What trouble taught me, Sermon 06/20/10

Posted on June 23, 2010 by growintheword

What trouble taught me?

Synopsis of Sermon 06/20/10

Delivered by Bishop Walker III

Some of the most amazing lessons of your life won’t be in times of ease. Instead they will be in times of stress and strain. Trouble is often didactic. There are lessons in every experience God allows us to go through. Even though we are saved, we are not exempt of trouble. Job 14:1 says 1Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble. Ralph Waldo Emerson put it this way. He says, “Difficulties arise to be surmounted”. In other words, the purpose in which trouble comes is so that it can be defeated. You and I have within us the ability to overcome whatever tries to overcome us. Despite the trouble, we learn the lessons that come along with it. Like David, when trouble has pushed us to our breaking point in our lives, we evaluate our relationship with God, and we begin to thank God for what he has allowed us to go through. You are better because of the trouble you went through! You’re stronger and you’re wiser because of it! Your praise is even where it needs to be because of it! Trouble came to make us better. Philippians 3:10 says 10That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; – Paul discovered revelation is birth out of trouble. Revelation is expensive. If you want God to take you to another spiritual dimension, you have to demonstrate your ability to deal with trouble. In every level of your life, you will deal with trouble. This season is designed to bless you. In other words, we may have trouble, but it doesn’t have us. Rather than complain and be depressed, know there is a blessing tucked away in the midst of the trouble.

David says in Psalm 27:5 says 5For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. David discovers that God has a plan of rescue in our crisis.

I.                  Plan of rescue in a crisis

Psalm 27:5 says 5For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

  1. God is never working it out as you go through it. He has already worked it out before you even get in it.
  2. David says this is the secret place of God. Like a parent is to their child, God is responsive to our cry. We have learned not to waste time going to people that are not equipped to help us. We have learned to go right to God, because God is our help. When you know where you help comes from, this becomes your first priority. You will go after God no matter how difficult things may be.
  3. Why would we do this?
    1. Because God is Reputable – His reputation precedes him. We can get many testimonies that will confirm how good God is. We don’t have to even go to the bible to get views on God’s reputation. You can ask your neighbor and they will testify to how good God is.
    2. He is Reliable-Every time we call on God, he shows up. Like our Grandparents used to say, he might not come when we want him, but he is always on time.
    3. He Rescues-David says that God will hide us when our trouble is most acute. In earlier biblical times, during the time of war, the safest placed to run was into the temple. Once they got into the house of God, there were soldiers that would come around and protect them and keep them secret. It was customary to hide warriors for the Lord back in biblical days. The soldiers would not let harm come to you in the temple.
    4. He Covers-God always gives us a covering. He protects us from stuff we aren’t even aware of. Grandma used to say he keeps us from dangers seen and unseen. We thank God for protecting us from the things we didn’t see coming our way.
    5. God gives me Comfort – While I am in there, God reminds me of his promise. Troubles will eclipses what God has told you. So God has to constantly keep reminding us what he told us. Like in  John 14:1 it says 1Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me., Jeremiah 29:11 says 11For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end., Chronicles 20:15 says 15And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.- We thank God for his word
    6. His word Changes– God’s word changes my situation. David says in reflecting on his past, he was not as solid as he should have been. Like David, many of us were wishhy washy and only came to God when we wanted to. We didn’t have the stability. David says no matter what comes, based on what he’s been through, he is more stable now than ever before. Just like David, some of the stuff we experienced would have gotten us if we had not gone through all that we have been through before. Our trouble gave us stability.
  4. What does it mean for God to hide you? It means we are placed in God’s protective custody, because he knows our testimony is valuable. Like protective custody in the real world, God changes our identity and changes where we are. He relocates us. Thank God that he has got us covered.

II.               Proper response in a negative context

Psalm 27:6a says 6And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy;

  1. David says now his head will be lifted up. It is about spiritual resolve. You will always have haters when:
    1. You have Anointing– You will have haters when you are anointed and appointed. People will hate on your anointment and your appointment, because your appointment follows your anointing. People will hate on you for what God has called you to do. While you are in it, know that God may not move the hater, but he will give you opportunity to be a testimony in the midst of all of them. This is why the Psalmist says in Psalm 23:5 says 5Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. – If God gives you an opportunity to speak well of his name, that is a blessing in itself. What good does it do for you to speak about him in the midst of people that already know how good God is? When we speak well of him in the place where your context is negative, then we have chosen not to let our context change who we are. Understand why God keeps you there.
    2. It is about our now. Now is where Leah was when she decided she would give her son back to God. She named her child Judah which meant praise. Like Leah, we have to choose to be at our now. When you say now, you are saying you are tired of allowing yourself to be taken advantage of. You are tired of allowing the devil to manipulate your feelings and emotions. Keep your head up, because when you do so, you have chosen to protest. You are protesting being a permanent victim.
    3. You have to develop a Godly Attitude – We have been through too much to walk around with our head down. We have chosen not to let this break us down!
    4. We have learned to make Adjustments – Though our context changed, we will not. We have to learn how to adjust. We will be content in every context we find ourselves in. We choose to be full in an empty situation. Lay me off, and I will still survive! Some people you can’t tell what they go through, because they have learned how to adjust.
    5. We acknowledge – When you hold your head down, you let he world know the enemy has control over you. When you hold you head up, you show that God is good to you and you know God has it under control. You have to get to a place where you respond properly in a negative situation. David says my head be lifted up with mine enemies around me.

III.           Praise regardless of your circumstances

Psalm 27:6b says … I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD.

  1. Sing the blues if you want to, but why make all the sacrifice of getting ready and driving to church and then just sitting there once you arrive. If you are here, you might as well praise him! We choose to sing the goodness of the Lord. We give a sacrificial praise. Sacrifice means that even through the circumstances say we shouldn’t be joyful, we have decided to move past that.
  2. We must praise like it is explained in James 1:2 where it says 2My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; – This kind of praise says we will praise God no matter what is going on around us. We are not praising God just for us, it is for you too! This praise needs to be heard. Ex-Recently when the Lakers were down in the playoff games, the entire coliseum started screaming and standing on their feet. People were texting Boston fans saying, “Brother Kobe is down.” This was Kobe’s Town. The fans started putting those signs up and the noise came. Then the noise started motivating the team and then all kind of crazy stuff happened. The Lakers went on to be victorious, because of the noise that was activated.
  3. We didn’t go through what we go through just for us, it is others can know what to do when they go through. When we are making noise, it is so someone else can know that God is able. When Paul and Silas were in jail, they praised loudly so the people in jail could hear them. How will others know how good God is unless you open your mouth? We must be willing to sacrifice. We must praise God even when we don’t feel like it! There are people going through stuff right now that we can’t even imagine, but they are determined to give God the praise regardless of the circumstances. A sacrifice of praise is praising God when you don’t feel like it! It is praising him when you come in tired and weary, frustrated, and aggravated! It is praising him when the conditions are not conducive of praise! In spite of the circumstances and conditions going on around you, understand that you are a living testimony of the goodness of God. It has nothing to do with how good your day has been. Even though you don’t understand what in the world is going on around you, you recognize you have to praise God anyhow! You realize that you can’t feel sorry for yourself! You open your mouth and bless the name of the Lord even if you are in a room with people who don’t like you! We will give that sacrifice praise. Even though our bills are past due, the budget has not been met, and we don’t know how we will make it! It is our sacrifice of praise! It doesn’t mean all is well! No matter what, we will stand with tears running down our face! When David wrote this, he wasn’t in church; he was running for his life! It is the sacrifice of praise from a real soldier! We are determined no matter what; we are going to push this praise out! We are going to let the devil know that he should have killed us when he had the chance! He messed around and let us get to the temple and we are going to praise his name! This is what trouble taught us!
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Fullnessof the Holy Spirit Part I

Posted on June 22, 2010 by growintheword

Fullness of the Holy Spirit Part I

“The Full Gospel”

Synopsis of Bible Study 06/16/10

Delivered by Bishop Walker

It is important to understand that God’s desire for us is not just to be saved and on our way to heaven. God’s desire for us is to have power, authority, and victory in the earth realm. Remember in John 10:10, Jesus says 10The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. – Life mentioned here is that God kind of life. God wants for us to have life and provisions for our needs. He wants us to walk around in the earth realm with authority.

Many of us grew up hearing about Jesus dying on the cross. There was more to this story. When Jesus died on the cross, he got up with something. It was power and it was made available for us believers. Just to lay some ground work for this teaching, we want you to understand that when we talk about the fullness of the Holy Spirit, we are saying less of us and more of him. Many of us never tap into this fullness during salvation and we minimize the power of the Holy Spirit to some emotional reaction. When we see people reacting with emotionalism, we think that they are really full of the Holy Spirit. The truth is it might be a spirit, but it might not the Holy Spirit. Today we are assigned to help you understand that God desires for us to live spirit filled lives and he wants us to be filled with his sprit.

We are a Full Gospel Church (Mt Zion) and we believe in the fullness of the Spirit. As members of the Full Gospel and we embrace certain distinctives.

Full Gospel Distinctive

  1. We believe the Full Gospel includes the proclamation of both eternal power of Calvary and the potential power of Pentecost. We know that if it wasn’t for the cross, we wouldn’t be here today (speaking of Calvary). At the same time we recognize that something happened on the day of Pentecost. We further believe that what happened at Pentecost must be applied to our lives today.
  2. We believe in the baptizing power of Jesus Christ for salvation because of Calvary.
  3. We believe in filling and controlling power of the Holy Ghost for service and Holy and victorious living. We believe that we are filled to live victoriously. We are filled to live in service to him who has brought us out of darkness. We can’t fulfill our assignment in our flesh. We must do this in the spirit of God.
  • Many of us say we are saved and on our way to glory. What good does it do to be saved and yet we allow the devil to run in out of our house? What good does it do to be saved and you turn around and depend on somebody to do what God equipped you to do for yourself? One thing Jesus came to do is deliver us from religion and into relationship. Religion will always embrace co-dependency on the Priest. Religion in the old days was dependant on the priest. The people were bringing their sacrifices to the Priest so that the Priest could offer up repentance for them. They could not ask for forgiveness for themselves. Only the priest could go behind the veil of the temple. After Jesus died, the veil ripped and we all gained access to God. We don’t need anyone to do for us what we can for ourselves.
  • Jesus came to deliver us from religion. In other words we were relieved from the codependency on the Priest. Many of us think we can pray over our house or over ourselves. We think we can’t get a break thorough unless the Pastor does it. After the veil was ripped into, we have the same power that Jesus made available to us after his resurrection. Jesus said in John 14 that greater works than he will we do. So if we cannot get to our Pastor, Elder, or prayer partner, we can lay hands on our self. We can cast demons out of our own house, because we have this reservoir of power inside of us. Inside you resides the power of the Holy Spirit, which was given to us at salvation. When you got saved, you got a package deal (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost). Some people say we must tarry for the Holy Ghost, because of the book of Acts. This is a misconception, because the book of Acts is not a theology book. It is a historical book. It is simply the actions of the early church. In John 14, Jesus tells the disciples he will not leave us comfortless, but he will send a comforter who will come. In Acts 1:8, he turns to the same disciples and tells them to go to the upper room to wait or tarry for the Holy Ghost who would come that they would have power. He tells them that they would then be his witnesses in Judea and Jerusalem. Then 50 days later (50 is the number of Pentecost) on the day Pentecost in Acts 2:1, the bible says 1And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. – The Holy Spirit had come for the first time as promised in John 14.  The Holy Spirit had not come until Acts chapter 2. They were waiting in Acts 1:8 for what was promised in John 14. Now that he has already come, we don’t have to wait for him, because he is already here. Where is he? The Holy Ghost dwells inside of us. Just because we don’t acknowledge his presence, does not mean he doesn’t dwell in us. The fullness of the Spirit says the only way for us to acknowledge his presence is by getting ourselves out of the way. This is why we have to say less of us and more of him. In other words, we have to get out of the way to experience him. With us out of the way, the Holy Ghost comes in and takes control. The reason you are not full of the Holy Spirit is because you are too full of yourself.

Influence

  • Ephesians 5:18 says 18And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; – Paul says there is a similarity in the way one responds to alcohol and how one responds to the spirit. When you used to get tow up (from alcohol), the only way the liquor would have complete control is when your flesh quits fighting. Before you were saved, your flesh did not resist the alcohol. When you got filled with the alcohol, it took control of your mouth, mind, vision, talk, and your walk. It wasn’t you talking anymore. It was the Jack Daniels. When you are filled with wine everyone knows it. A drunken man can’t hide the fact that he is drunk. Your speech will give you away. You laugh at stuff that isn’t funny. You are under the influence at this point. Now imagine if you let the Holy Ghost have that kind of control over your life. It wouldn’t be you preaching, or teaching, or walking. or talking. It would be the Holy Ghost, because you would be under the influence of him. The hardest problem we have being filled with the Holy Spirit is we don’t want to let go of us. Our ego is easing God out. Our mind is so strong. Until you mind submits to the spirit, it won’t take control over you. Every day we have to say that we decrease. Take out everything that is blocking the Holy Spirit from working in us.

The Great Commission

  • Matthew 28:18 says 18And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. – Power comes from 2 words. It comes from the Greek words 1411. dunamis doo’-nam-is  and 1849. exousia ex-oo-see’-ah. Exousia is the authority to do the thing and dunamis is the power to back it up. Ex-The police pull you over and this represents exousia (the authority). If you act a fool, they have their gun to back them up (example of dunamis).
  • Matthew 28:19-20 says 19Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.-Jesus wasn’t just taking the disciples on a field trip. They were in training. This was a didactic journey. Jesus wanted the Disciples to teach others what he taught them (The turning of the other cheek and everything).
  • In the Matthew 28:20c Jesus says, and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”Jesus says all power in heaven and earth is given to him (Dunamis). Jesus reminds them that he would be with them even until the end of earth.
  • We believe in the ongoing perpetual and continuous ecclesiastical (church) values of spiritual gifts. In other words we believe that spiritual gifts operate within the body of Christ for the edification of the Body of Christ, until Jesus comes back. We believe that there ought to be a manifestations flowing in the body of Christ. We believe that everything that God said would be available to us as a believer should be seen manifest in the house.

Fivefold Ministry

  • Ephesians 4:11-13 says 11And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ13Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: -: This suggests that every gift is for the edifying and the maturing of the Saints for the work of Ministry. They cannot be apart from the Holy Spirit. You cannot prophesy without being filled with the Holy Spirit. If you are prophesying without the Holy Spirit, there can be too much of you in there. This makes it hard for us to tell if you are proph-a-lying.
  • Read 1cor 12-14 (in your spare time)
  • Chapter 12- Paul talks about how we function as the body of Christ. He also talks about how spiritual gifts are distributed.
  • Chapter 13- Talks about love. It takes the Holy Ghost to love. Without it, you sound like noise. It takes the Holy Ghost to love some people.
  • Chapter 14-Talks about the gifts were operating in order. 1 Corinthians 14:40 says 40Let all things be done decently and in order. – Many may have been in churches and seen people operate in gifts, but it wasn’t done in order. God makes sure the gifts flow in a special order. He won’t let a gift flow out of order. Ex-The Holy Spirit will never let your Pastor preach and you get so emotional, you over shadow the word so that someone else can’t get a breakthrough. God won’t let you roll under a pew while you are in the Spirit and allow you to break your ankle. That is just out of order. This disorder, disillusions people. People see these weird manifestations of the Holy Spirit (out of order) and they become afraid of them. This is why they never tap into his power.
  • We believe in the divine personhood of the Holy Spirit. He is a person. Never refer to the Holy Spirit as an “it”. He is a personality.
  • We believe in his present day Ministry to the believers including the sovereign distribution of spiritual gifts. We believe God can give his gifts to whomever he wants. You can’t get mad a person if he gave God a gift to one person and you.
  • 1 Corinthians 12:7 says 7But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. – The manifestation of the Holy Spirit was given to prophet beyond us. God didn’t give Bishop a preaching and pastoring gift to hold on to it for himself. The blessings that God blesses you with are bigger than you. When you realize this, you won’t take the attacks so personally. It is to bless others. The devil isn’t after you. He is after who is listening to you.
  • 1 Corinthians 12:8-11 says 8For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 9To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 10To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: 11But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.- All of these gifts were given by the same Spirit, to work together in unison.
  • There are some revelations we get and come and we say they are good. There are others that stay with us all week long. Inside of you is an amazing reservoir of power. Just because you don’t experience HIM, doesn’t mean that he is not there. You see so much manufacturing of the Holy Spirit; it is hard to tell what is real. Inside you are a marvelous authority and revelation given to you at the time of Salvation. We can’t tap into it, until we move out of the way. He is there and from time to time, he reminds you that he there. You attribute it to some cognitive attribute. When you go someone where you know it doesn’t feel right, that is the Holy Spirit. When a job opportunity opens up and a voice speaks to you about taking or not taking the job, that was the Holy Spirit talking to you. When we say something is telling not to do this or that that was the Holy Spirit. What is so fascinating about the Holy Spirit is our body is temple of the Holy Ghost. If the Holy Spirit dwells in your temple, why do you have some doors in your temple locked? You won’t let him under the bed or in the closet. There are certain parts you won’t let him in, because you don’t want to let go of your control. You have to learn like it says in Proverbs 3:5-6, 5Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.6In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. – He is in you and he bears witness. This is how he works.
  • Because he is in you, let’s go back to Matthew 28:18-20 where it says 18And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. – He says all power is given and then he says go and teach them, but remember that I am with you wherever you go. When you roll over in your carnality and dry yourself off, this is the Holy Spirit saying “Are you ready to go yet?” When you come off your high and feel guilty, that is him. Your flesh is not going to argue about what you do. Your flesh is like, “that is fun!” You flesh won’t try to talk you out of it. It is him that dwells within you that tries to talk you out of it. The Lord says you need some help walking in integrity and the next time your issue invites you over, ask them what time do you want us to come. We are part of a package deal. People that are carnal will never understand us. Greater is he that is within us than he who lives within the world. That is what is going to wake you up at two in the morning. The next text you get, say “We can’t make it.” He walks with us and talks with us and tells us that we are his own.
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Just to be close to you, Sermon 06/13/10

Posted on June 20, 2010 by growintheword

Just to be close to you

Synopsis of sermon 06/13/10

Delivered by Bishop Walker III

Having an authentic relationship is to try and grow closer together although most of the time, we do just the opposite. In relationships, we often grow further away from each other. In the text today, David desired to get closer to God. When you desire to get close to God, you decide to focus on him, rather than things around you. Our experiences have pushed us into wanting to get closer to God. Because of what we’ve gone through, we pray more, we go to church more, we read about him more, and etc… Whatever has happened to us has made us realize that we needed to be closer to God. Know that it takes more than just coming to church. Paul said on Mars Hill that you can’t dwell in a temple made by man’s hands. You can have church anywhere. We can think ourselves happy, just thinking of all God has done for us. Somebody reading this came with a desire to be closer to God. You really desire an intimate relationship with God. You are tired of playing games. Some people desire so much to get closer to God, they can see and hear more than ever before. Your desire is not to miss God.

Text: Psalm 27:4: 4One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.

 I. Right Priorities

One thing that I have desired … (Psalm 27:4a).

  1. We must make it clear what our desire is. Mark 6:33: 33And the people saw them departing, and many knew him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and outwent them, and came together unto him.- Desire: a feeling that accompanies a unsatisfied state. – When you become unsatisfied with the things in your life, then you begin to desire more. You begin to see that relationships, drugs, and alcohol have left you empty. Now your desire for God has become greater.
  2. What are you longing for? An authentic relationship with God. We have become determined to find the Lord. When a child of God’s mind is made up, you will:
  3. Seek – When you look for something, you will change direction. You will devalue everyone and everything around you. What you are looking for becomes more valuable. There are many things we place greater value on than God. It is not until our back is against the wall that we seek God.
  4. Sacrifice-Suggests we will remove everything that keeps us from his presence. Hebrews 12:1-2: 1Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. – Because of all we have gone though, we find ourselves pursuing God.
  5. Steadfast – We are at a point where we refuse to be uprooted simply because people don’t like us. For many of us, if we are a member of a church 15 yrs, we are doing well. Our grandparents stayed at churches they belonged to for 30yrs or longer. Once they were rooted in a place, they very seldom left. Now we are constantly seeking to get a relevant word.

II. Reside in his presence

  1. David’s desires are so big for God, because he knew he could not get his desires fulfilled anywhere else. On one hand, he talks about dwelling in the physical temple. David says he loves the church, being around the saints, and etc… The truth is, there has to be something in us that just loves the church. When we were in the world there were certain things that we just loved. Bishop explains that he still has frat brothers that walk around with their gold boots. There are some people that just love the mall and some others that love the clubs. They can’t explain it, but they just love it. It is a apart of who they are. Church going ought to be the same for us. We don’t know why we love it so much. We just do! It is a part of us.
  2. 7 reasons why come to church
    1. It is an act of obedience to God Hebrews 10:24-25 says 24And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.-It is a command of God. Exodus 20:8 says 8Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. -God establish with the intent of us fellowshipping.
    2. It is an expression of our love for God. It shows people publically that we love God. If you love someone in the world, you are at their house all night long. God just needs a couple hours from us. Psalm 22:22 says 22I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
    3. Builds me up spiritually– Jeremiah 3:15 says 15And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. – You have to come to the restaurant to get the meal.
    4. Brings a special visitation of God’s presence. Psalm 22:3says 3But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.-God inhabits our praises. Everything in heaven gives God glory, so why shouldn’t we? Matthew 18:20 says 20For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. – We need God’s presence.
    5. Provides fellowship with other Christians. You can’t be island to yourself. You need people. The devil uses your isolation to intimidate you. Psalm 133:2 says 2It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; 1 John 1:7 says 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
    6. Provides accountability to spiritual leadership. He is not looking at you, trying to figure your spirit. Hebrews 13:17 says 17Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you. – It is so important that you are accountability.
    7. Combines our spiritual strength in prayer. We need each other’s prayers. Matthew 18:19 says 19Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. – You got to be around other people that can be prayer warriors with you.  Leviticus 26:8 says 8And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. – 5 of us can chase five hundred enemies.
    8. We love his presence. We want to get so used to God’s presence; we realize God is not interested in a one night stand with us.
  3. When it comes to coming to church, where do you fall on this list?
    1. Are you coerced? Coercion basically is saying, “Because you made me.” Ex- When you were made to go to church when you were younger, you rebelled when you first got independent.
    2. Are you Consequential? – We fear what will happen if we don’t. – Know that God doesn’t have feared based relationships
    3. Are you Casual – You come only when you feel like it. What do you do when you don’t feel like is the problem. There are going to be some days that you don’t feel like it.
    4. Are you committed – I want to want to go. – We are at a point when the job has us traveling and we actually have withdrawals from not going to church. If you don’t have this kind of passion, you ought to ask the Lord to put it in us. This way, we will want to be there. How can you love the Lord like you say you do and miss hearing the word missing and miss seeing the saints? We have to get to a place that no matter what, no gas, no money, no car; we have that desire to make it into the house of the Lord.

III. Righteous perspective

…behold the beauty of the Lords Psalm 27:4c

  1. Once perspective changes everything around me changes. When we get a revelation from God, we know that nothing happens that God can’t fix. If it is crooked, God will straighten it. If it is broke, God will fix it.
  2. Beauty is in God’s:
    1. Providence – The devil tries to keep you from God, so you will doubt he is still working. God has the power to turn a bad thing into a good thing and restore the yrs the locust ate up. When people look at us, they are looking at the power of God on display.
    2. Power – God’s power does for us, what we can’t do.
    3. Provides – God doesn’t say there you go. When he gets ready to bless, he gives it to you like a parent. We often wants God to bless us from afar. God doesn’t bless outside of proximity. God blesses you in his presence. If you don’t get it in his presence, you will forget about him. In his presence, you will be wrapped and tied up in him. You will know where your blessing comes from.
  3. Because we have gotten closer to God, we have seen and know things about him that we have never noticed before. Some people have just about given up, but God has got them! No matter how old you get, you remember that one person that gave you the blues. Ex-For Bishop, it was the Blues family. With this family, if you fought one of them, you had to fight them all. Bishop explained how one time, one member of this family crossed him the wrong way and the fight was on. They were in elementary school at this time and Bishop’s friend gassed him up to try to keep the intentions of fighting going. When the afternoon came, the Blue’s family was coming down the street. Bishop said he started talking stuff to them, because his friends had gassed him up so much, he believed he could win. They kept getting closer and closer and all of a sudden they turned and walked away. Bishop thought “Wow!” he had scared them away. All of a sudden, Bishop’s Dad patted him on the shoulder. It was because of Bishop’s Dad that they turned and walked away. You can swell up if you want to and think you are bad, but know that your Daddy above has your back. The times you think your enemies left you alone because of you was really a direct result of your Daddy!
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Knowing made the difference, Sermon 06/06/10

Posted on June 16, 2010 by growintheword

Knowing made the difference

Synopsis of sermon 06/06/10

Delivered by Bishop Walker III

God allows certain things to happen in our lives. It is all about experiential knowledge which is when God allows things to happen to push us to our revelation. There is no substitute for going through things for yourself. We can’t just be comfortable riding on other people’s revelation. How would you know God could heal, unless you have been sick? How would you know that God could make a way out of no way, unless your back was up against the wall? You have to recognize that God has been good to us despite our circumstances. We come to revelation based on our experience. This is where David is today. Things have challenged his anointing. This is a reminder of who God is, so we won’t become weary in well doing.

Look at James 1:2-3 says 2My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. – Here James embraces experience because it gives him greater knowledge. In Romans 8:28 it says 28And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.- This scripture implies that we have seen how God has made these things that happen in our life, work together for our good. 1 John 3:2 says 2Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. – This scripture suggests that at this moment, we come into the know. We must know that God is attempting to bring us out of darkness into revelation.

I. Complete Provision

Psalm 27:1 1The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

  1. Whatever we need, we have to come to a place where we know God has it. God doesn’t do us like people do us by saying he can help us and then turning around and not doing it. God can handle the totality of it, because he is our source and supply. We don’t place expectations on people wanting them to do what they were not designed to do. No matter who isn’t, we thank God that He is. When we raise e the question who what how, we find that the Lord is always our answer. People look at us and see the power of God working in our lives and we have to realize that it is not us doing it. It is the Lord doing it. We are able to work every day, because the Lord is. It is not because we have been so good. It is because the Lord is.
    1. The Lord is our light-This represents knowledge. He gives us in other words revelation. – Then we live in the knowledge, we refuse to live in darkness and not bring light into our situation. Matthew 4:16 says 16The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.- In this scripture, it describes how Jesus showed up as the light while men were sitting in darkness. In John 8:12 it says 12Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. – Jesus reminds us that the light is within us. Psalm 119:105 says 105Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.- When we have God in our life, we have revelation. We are a walking in illumination that comes with revelation. By this we mean that we can be in a dark situation and bring light to it, based on our revelation. We are not there to complain how bad it is. We are supposed to bring people into revelation, based on what we know
    2. He is the strength of our life: First we need to understand the concept of salvation in order for us to get the full effect. In Salvation, the savee has to know that they don’t have the power to save themselves. We must realize that while we were yet sinners, God saved us. God died for the ungodly. If God has the power to save us from Calvary, what problem could be worse than that? God saved the woman who was about to be stoned, the three Hebrew boys, and even Lazarus who had already had his funeral. Isn’t it amazing how God will send you the word that you need the most right when you need it. God will give you a light when you need it the most. God will not withhold anything from those who walk upright.
    3. He rescues us. God delivers us from our situations.

II. Certain of his power-

You will never know God’s power unless you acknowledge our greatest weakness. Remember when Paul asked the thorn to be removed 3 times and the Lord said his grace was sufficient.  8For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 9And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.-Once you turn it over to God and acknowledge you can’t do it on your own, God’s strength kicks in at our weakness point. Corinthians 4:16 says 16For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.-You can’t operate just in your flesh. You don’t get your inner man renewed Sunday by Sunday. You do it day by day, because you catch hell every day. We want to thank God for renewing us day by day. Our enemies ought to thank God for this day by day renewing, because without it, we could have cut somebody by now!

The strength you gain is from the Holy Ghost. Drinking won’t work, because our trouble can swim. Smoking blunts won’t work, because trouble can get higher than any high we can get. Ex– Bishop Walker says he remembers traveling though Alexandra Louisiana with his Uncle. Bishop kept seeing that the truck was riding on “E”, yet his Uncle kept driving instead of stopping for Gas. A few miles down the road, he asked his Uncle again about stopping for gas, but Bishop’s Uncle assured him that he had it under control. Finally after seeing how concerned Bishop was, his Uncle said, “D do you see this?” His uncle hit a button that was located under the dashboard. Next thing you know, the gas hand went back up as they were driving. What Bishop did not know was that this truck had a reserve tank on it. Just like this, we have to thank God that we got power that can kick in just when we think we are about to go under. Like the truck, we have a reserve tank. The scripture says that they that wait upon the Lord would have their strength renewed. We have power that makes us stable. We are not going to let the devil run us from where we need to be! We have to make up our mind that we will be stead fast and unmovable always abiding in his word!

III Confidence in his protection

Psalm 27:2-3 says 2When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. 3Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. – “Encamp” means that our enemy set up their tents while they were after us. Despite all of this, the scripture reminds that we will be confident.

  1. When you read this (verse 2) in your bible, you understand what “stumble” means from an English perspective. It means to tip over. In Hebrew it means to be destroyed. Your enemy is like a horror move; they can have one leg and one arm cut off and yet they keep on coming after you. While we are still in our situation, we are going to still give God the glory, we are going to appear like we know we are coming out of it, and we are going to keep our head up. There are folk that are still determined to be faithful and show up in despite what they are going through.
  2. Unless there is with us, that which is above us, we shall soon be consumed by that which is about to destroy us. In other words you are allowing what you see, to eclipse what you know. We don’t walk by sight; we walk by faith so we can’t live by what it looks like. We live by what we know.
  3. If you are not comfortable, you will have others worry about your situation more than you. David recognizes there is a
    1. Conspiracy-We are fighting an organized legion of demons that are aligned to strategically take us out. This is why you wake up saying if isn’t one thing, it’s another.
    2. Crowd– The things stacked up against us has become a crowd.
    3. Conflict– Both conspiracy and crowds bring about conflict which serves as host. Know that in the midst of these things, you are covered
    4. Covering-People have been dispatched by Hell’s Temp Agency. They are sent to your life to frustrate you and keep you from reaching your destiny.
  4. When the scripture mentions, “… Even mine enemies and my foes…” know that this is not your real enemy. You real problem is your “Friendmies”. These are those that appear they have your back, but privately they are jealous of your anointing and will privately try to take you out. This is an organized platoon coming at you. David says they can come all they want to. He wrote this song because they stumbled and fell.
  5. “They came to eat up my flesh” mentioned in the scripture means that they came like a pack of wild dogs, but they stumbled and fell. They were destroyed. It is not like God tipped them off. They were destroyed. Remember how God saved us? He never tipped anybody off. When God brought the Israelites out, he waited until the last one got out of the sea, then Pharaoh’s army was destroyed. Ex- Bishop was in the airport and he picked up a book to read while he was waiting. It was on World War II. In World War II, the Air force of Great Britain (which were our allies), had this amazing group of pilots they were called the Royal Air Guards. The Royal Air Guard otherwise called the Fighter Interceptor Unit had a specific job to do. Their job was to intercept aerial assaults at night. They practiced during the day, but worked at night. They were so trained and accurate; their radars were able to see the attack before it happened. Before the Royal Air Guards would be dispatched, they would intercept the missile before it could get into the target’s airspace. Now the target would be asleep while a war would be going on over their heads. The Royal air Guard would not even inform the target, because they had it under control why the target slept. We don’t wrestle against flesh. Over our head the devil is launching an attack. We can’t tell, because God blocks it before it gets to us. He won’t worry about waking us up. We give God the glory, because what is so special about the target they want to attack it night? David saw himself as a target. This was the same David that slew Goliath. Just like David, though we are targets, we are giant slayers. This is why the devil wants to take us out. It was Saul to was jealous, because he could not do what David did. Your enemy is jealous for the same reason. He wants to take you out, but you have to know that you are protected. We do just like the target in the book. We can sleep knowing that God has our back!
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