Synopsis of 11/11/24

Delivered by Bishop Joseph W. Walker, III 

Ezekiel 16:1-6 
Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, 3 and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: “Your birth and your nativity are from the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 4 As for your nativity, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water to cleanse you; you were not rubbed with salt nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. 5 No eye pitied you, to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you; but you were thrown out into the open field, when you yourself were loathed on the day you were born. 6 “And when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ Yes, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’

    I.          INTRODUCTION 

1. One thing we shouldn’t take for granted is what people had to endure. There are some people that have survived some trying times. Some things are too numerous to count.
2. It is a miracle that some people showed up. You have no idea you might be sitting next to a miracle today. This means they overcame!
   1. 1 Corinthians 15:10 NKJV says 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
3. You have to thank those that show up for you. Know that there will be those that will abandon you.
4. In our Human relationships, people have walked away from us and left us for dead. They are looking at us waiting for our demise to take place.
5. May we declare that this word today will reassure you. When people leave you, God will love you!
6. This word comes from the prophet Ezekiel who is a major prophet. Major prophets are named by the size of their books, not by their works.
7. Ezekial prophesied to God’s people under Babylonian captivity. They were in a place of moral deficit too. They had brought this captivity on themselves, because they had turned to pagan gods.
8. Ezekial uses allegory. An allegory is a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.
9. This photographic prophet told stories like that of the Valley of Dry Bones found in Ezekiel 37:1-14 where the bones were dead, but they ended up being a mighty army and the story of The Healing Waters found in Ezekiel 47: 3-5, where the water seeped under the door represented anointing and eventually the anointed ended up consuming the people from head to toe.
10. In this particular scripture, Ezekial uses Israel (representative of us) as being born as an infant in an open valley. The infant hasn’t been covered and hasn’t been washed. The cord hasn’t been cut either, so the child is still connected to what gave birth to it.
11. It’s parents was connected to pagan gods, meaning its parents were not connected to what God wants us to be feed. People are passing by, but no one was doing anything.
12. God saw us in our blood and in our situation and He spoke life over us, then He brought us back to life. It ain’t over until God says so!

 II.          THE PAIN OF A SINFUL PAST 

• The reality is, they are in this situation because of their sin. Ezekial 16 tells of the children of Israel’s unfaithfulness to God. It might not look like it now, but all of us have some bad chapters in our past.
  • Romans 3:23 NKJV says 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
• A lot of us try to live through selective sin, so that we can soften our sin and judge others. This is divisive in the Kingdom of God.
• There are only two types of people in the kingdom: Those who are caught and those who haven’t been caught yet.
• There is no hierarchy of sin. To God, a sin is a sin.

A.  Life Is About Choices And Consequences

1. The enemy wants to control your decisions.
2. 5 ways the enemy tries to control your decisions.
   1. Description and Doubt – Remember that’s what the devil did with Eve in the Garden. He tried to make her doubt what the Lord meant by what He said.
   1. Temptations and Desires – This is why the enemy tried to tempt Jesus with bread.
   1. Fear and Anxiety – This makes us make bad choices.
   1. Pride and Self-Reliance – The enemy will use our pride to make us mess up our blessing. The enemy wants you to compromise your destiny.

B.    The Enemy Wants Your Environment To Produce A Negative Outcome

1. You have to make decisions that cause you not to be a product of your negative environment.
   1. We never would have had a Tyler Perry if he had given in to his past life and environment.
   1. Lots of people pulled themselves out of the lives they came from to become something better.
2. You ought to give God glory that you didn’t become a product of your environment!

III.          THE PEOPLE SAW YOU AND HAD NO PITY

• There are people watching you that you are not aware of. They watch you from afar. They may follow your social media pages and never click on anything but know that they are watching.

A.    They Let Me Stay Connected To Stuff Too Long

1. The people went by and saw the condition the infant was in, but no one cut the cord from the navel.
2. You need people around you that can hold you accountable.
3. Infection will set in if you don’t cut the cord. This is the season when it’s time to cut the cord.
   1. You can’t be attached to anything that doesn’t feed where you’re going.

B.    You Had To Navigate Seasons Of Neglect

1. This is an infant that can’t cut the cord for himself. Some of us are in situations and we can’t do for ourselves what we need to do. This is why we need the right people around us.
2. In this season of neglect, you will realize it will be tough. This is the season that the enemy will try to get into your mind.
3. Whatever the enemy is trying to do in your mind, know that it is temporary. Be not weary in well doing. You will reap if you faint not. These are transforming moments.
4. What does it mean to be in an open field?

IV.          YOU WERE IN A PUBLIC SPACE OF PREJUDICE

• People make judgement calls on people based on what people have on. You don’t know their story. You don’t know what they had to go through to get here.
• God doesn’t see us like people see us. God sees us in our future.

A.  Don’t Let How People See You Determine How You See Yourself

1. It shouldn’t matter how people see you. When you realize who you are in God, then you walk with a sense of confidence. It puts you in a certain place.
2. To the women of this congregation, don’t let what people say about you, validate who you are. God sees you and has defined who you are. You are who God says you are.
   1. Think about Hagar, she could have succumbed to her situation. God spoke to her in her purpose. This is when she named God El Roi meaning God sees me.
3. Don’t let people’s perspective make you see yourself by what people call you.
4. Even when people try to limit you, you are still amazing!
5. People think it is over for you but know:

B.    This Is The Last Day You Will See Me Like This

1. God is sending this word, because this is the last time you will see me like this! We are going to walk in what God planed for us to do!

V.          HE PASSED BY AND SPOKE TO MY POSSIBILITY

• The Bible says, in your blood I saw you. God saw the Children of Isreal in a perish situation and he spoke to them with love.

A.    He Didn’t Just See Me, It’s What He Said To Me

1. There is power in words. The power of life and death is in your tongue.
2. Everything that was created was created by God’s word. When God speaks a thing, then that’s what it will be. When and where He speaks it, is where it will happen.
3. When God sends a word, He sends it at the right time and place for you. Then you got to believe that it is already done.
4. What your Pastor preaches on Sunday, is a download from the Holy Spirit. God downloaded his word to your Pastor and used she or he as a vessel.
5. When that word goes forth, know that it will happen over your life.
6. It doesn’t matter how they labeled you. That one word we declare over you is “live”!

B.    The Worst Is Over And The Best Is Yet To Come

1. People have no idea of what you experienced. God says if no one else sees you, He sees you!
2. God says he saw you when you were faithful, but being looked over.
3. When yo were trying to be faithful and they looked over you, God saw you then too.
4. God is about to snatch you out of every dead place in your life! Some people thank God for the houses and the cars, but there are others that can thank God just because He kept them!