashti Murphy-McKenzie spoke at HU’s Chapel today. After listening to her sermon, I was greatly encouraged. Such inspiration should not be kept for one, but shared with all. I am going to buy the cd of her sermon and give it to those that I love.
Here are my notes from her sermon:
The text-Psalm 34
1 I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.*
2 My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; the humble shall hear of it and be glad.
3 Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together.
4 I sought the LORD, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
5 They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed.
6 This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel[a] of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them.
8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
9 Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him.
10 The young lions lack and suffer hunger; but those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.
11 Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
12 Who is the man who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good?
13 Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit.
14 Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry.
16 The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; He delivers them from all their troubles.*
18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.**
19 A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all;**
20 He protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.*
21 Evil will slay the wicked; the foes of the righteous will be condemned.*
22 The LORD redeems his servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him.*
*The selected text from speaker
**These were the versus of focus
Every now and then, life throws you a curveball. We start to develop a comfort and routine. Just when you think you know what to expect, we are caught off guard. Life does something a little different. We strike out and are sent back to the dug out wondering what happened.
While we are in the dug out, we must remain happy. Happiness is a choice. Just because negative things happen to you, that doesn’t mean that you must have the negative attitude to go along with it. Bishop McKenzie defined happiness to be a state in which a Godly life of moral restraint is lived with joy. Happiness is blessedness.
Matthew 5
3"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Being blessed doesn’t mean that you won’t be distressed.
Like the main text said “many are the afflictions of the righteous.” The bible tells us that our lives will be hard.
John 20
18"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.
19If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
20Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master. 'If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.
21They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me.
So we are afflicted. What do we do? How do we survive the curveball? Look back at Psalm 34 verse 1. We are to bless the Lord at all times. The praise is to be conscious, determined and insistent. Praise Him when you are happy. Praise Him when you’re sad. No matter what you are going through, praise Him at ALL TIMES.
You must make the decision to praise because it is hard for fear and the praise of God to be in the same place. Even when you put your all into something and you didn’t do well, praise Him. When you don’t put your all into something and your fail, praise Him.
It is easy to praise God when thing are going well. But the true testament of faith is praise during the difficult times.
James 2
26As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
Hebrews 11
1Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen.
2This is what the ancients were commended for.
3By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
6And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Along with faith, you must have hope. As one author describes it, hope is a three story house. The right hope must be applied to the right situation. Here are the different types of hope:
1.) Incremental hope-hope that occurs one step at a time. Survival is done in stages. Things didn’t get bad all at once. Therefore. It won’t get fixed all at once.
2.) High hope-hope that moves by leaps and bounds. You don’t just want to work at the McDonald then own a franchise. You go for the franchise first. Then, you build upon that.
3.) Static hope-Unexplained hope that is encouraged by the Holy Spirit. Hope that is not attached to situations. No matter what, the good or the bad, the hope is there.
Bishop McKenzie ended with these lyrics from the song “The Solid Rock”:
“My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ Name.
On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.”
...THAT WAS A POWERFUL SERMON!
Here are my notes from her sermon:
The text-Psalm 34
1 I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.*
2 My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; the humble shall hear of it and be glad.
3 Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together.
4 I sought the LORD, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
5 They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed.
6 This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel[a] of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them.
8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
9 Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him.
10 The young lions lack and suffer hunger; but those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.
11 Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
12 Who is the man who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good?
13 Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit.
14 Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry.
16 The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; He delivers them from all their troubles.*
18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.**
19 A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all;**
20 He protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.*
21 Evil will slay the wicked; the foes of the righteous will be condemned.*
22 The LORD redeems his servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him.*
*The selected text from speaker
**These were the versus of focus
Every now and then, life throws you a curveball. We start to develop a comfort and routine. Just when you think you know what to expect, we are caught off guard. Life does something a little different. We strike out and are sent back to the dug out wondering what happened.
While we are in the dug out, we must remain happy. Happiness is a choice. Just because negative things happen to you, that doesn’t mean that you must have the negative attitude to go along with it. Bishop McKenzie defined happiness to be a state in which a Godly life of moral restraint is lived with joy. Happiness is blessedness.
Matthew 5
3"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Being blessed doesn’t mean that you won’t be distressed.
Like the main text said “many are the afflictions of the righteous.” The bible tells us that our lives will be hard.
John 20
18"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.
19If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
20Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master. 'If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.
21They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me.
So we are afflicted. What do we do? How do we survive the curveball? Look back at Psalm 34 verse 1. We are to bless the Lord at all times. The praise is to be conscious, determined and insistent. Praise Him when you are happy. Praise Him when you’re sad. No matter what you are going through, praise Him at ALL TIMES.
You must make the decision to praise because it is hard for fear and the praise of God to be in the same place. Even when you put your all into something and you didn’t do well, praise Him. When you don’t put your all into something and your fail, praise Him.
It is easy to praise God when thing are going well. But the true testament of faith is praise during the difficult times.
James 2
26As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
Hebrews 11
1Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen.
2This is what the ancients were commended for.
3By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
6And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Along with faith, you must have hope. As one author describes it, hope is a three story house. The right hope must be applied to the right situation. Here are the different types of hope:
1.) Incremental hope-hope that occurs one step at a time. Survival is done in stages. Things didn’t get bad all at once. Therefore. It won’t get fixed all at once.
2.) High hope-hope that moves by leaps and bounds. You don’t just want to work at the McDonald then own a franchise. You go for the franchise first. Then, you build upon that.
3.) Static hope-Unexplained hope that is encouraged by the Holy Spirit. Hope that is not attached to situations. No matter what, the good or the bad, the hope is there.
Bishop McKenzie ended with these lyrics from the song “The Solid Rock”:
“My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ Name.
On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.”
...THAT WAS A POWERFUL SERMON!
posted by SdotK at 1:26 PM
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