Synopsis of Sermon 1.21.24
Delivered by Bishop Joseph W. Walker, III
Proverbs 3:1-10 NKJV
My son, do not forget my law, But let your heart keep my commands; 2 For length of days and long life And peace they will add to you. 3 Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart, 4 And so find favor and high esteem In the sight of God and man. 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil. 8 It will be health to your flesh,
And strength to your bones. 9 Honor the LORD with your possessions, And with the firstfruits of all your increase; 10 So your barns will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine.

I. INTRODUCTION
• Often people ask where’s the best place to start, when reading the bible. I say Proverbs, because it starts with talking about wisdom.
• In the series we’ve been in, we’ve talked about the principles of giving and therefore, we have no excuses. It is not what God does for us, but who God is to us.
• There are things that we are required to do in order to tap into the totality of what God has for our lives.
• Even when you struggle, you wonder if you were being humble when you were walking into God’s blessings.
o God wants us to be blessed. You were born to be blessed.
• Proverbs is a book of wisdom. We believe reading it first, because it leans in on good decision making.
• In Proverbs, Devine revelation is given to us and our thinking then becomes correct. Our lives come into harmony with the divine will of God.
• What does it mean to walk unapologetically is the blessings of the Lord?

II. REMEMBER THE BENEFITS OF OBEDIENCE
• Obedience means making a conscious choice to comply and carry out the will of God. God does not operate outside his will. God must be the most important thing in our lives.
• We must obey God.

A. Obedience Enhances the Quality of Your Life
1. The Bible says, if you obey the will of God, long life and peace will come to you.
2. When you are out of alignment, you are working with Satan to self-destruct. The devil knows God’s plans concerning you. He can’t take it away from you, but he can make your bad behavior mess the plan up for yourself.

3. You have to ask is it really worth it? Do you want peace more than you do pleasure?
B. Obedience Attracts Favor
1. When you do right, good things come to you. Never let someone pull you into something contrary to your character.
2. When you have favor it can change everything. Favor is better than money. Favor is when God leans in your direction. For example, you can’t explain how you got that job, it’s just favor! You can’t explain how you got that house; it’s just favor!

III. RECOGNIZE THAT GOD HAS BIGGER OPPORTUNITIES
• The Bible says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. – Sometimes we get frustrated when doors close. Don’t lose heart, because when things pass you by, it is opening up other doors. You have to trust beyond your own understanding.

A. Trust God Beyond Your Understanding
1. This doesn’t mean that you don’t think or strategize. It means don’t put solely everything on you. We have to trust God. God’s plan is greater for your life. God’s plans will be far beyond anything that you can imagine.

B. If You Keep God in It, He Will Keep You Winning
1. If you take God everywhere you go, you will do extraordinary things. God will keep you wining! Some things were too small to hold the greatness that God has over your life, so God had to let it go for you.
2. This year will be a big year for you and your family.

IV. RIGHTEOUSNESS PRODUCES BETTER OUTCOMES
• There’s power in walking in wisdom. You can be brilliant, but not be wise.
• Wisdom doesn’t always come with age. It can come with prayer and fasting too.
• When you have knowledge, this is great, but all knowledge does not align with the will of God.
• Wisdom makes knowledge obey. When wisdom comes in, it takes charge of your knowledge.
• Wisdom allows you to depart from evil.

A. Better Choices Make Better Character
1. Character is the good part of you. Personality is how you act. Personality is like perfume, but character is how you really smell. Who are you, before you put the perfume on?
2. Departing from evil is a character decision.
3. The Bible says it will be like health to your bones. This suggests that you look like you live.

B. You Will Look Like You Live
1. God wants us to have physical and mental health as well as looking good externally. The enemy wants us to look contrary to what God would have us to be.
2. When you think back to a time where you were convicted, you will remember that it made you change your character. You had a cloud over you that you couldn’t shake. It changed your nature. This is conviction.
3. Sin will age you. Think about your last class reunion. What happened to them? Some say life, but then you are left asking, “What kind of life do you live?”.
4. Sin will rob you of the plans God has for your life. When you walk into righteousness, God will make you look like where you are going, not where you’ve been.
a. Before I got saved, I was a mess. I didn’t look like myself. Then the blood came in and made it look like it never happened. You then have a clean slate.
i. Example — You have a house fire and you had a company come in and clean it up. You have everything that was broken fixed, so basically you rebuilt the house. The very day you brought people over to the new house, you see people sitting around smoking in it, putting the house back at risk.
ii. This is what sin does. God just gave you a clean slate and now you’re putting it back at risk. Your decisions matter! You got to start looking like where God has taken you, not where you’ve been.

V. RECEIVE THE BLESSING OF OVERFLOW

A. You Honor God by Giving Him What’s Right and Not What’s Left
1. When you honor God with your first fruits, it means you respect Him. Honor means respect. It puts you into a position for great things to happen. We take our seed and sow it. We trust God for the increase.
2. Your barns will be filled with plenty. In the bible days, the barn held the harvest. Whatever holds the harvest is a barn. If nothing is in the barn, then there was no harvest.
3. The barn represents what keeps me in between harvest times.
4. When you know what you know and you’ve seen God make a way, God will bring you to a place where you won’t have lack. Your barns are about to be filled with plenty!

B. God Is Going to Keep Full and Fresh
1. Vats were where they kept the stuff to make wine. The Bible says your vats will overflow with newness.
2. You are about to be in a season where you have new stuff.
3. Vats were big containers, built for holding a lot. God is saying new contacts, new money, new doors, and new opportunities are coming your way! When it does, walk in it unapologetically!
4. God is about to do something new and fresh in your life.
5. Pro 3:9-10 – 9 says Honor the LORD with your possessions, And with the firstfruits of all your increase; 10 So your barns will be filled with plenty,
And your vats will overflow with new wine. – You might say, “God you are making changing to things I’ve been accustomed to”. God had to remind us, that he will do things that are unorthodox. He will shut THIS down, to make room for THAT!