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Breaking the Cycle Part II, “Breaking the Cycle of Poverty” Sermon 10/10/10

Posted on October 13, 2010 by growintheword

Breaking the Cycle Part II

Breaking the cycle of poverty

Synopsis of Sermon 10/10/10

Delivered by Bishop Walker III

Text: Proverbs 6:6-11

This area can be one of the hardest to overcome. Why? Many of us have problems confronting it. (Bishop Walker shares that anxiety had risen up in him when preparing for this message). Lots of people have strong feelings concerning the issue of money being preached from the pulpit. Bishop explains how he does not want to be caught up in the generalization of the “Prosperity Preacher”. Bishop explains that what separates him from this kind of theology is that he believes that the prosperity gospel approach is narcissistic and very individualist focused. This approach talks about how you can have it all right now (your blessings). This approach thinks always about the individual and is mainly focused on oneself. It is a “Bling-Bling” theology. Bishop explains that he is not one of these types of Preachers. Bishop states he believes the Gospel itself is the birth, the life, the death, and the resurrection of Christ. This is the gospel that Bishop Walker preaches. Having said this, we also believe that through this process of salvation, God wants his children to prosper. The job we have and the house we have is a result of what God has done. God did that. It would be hypocritical not to say that God wants us to prosper, because everything we have, God gave it to us. We have to be responsible with what God has blessed us with. This is what separates us from the prosperity view, that individualized view of blessing, and thinking that the blessings is always just about us. God thinks about others when he blesses us. We have told you before, if God can’t get a blessing through you, he will quit sending them to you.

Many of us have allowed blessings to make us victims instead of us applying sound biblical principles to help us be victors. There is an amazing story about to hit the news giant CNN. It is about debt in America and the churches response to it, particularly in the minority community. The reality is, lots of people shout and come church, yet they are deeply in debt. We have to start dealing with this in the church. You will be interested to know that Jesus taught more about money than heaven or hell in the bible. There is only one thing that God talked about more than money and this was the Kingdom of God. In fact, 11 of the 39 parables in the bible deals with money. 1 out of every 7 verses in the gospel of Luke deals with money. Over 2000 verses, Jesus dealt with the poor. Luke 4:18, Jesus gives a powerful declaration of about his own Ministry. It says ¹⁸The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. – Jesus says he came to set the oppressed free. Debt and poverty will bind you up. We are never supposed to be controlled by this world’s economy. This is a word planet. Everything in this earth today is a result of God’s word. The problem is many of us allow our friends that don’t even come to church, to speak into our lives and so we end up settling and struggling all our lives. We come to church and dance and shout, yet we can’t pay our bills. We can’t even get in school and we go through life mismanaging our blessings.

This is a flatfooted word. There is no fluff to this sermon. Many of you today will leave from this reading breaking this cycle of poverty.

I. Principle of seed time and harvest

Proverbs 6:6-7 says ⁶Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: ⁷Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,

We must understand how to plan for the winter. It is about seed time. We have to start applying words like budget and planning in your life. You can’t live out of your front pocket.

How do we handle the 90% left after we tithe? This might mean cutting out some the extras in our life. We have to stop living in the right now and think about our not yet. Imagine what $25 set aside a week or month could do in our situation. You got to start planning for emergencies. There are two types of people that die. Those that die blessed and those that die broke.
This is about diversification. – Ecclesiastes 11:1 says ¹Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.
Don’t put all your money in one place. Ecclesiastes 11:2 says ²Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth. – You don’t’ know when a recession might come. Don’t put it all your money in one place.
Make preparation. Ecclesiastes 11:3 says ³If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be. – If stuff happens, you have thought about that, because you have your money spread out
You never know what God is going to work out. Ecclesiastes 11:4-5 says ⁴He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. ⁵As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all. -You don’t know what God is going to work out with your seed. Sow your seed right now and then you don’t have to feel guilty about getting your harvest.
We have to have Discipline – Proverbs 6:8 says ⁸Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. Lots of people live in the “right now”. Make up in your mind that you want to live. Get past immediate gratification. Sometimes it may mean you need to take your lunch to work or wear the same jeans. Rather than buying this, you might want to put something back for later. We have to break this cycle today.
Stop living beyond your means trying to impress people that don’t like you anyway. We have a plan. We are planting seed right now.
6 key principles:
1. Initiative -This is not the will of God for us to struggle. You have to get to a point you realize that this (poverty) is not God’s will for your life. There are unique situations where folk have gotten to this state at no fault of their own, but there are others that got in these situations on their own. For those who got themselves in this situation need to know that this is not God’s will for our lives. Some might say the Pastor is supposed to take a vow of poverty. Bishop Walker says this was not what God intended for him. Bishop jokingly says there are two vows that he wasn’t going to take as a Pastor. He wasn’t going to take a vow of poverty, because he is a giver and he wasn’t going to take the vow of celibacy, because it wasn’t natural to him. He says he was going to marry and use all that God gave him.
2. Inspection – What has caused this situation? Was it your Visa or the clothes in your closet? Inspect your life and see what caused you to be where you are right now.
3. Insight – This is God giving you the wisdom to handle your present situation.
4. Increase – May have to work more over time to get out of poverty. We may have to sow more seeds.
5. Industrious – Make the most of what you have. If you don’t have Kool-aid, may have to make sugar water. If you don’t have lotion, then you may have to lick that ashy spot. Use what you got!
6. Investments – In the kingdom of God, it positions God to help you. Once you invest in the kingdom, it obligates God to help you. God’s word will not contradict itself. People say they are not going to give all their money in church, but it’s deeper than that. When you invest in God’s kingdom, it obligates God to help you, because his word will not return unto him void.

II. Problem of sleeping too hard

Proverbs 6:9-10 says ⁹How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? ¹⁰Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:

We have a problem; we pass poverty to the next generation. How long will we settle for being pathetic? How long will these churches keep selling fish plates? How long will we pass debt on to others? How long will you put everything on a credit card? This makes us bad advertisement to the kingdom. We acknowledge that some people were dealt a bad hand, but you ought not want to stay there.
God funds purpose. Once our purpose is established in earth, God funds our purpose. We need God to bless us so we can get gas for our car for an example.
Many of us are in a vicious cycle, because we are caught up on pleasure. We can’t live our life from party to party bed to bed. Sin is expensive. Ex- The story of the prodigal son is about redemption. This story is about a son asking for his inheritance. This son wants his trust before his father even dies. The father turns a trust over to an immature, undisciplined boy. What happens when an immature undisciplined boy gets a lot of money? They end up broke, busted, and disgusted.
Money won’t solve our problem, but discipline will. It is possible to give money to fools. This is why people win the lottery, they end up broke. They still have the same undisciplined principles in their life. It takes discipline to get it, but character to keep it. We waste instead of building wealth. There is nothing wrong with having a good time, but you can shout a little better when all your bills are paid.

III. Promise of a season is at hand

Proverbs 6:10-11 says ¹⁰Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: ¹¹So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.

Consequences are results of decisions we make. The scripture says poverty will come on you like one who travails. Travail used in this scripture is similar to a woman that is in labor. She is trying to give birth, but she can’t. Every time she tries to push the baby out, she can’t because it hurts. Like this, every time something comes around, we can’t take part in it, because it hurts us (when we are in poverty). When holidays come or opportunity comes around, we can’t take part because it hurts. This is not God’s will for our life. We must determine which season will come to us.
There is a high cost to low living. Ex- A couple of yrs ago, Bishop Walker told us to look at hands and think about all the money that ran through our hands that was wasted and wonder how much better off we would be financially if we had that wasted money back. The only way to break this cycle is to be sick and tired of being sick and tired. We come to church run, shout, and still don’t have anything. If you don’t have anything, you can’t help anything. God is not blessing us just for us. In order for us to live out our kingdom assignment, we must be a good steward of what God gave us so we can live out our assignment and bless others. Nobody can help you unless you are willing to help yourself.
Some of you have fallen asleep during this message and you think you are dreaming, but you are not. If you learn the power of planning (seed time, harvest, and waking up) you will notice something.
1. a. Look at the total blessing. Deuteronomy 28:1-4 says ¹And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: ²And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. ³Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. ⁴Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. – When you are in poverty you can’t get the best food and medicine for your body. God is trying to bless us totally so we will be blessed in our body and mind. This is called totally blessed.
2. The blessing of God is on you. Deuteronomy 28:5-7 says ⁵Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. ⁶Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. ⁷The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. – Are they fleeing because you got money? No, they are fleeing because the blessing of God is on you and your blessing is tied to obedience.
3. God will command things to bless you. Deuteronomy 28:8 says ⁸The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. – Before you go in, God will command it to bless you. Don’t depend on your job to take care of you. If you are living for God, you will always have more than you are paid. It is not Job Jireh it is Jehovah Jireh.
4. God swore a blessing to you if you walk in his ways. Deuteronomy 28:9-10 says ⁹The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways. ¹⁰And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.
5. We should be lenders and not borrowers. Deuteronomy 28:11-12 says ¹¹And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee. ¹²The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. – The Lord will make you the head and not the tail. He will make you above only. Somebody needs some stuff opened up in your life. You will be able to lend and not have to borrow.
6. God will make us the head and not the tail. Deuteronomy 28:13 says ¹³And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them: – Bishop will leave this with you. He was watching a commercial the other night: Billy is dead now, but he was a good salesperson. He had this cleaning product. He was talking about how awesome it was and how it could get up these stains and clean up this mess. It had all these attachments to it. When Billy got through, Bishop thought that this was a good deal. He thought this was a lot of stuff to get for only $19.99. He started to pick up the phone to order the product and they said on the commercial, but wait, there’s more. We are going to throw in this and that. Bishop says, “Wow now I really have to call.” As he was trying again to call and make his order, the commercial says again, but wait, there’s more! They said if you call now, they will throw something else in. Again we said we have come today to break the cycle of poverty. We have a word in Proverbs 6:6-13, but if you act now, wait there’s more! Malachi 3:10-11 says ¹⁰Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. ¹¹And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts, but wait, there’s more! 2 Corinthians 9:6 says ⁶But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. , but wait, there’s more! Proverbs 3:9-10 says ⁹Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:¹⁰So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine., but wait, there’s more! Luke 6:38 says ³⁸Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

Somebody say I am breaking the cycle of poverty!

Posted in breaking poverty | Tagged Bishop Walker, blessing, Direction, Encouragement, Faith, God, Mt Zion, poverty, sermon | 2 Comments

Angels and Demons Part IV, “Sermon 10/0/10”

Posted on October 8, 2010 by growintheword

Angels and demons Part IV

Synopsis of Bible study 10/06/10

Delivered by Bishop Walker

I. Mans relationship to the spirit world

We were created in the image of God. Genesis 1:26 says ²⁶And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. – Notice the pronoun us. God employed the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost in order to make man. This is the Trinity. What this scripture suggests is the Trinity made man in his image and if the Trinity made us in his image, then this must mean that you and I also must be trinity. If God is 3 in one, then it suggests that I in his image must be 3 in one. Like the Trinity is the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost, we are body, soul, and spirit. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 says ²³And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. – There are things working in us at same time.
Our physical man doesn’t look like God. John 4:24 says ²⁴God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. – If our physical nature doesn’t look like God, which it doesn’t, then it makes us put in perspective why we use humanistic terms to identify God. We have to do this for our own satisfaction to kind of wrap our mind around who God is. This is how we get a concept of God for example when we say “The man upstairs”. Know that God is spirit. We really can’t handle the totality of God. If God has hands, which he does, it is not like ours lest he would run out of room to hold everything that we put on him.

Paul talks about conversation to the Philippian Church. Philippians 3:21 ²¹Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
Man was created a spiritual being. Colossians 3:9-10 says ⁹Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; ¹⁰And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
We were also created as moral beings. We were created to be beings with intellect. What we must understand as spiritual beings is we can’t get caught up thinking we are natural persons trying to have spiritual experiences. Instead we are spiritual persons, conquering the natural experience. If we get caught up in thinking that we are natural persons trying to conquer the spiritual, we will fail. We have to live in the spiritual all the time; this is why we must be spiritual.
6. We were created moral in the beginning. Genesis 3:1-3 says ¹Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? ²And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: ³But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. – Eve had a sense of morality. She had a sense of right and wrong.
God gives us amazing intellect- Genesis 1:28 says ²⁸And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. – Dominion means to rule. Note that a fool can’t rule.

II. Why spiritual people blow it?

Diagram for this section:

Everybody reading this loves God. We all have a God consciousness which means we have a sense of morality.
What then makes us do stupid stuff? In mankind’s fallen condition, though redeemed by His blood, is it truly possible for us to be cured of what we struggle with? In answering this, we must ask our self; have you been delivered from stuff before? Did you have to be delivered from it more than one time? If you did, then what was the problem? Was it in remission?
The body touches the physical world through 5 senses.

They are:

Sight
Smell
Hearing
Taste
Touch
All of this is part of the body which is part of the outer core (refer to diagram). There are gates to the soul (referred to as soul gates) that come through these senses. We will show how these gates open up and allow access to our souls.
Gates to our soul in the physical world:
1. a. Sight – In the natural, sight allows us to see. When our soul gate is open, our sight translates into imagination. Everybody in here can see the same thing, but not see the same thing, when they see the same thing. In other words, our imagination can make us all see something different, though we are looking at the same thing. Ex– Bishop says he had a friend that said, “Man I would come and visit you at Mt Zion, but there are too many good looking girls there. That would distract me. “Bishop told him the issue is not the women at the church. The issue is the man’s imagination. The things that run our mind, is a gateway to our soul. Ex-If Bill Gates would be able to come up with a device that we could attach to our head and plug into our mind and then show it on the screen for the public to see, imagine what we would see. There are things that go on in saved people’s minds that would blow your mind. Where a person is spiritually determines how this gate opens. This is even harder for men, because men are visual people.
2. Smell – In the natural realm, you smell something. In the soul realm, it is about your conscious. In the soul realm can detect evil. You smell something is not right or something just doesn’t seem right. That is smell in the soul realm.
3. Hearing – This is the memory gate in soul realm. It recalls what has been heard spiritually. In the natural, we will forget stuff. Your “Hearing soul gate” will recall what you learned and heard and bring it back to your flesh. This gate can both bless you and curse you. If the devil goes in this gate, he will recall stuff back to you that you did in the past to make you feel guilty.
4. Taste– This gate is for reason or to compare fact. Like the scripture that says “…Taste and see that the Lord is good…” It is by comparison. In the soul, by comparative analysis, we have come to the conclusion that no one is like God.
5. Touch-This is the gate for Sensual although in the natural, could be affection. Ex – Walking in the park holding hands with your significant other and you tell them that you are not vibing, yet you are holding hands. You feel it in your soul that even though you are holding your hands, you are miles away. A person in the flesh thinks that the more that they touch you, the more closer you will get when in fact it really reminds you of how far you are apart. Remember the song writer wrote, “There a stranger in my house, and the stranger is you. “

III. The spirit of man can only receive impressions from the physical world through the soul

The soul stands between the physical man and the spirit man. The only way the spirit man gets it is by receiving impressions from the physical world through the soul.
5 Senses of the spirit world (These are also are the only 5 ways you can communicate with God).
1. Faith – No man comes to God, except he believes that God is and he is a rewarder to those who diligently seek him.
2. Hope – Why does a man hope for that which he already has?
3. Reverence – I must reverence God, hollowed be thou name,
4. Prayer – Ask whatever ye shall ask and it shall be given. No man comes to the Father except by the son.
5. Worship – Enter into his gates with Thanksgiving and into his courts with praise.
6. Notice we didn’t say praise in this list. Praise has nothing to do with communicating with God. Praise is singing about God. Worship is singing to God. There is a difference. You don’t have to be saved to praise God, but worship is an act of surrender and intimacy.
7. How many people can remember the day, you were born? So you really don’t know when you were born then. You just believed what your parents told you. In fact you might be sitting here 5 yrs older than you think you are.
8. How many of you remember being inside your mother’s womb? You were clearly alive. Your heart was beating and you were eating when she was eating. Some of us sucked our thumb inside the womb, but we don’t remember. Go to the minute before you were born. Most of us can say we don’t remember it. We are all here and we have no sense of our experience in the womb. Could it be the way we enter in this world is similar to the way we go out of it? We are alive, but do we really know about our exit and entrance into this world? Think about it. Clearly there is life before the womb, but we don’t get credit before the time we were born. They don’t say the baby is 9mths and 1 day old. They don’t count our days on this earth until we come out of the womb, but you clearly we were here (inside the womb) before our day of birth. It was almost like you came out of eternity? Where did we come from? Where did our breath come from? It came from God and when you die, he going to ask for it back?
9. The will of a man stands at the door of our natural man and keeps the Holy Spirit from coming in.
10. You have to surrender yourself to the word of God. Hebrews 4:12 says ¹²For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The word of God wants to get in your spirit and soul to impact your flesh.
11. The natural man can never understand spiritual things.1 Corinthians 2:14 says ¹⁴But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. – The natural man or outer core doesn’t understand spiritual things. We try to have inner core conversations with outer core people. They think coming to bible study is too much church because they are outer core people. They would drop everything for party, but not church.
12. It is not enough for the Holy Spirit to take up resident in an inner man. How many know people that are reading this know that they are truly saved? The outer core (refer to diagram) is what jacks us up. The Holy Spirit must have access to the soul and the body. You got to surrender. The battlefield of good in evil is taking place in the soul of man. Matthew 26:41 says ⁴¹Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. – Your outer core is weak.

10. Whatever you work out is the part that will get big. Galatians 5:17 says ¹⁷For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. – Whatever you feed is what will get big. We feed and feed our flesh and we turn it into a monster and as a result, it overcomes our sprit. Ex- On one side of the battlefield is our flesh. On the other side is our spirit. Our soul is in the middle. It should be easy for our spirit to go in, get to our soul, and attach and control our flesh (1-2-3 steps). However, we make it hard. Instead of 3 steps, our flesh keeps running in the other direction away from the spirit making the distance between the two further away. The more the spirit runs towards our flesh, the further the flesh gets away. Instead of 3 steps, it turns into a marathon for our spirit. Often rather than a 3 step walk, it is a marathon trying to work through stuff we have built up over a lifetime. This is not sinners, this is church people. The devil keeps putting this thing in your flesh to build up these layers. When they say this is how they are, they want you to think the Holy Spirit is not powerful enough to help you overcome.

Story based on Luke 16 entitled:

“Why you need to pay attention to the decisions you make and who is after your soul”

There was a rich man that had a whole lot of money. He dressed very nice. He was a baller and shot caller. Then there was this dude that didn’t have much. His name was Lazarus, but he was not the Lazarus that Jesus raised from the dead. This brother Lazarus was a brother down on luck. He was brought to the gat and he was very, very, sick. He had sores on him and puss was coming out of them. Everyday day he would ask for just the crumbs from the rich man’s table. The rich man was so stingy and so unkind to him that the rich man’s dog would come and lick the man’s sores. It came to pass the beggar died one day. An angel carried him to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man died also and was buried. When the rich man opened his eyes, he aware of where he is instantly. He opened up his eyes in hell, in torment. He saw Lazarus resting in Abraham’s bosom afar off. He asked Abraham if Lazarus could dip his finger in water and put it on his tongue, because it was hot where he was. Abraham said, “Remember in your lifetime, you had it all and didn’t want to help this man out. Now look, Lazarus is comforted and you are in torment. “Abraham said further, “There are different laws here. There is a gulf, a space between us. We can’t come over there and you can’t come over here.” This is hell, to see what you can’t have. The rich man asked if he could send Lazarus to his father’s house warn his 5 brothers of this torment. Abraham said, “Bishop Walker be preaching every Sunday. Let them get up and go to church to hear him. “The Rich Man said, “But if they could see a dead man rise they would be convinced that this is true, because Lazarus was dead and is now he is risen!” Abraham says, “If they not going to listen to Bishop Walker what makes you think they are going to listen to a dead man that has risen from the grave?”

Moral of this story– What the devil wants is your soul. God works from the inside out. He wants the Holy Spirit to push out and control your flesh and decisions. Demons wants to work from outside in , affect your flesh, to cause a cancer in your flesh, so the distance between flesh is spirit is so great that, your spirit thinks you can never overcome this. There is instantly at point of death consciousness for those that don’t know him. When you did and you are not in him, you instantly know that you are in hell. Our Jewish brothers and sisters believe hell is the absence from God. We live through too much hell down here to die and go to hell.

Are we trying to scare you? Yes, we are trying to scare the hell right out of you!

Posted in Angels and Demons | Tagged angels, Bible Study, Bishop Walker, demons, Direction, Faith, God, insight, Inspiration, Mt Zion | Leave a comment

Angels and demons Part III, Bible Study 09/29/10

Posted on October 1, 2010 by growintheword

Angels and demons Part III

Bible study 9/29/10

Delivered by Bishop Walker III

Recap

1. Remember we learned that there are two worlds or two realms. There is physical world and a spiritual world and God created us to exist between the two. God also created the angels who constantly go between the two.

2. Remember the whole creation. In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God. God existed before the beginning. Before the beginning of time, there is the existence of God and the heavenly court filled with seraphim and cherubim and they gave glory to the one that sat on the throne. Isaiah 6:1-2 says ¹In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. ²Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. – This all happened before the beginning began. This was all in the sprit realm before time began. When God created the beginning, this is when time began. God dwelt in eternity.

3. Remember Lucifer was the chief angel that directed the choir. When he was cast down into the physical realm (the earth) he became Satan or the devil. He brought a 3rd of the angels with him and they became demons (fallen angles). Satan then becomes the prince of the air, the god of this world.

Why is this significant?

1. God created the heaven and the earth in the beginning. Genesis 1:1 says ¹In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. – Lucifer, God, and the angels existed before the beginning of time.

2. The earth was chaotic. Genesis 1:2 says ²And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. – There was a reason why the earth was void and without form. Satan’s rebellion brought chaos and darkness onto the earth. Darkness was upon the face of the deep. God allowed his spirit to move upon the face of the water.

3. God said let there be light. And there was. Genesis 1:3 says ³And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

4. God divided the light from the darkness. Genesis 1:4 says ⁴And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. – Satan brings chaos and darkness into the earth. God divided the light to divide the darkness that already existed. God gave us a choice at that time. Either we can dwell in the darkness or in lightness.

5. Historically, many of you were made to believe verse 3 was the creation of light as we know it, but it was not. If we look at Genesis 1:14 it says ¹⁴And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:- God is talking about the sun and the stars at this point in this scripture. God puts the sun up and the lights in the heavens to help us understand seasons, days, and nights. This is not the same light that is being talked about in verse 3. Verse 3 is talking about the light of God’s glory.

6. When Adam and Eve were in the garden, the dragon was after something. What was it? When you look at Satan’s departure from the heavenly realm and his arrival to the earth realm, you must know that Satan is after one thing. It is your soul.

Battle for souls

1. You are made up of flesh, spirit, and soul. God says he wants to work with you from the inside out. If you give your soul, he will dwell in you with spirit, and as a result, he will control your flesh. Satan says if he can get your flesh, he can rob your spirit, and ultimately steal your soul. Now you have God after your soul and Satan after your soul. Imagine the warfare that is going on.

2. We must put on the armor of God so we can stand against the attacks the devil. Ephesians 6:11says ¹¹Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Ephesians 6:12-18 says ¹²For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. ¹³Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. ¹⁴Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; ¹⁵And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; ¹⁶Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. ¹⁷And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: ¹⁸Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; – The word is for offense. Faith is defense. If there is a battle for the souls, Satan is after access. Ex- To demonstrate this, we pick a girl out of the air and we call her Brandy. Now Satan wants access to Brandy. Remember there is a way he gets access to us all. That access is called HALT. This acronym stands for hungry, angry, lonely, and tired. These are all conditions that Satan uses to gain access to us.

a. Now Brandy is hungry (could be for food, intimacy, relationship, and number of things). The devil says he has a demon to fulfill her hunger. We just see Brandy as a person. When we see her acting out, it is not her. It is the demons that have attached themselves to her. You can’t see the demons, because they are hid. They are cowards.

b. Now Brandy gets angry and Satan sends a demon for her anger. The angry demon says tells Brandy to curse the person out that she is mad at, so Brandy does it. Now it is Friday. Brandy starts calling people and no one is home. Brandy starts watching TV and nothing is on except for stuff she has seen over and over again.

c. Now Brandy is lonely. The devil sends her a nice demon. This demon says, “Look, this is what you need to do. “ Suddenly Brandy has gotten so lonely stuff she would never consider starts looking good. People she would never consider stepping to starts looking good. Suddenly she starts lowering her standards.

d. Next Brandy becomes tired. This can mean that she is physically or emotionally tired. The point is she is just tired. Brandy just needs somebody that can pour into her and give her strength. Now Satan is going to bring a demon that is going to pour strength into her. Brandy starts acting out in all these different ways and then society starts judging her. Jesus looks at Brandy and sees all the demons that are attached to Brandy. In the flesh you only see Brandy’s demons. We think Brandy has all this stuff going on, but it is the demons in her. The longer you stay hungry, the more prone you are to start eating trash. If we get hungry enough we will start eating out of the garbage can. The idea is that these demons keep wanting to attach to us. They are looking for openings to attach to. Many people are in church, yet they are still angry. We do all of this lifting up our hands and worshipping and then we get back into the car and start cursing the person we are mad at. The demon doesn’t care anything about us coming to church. What does it profit a man to gain the world and lose his soul.

The 3 heavens

1. There is the heaven of the earth’s atmosphere. This is where the planes and the birds fly.

2. There is the heaven of the stars and the moon.

3. There is the heaven where God dwells often called the third heaven. 2 Corinthians 12:1-4 says ¹It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. ²I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. ³And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) ⁴How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. – It was not lawful for this man to utter what he saw in the third heaven. He heard things in the spirit realm that he could not utter in this realm.

Understanding of the underworld

Philippians 2:10-11 says ¹⁰That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; ¹¹And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. – Under the earth is the key term here.

1. The grave – We are made up of 3 dimensions. We are body, spirit, and soul. The grave is the abode of the body.

2. When we are in our body, we are absent from the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5:6 says ⁶Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:- Our body is here and not in heaven. We are absent from God.

3. Our bodies are just shells for our soul. 2 Corinthians 5:8 says ⁸We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. -Sometimes we see our loved ones pass on. We see them in the casket and we think it is them. Often at funerals people say they want to go with them. Remember our deceased loved one are absent from the body, but present with the Lord.

4. There are laws that regulate the physical realm and there are laws that regulate the spiritual realm and each of those laws are different. We see are loved ones and we are wondering how we will go on. Before we know it, we might start talking to the body of the deceased. We forget that our loved one is not there anymore. Our body is just a shell that houses our soul. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 says ¹³But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. ¹⁴For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. ¹⁵For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. ¹⁶For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: ¹⁷Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. – When the trumpet sounds the dead in Christ shall arise and our body will take off corruption and put on incorruption. The mortal must put on immortality where we do not age. Death is swallowed up. The power of sin is the law in this realm, but God gives us the victory through Jesus Christ. When Madea passes on or Papa passes on, there is this longing for them that we experience, but know that we will we see them again.

5. This is a legitimate question. Will we really see our loved ones again? You will see them, but not like you’ve known them. The law of this realm can’t work in that realm (the spirit realm). When you die, your flesh must go back to its origin (dust). Remember when God said let us make man in his image, he put word and spirit in the man, but he also put dirt in the mixture. God made us from the ground but he put spirit inside of us. When we die our body goes back to the dirt, but our soul goes back to God and rests with him.

6. If they are with God and asleep, will they know us? 1 Corinthians 13:12 says ¹²For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.- When that time comes, we will know Jesus like we know ourselves. 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. -In the earth, we don’t really know what Jesus really looked like, because when he came and dwelt among us, he wrapped himself in flesh. He did this because we could not handle his glory. He wrapped himself in something that we could understand. Will we know him? The laws are different. Ex- Bishop explained that when he was widowed, he struggled with something about the 2nd yr. after his former wife passed away. He wondered could he ever move on. In a sense, moving on made him feel like he was cheating. Can you ever really move on after someone has passed? Are we cheating? The Lord reminded Bishop that what he was doing was bringing laws down to the earth that don’t exist in heaven. There is no law of marriage in heaven. Angels don’t marry. God gave us marriage here so that we could multiply, but it won’t be like that in heaven. Imagine if the law of marriage happened in heaven. It would be like having a soap opera in heaven. This is why we say when you get married, “… until death do you part…” They have no memory of us or marriage from heaven after they have passed on.

7. How do we know this? If they had a consciousness of us in this realm, heaven would become hell. They would constantly be worried in heaven about us. Can you imagine dying and always thinking about your children that you left behind? You would be worried sick. It would not be heaven anymore at the point. When we pass away, in heaven we will be like the angels. One love will bring us all together. We will be angelic beings giving one glory to the one on the throne. We will know each other, but like we know each other now. If we did we would be in heaven trying to set up territories for our families and friends. When a person passes, instantly they are transformed in the Lord and are asleep.

8. They left behind a shell. We have funerals for it, but it is just a shell. The person that passed on is asleep in Christ. The shell is for us.

9. Paul spoke to church at Thessalonica. Paul made sense of it. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 says ¹³But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. ¹⁴For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. – They are sleep with Jesus.

10. The Lord is going to come from the 3rd heaven and descend to the first heaven on a cloud. 1 Thessalonians 4:15-16 says ¹⁵For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. ¹⁶For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: – With a voice of an archangel, Christ will say to an angel “Blow a trumpet “and the dead in Christ will rise. Your body isn’t getting up, your soul is getting up.

11. They will be caught up together. 1 Thessalonians 4:17 says ¹⁷Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. – Your soul will come together with the souls that died before you and we will be with Jesus on a cloud. You will meet the Lord in the air and we shall go back to no time and no aging. We will go back to time with no beginnings.

12. We used to say one of these days we will go where the wicked shall cease from troubling and weary will be at rest. 1 Thessalonians 4:18 says ¹⁸Wherefore comfort one another with these words. – We are not going to the 3rd heaven when we die. It is coming to us. God has this so worked out; we will be in the clouds reigning with Christ for 1000 yrs while all sorts of torment will happen on this earth. God is going to deal with Satan and then he will bring heaven down. You might wonder why God would bring heaven down into this realm when it looks so awful and the descriptions of heaven are so awesome. Know that old things will be pass away and all things will become new.

Posted in Angels and Demons | Tagged afterlife, battle, Bible Study, Bishop Walker, Death, Direction, Faith, fullness of the Holy Spirit, God, HALT, Holy Sprit, Life after Death, Mt Zion, soul, underworld | Leave a comment

Quitting is not an option Part IV, “I’m in a better place” Sermon 09/26/10

Posted on September 29, 2010 by growintheword

Quitting is not an option Part IV

I’m in a better place

Synopsis of Sermon 9/26/10

Delivered by Bishop Walker III

Romans 5:1-5 ¹Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: ²By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ³And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; ⁴And patience, experience; and experience, hope: ⁵And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Anyone that has had an authentic relationship with Jesus will tell you that there is power in transformation. Transformation is validation that your conviction was real. There is no way to experience a relationship with Jesus and no experience change. God will come into your life and change your life circumstances and view on life. Many of us come with a variety of backgrounds and experience, but God saved us. He looked beyond our faults and supplied all our needs. Whatever God has blessed you with; you ought to thank him that he saved you beyond all of your mess.

When you look at this letter in Romans, you see an amazing revelation. It is really a chronicle of the human condition. We need to first go back through and see what the books of Romans reveals to us.

a. In Romans 1- Paul gives a Salutation. In other words, Paul greets them.

b. In Romans 2 we see investigation. God looks at life of the people.

c. In Romans 3 we have adjudication. God explains that no man can judge you. He is the righteous judge.

d. In Romans 4 we have Justification. It clears of us of stuff in our life.

e. Romans 5 give us Motivation. Those that received justification now has motivation.

f. Romans 6 is about Obligation. We are obligated to represent God in the earth realm.

g. Romans 7 is about Situation. Paul explains that he is in a situation. That he doesn’t want to do, he finds himself doing…

h. Romans 8 talks about condemnation. There is no condemnation who walks after the spirit of God.

i. Romans 9 talks about God’s determination. Gods desire to save us

j. Romans 10 reminds us of our salvation. If we confess with our mouth believe and believe in our hearts, we shall be saved.

k. Romans 11 is about restoration. God won’t leave anyone out. He wants to restore those that have been lost.

l. Romans 12 talks about consecration. God wants to clean us ourselves up.

m. Romans 13 talks about expectation. We live expecting God to at anytime, step in our situation.

n. Romans 14 talks about liberation or being free in Christ. We have been set free of our sin.

o. Romans 15 reminds us of our affiliation. Be careful the crowd you hang around.

p. Romans 16 talks about conservation. This deal with the way we talk and deal with people should be in love.

As we walk through this, Paul deals with salvation and being justified by faith. This means that we are saved meaning we are turning from old ways and turning towards God, then we are sanctified, and then we are positioned then for glory.

Some people are beginning to count the cost their past and they can see what their past has cost them. People are looking at you as a victim. Sometime people will try and make you remember where you been, but you can declare that you are truly in a better place now, than ever before. Now you probably couldn’t say this a month ago, a yr ago, or even 2 yrs ago. God has shifted you and you are in another place. Things that used to break you can’t break you any longer. You are in another place. Your response has gotten greater because you in a greater place. It is your response to what God has done in our life.

I. Peace with your past

Romans 5: 1 says ¹Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

1. Only through this relationship will we have peace. When the promise of God is on your life, the devil will assign people to bring up your past constantly. These people can recall everybody’s past but their own. The devil is so stupid he doesn’t understand that you have peace about the very thing he is trying to call attention to. When you got saved, God dropped the charges and made it as if you never done it. That is what justified means. God abolished it out of our record.

2. Be careful being around people are always talking about others. You can be sure that they are talking about you when you aren’t round. As the song writer says, “Sweep around your own front door before you try and sweep around mines.” This is why some are not elevated. Their hate-ration is stopping their elevation

3. Those that have peace with God, don’t trip about their past. While other people are worried about our yesterday, we are looking at our tomorrow. We have a new relationship with Christ.

4. We are not in denial about our past:

A. We own it. Most of the stuff the enemy tries to bring up about us is true, but we own it. We don’t deny, but we are past it. That was my drunk, high, or sleeping around it, but we are past it.

B. Oppressed by it – At one time we were oppressed by our past. It had a hold on us. It was taking control of our life. Some people may wonder how we can be in church if we own it. What gives us the right do we have to speak of righteousness and bring someone else to Christ? It is because of the next point. We overcame it!

C. Overcame it– We are over it now. We are over-comers! God has allowed us to have some mess in our lives, but it gave us awesome testimonies. Some of us build testimonies on others with cookie cutter build a bear testimonies. For example “Bridge over troubled water” and “Shelter in the time of the storm.” We need to be able to tell our real testimony. We don’t look like half of our testimony. You can deal with a person’s past if you want, but know they have peace about it. Good took your past and put it in the sea of forgetfulness and then he posted a no fishing sign.

II. Provisions in his presence.

Romans 5:2 says ²By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

1. We have the awesome opportunity to get stuff because we know it is available, even though we don’t deserve it (that’s grace), because we are in relationship with Christ. When Christ comes into our life we have access to certain things.

2. God can’t be separated from what he gives.

3. The transition is difficult. This is because we have been depending on others. We don’t depend on people for this, because we have access. We have access to the grace we stand in. We have that access through faith. For years, people didn’t know what they had. We understand that he has all that we need, but more than that, he can’t be separated from what he gives us. We can be separated from what we give, but God can’t. Whatever God gives, he can’t be separated from. For example, he don’t just give joy, he is joy. He doesn’t just give peace, God is peace.

4. We didn’t realize what we had. Paul says we have access by faith. Ex-Bishop explains that he had a connecting flight in Dallas Texas. He learned that he was going to have 2 – 4 hr layover. Sitting there he was kind of agitated. There were babies crying, he was hungry, and it was crowded. It is 5:30 in the morning and somebody was talking real loud on the phone. Who on earth could you be talking to on the phone at 5:30 in the morning? All of the sudden, Bishop looks up and he see some seats and something is flashing upstairs. All of a sudden it hit him. It was a priority club and he remembered that he had received a card for a membership to this club in the mail, because he flies so much. In other words, he had access to the club level. Bishop didn’t know what he really had in the card, so he pulled out his laptop to see what all he really had in the card. After viewing the information on the web, he realized he could go to the priority club and get orange juice, food, drinks and sit back and relax and watch TV. They would even wake him up tell when flight is about to take off if he falls asleep. Bishop took his bags and went up elevator like he was really somebody. What he really was doing was leaving a level of confusion and mess to go to another level. We have to walk in our access.

5. When you have the spirit of expectation, you actually get on peoples nerves, because you are always expecting something to happen.

6. By going to another level, we get:

a. Retreat-We get a retreat from the drama in our lives.

b. Refreshments – We get the opportunity to be refreshed from our situation.

c. Rest-This is kind of access is by faith. Like Bishop having the card, these people didn’t know what they had. God gave you access. You don’t have to hang with drama. Come on up a little higher. Tap into your access. Paul says we have hope and this is called expectation. The amazing thing about this is we are rejoicing before God shows up in verse 2. Some are going into another situation and leaving others behind. You have to always go through looking like something is going to happen. Be expecting something to happen. We believe God is going to show up in our situation and at any moment and turn things around.

III. Praise him through your problems

Romans 5:3 says ³And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

1. We act a fool, because even in trouble, we know something. Tribulation works patience and patience is dependence on God.

2. Our portfolio is being expanded through our experience. Romans 5:4 says ⁴And patience, experience; and experience, hope:- It is because of this experience, we have hope.

3. Hope makes us not ashamed. Romans 5:5 says ⁵And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

4. We know how to handle adversity. The devil doesn’t understand that adversity makes us better. It is because we have learned how to praise God through it. If you knew what we did in our past, you would act like we act. The trial came to make us dependent on God. We are at a point where we are totally dependent on him

5. Many of us have the demon of worry. It will keep you all night long watching reruns of Gunsmoke. You got to understand, God will put you in situation where nothing else works, and then we have no choice but to go to him. God wants to see how long it will take for you to see that only he can work it out.

6. Tribulation works patience. Patience works experience. The next time you say you have Christian Experience, you need to check yourself. Christian experience is the stuff you have gone through. You got the scars to prove it. Some of you, experienced are so varied; it is amazing you are in your right mind. Ex – Imagine God telling one of the angels, come down and interview you for a promotion. Based on what we have gone through, you are able to say you are still in your right mind. God promotes you because you pass test, not because of tenure. Experience brings hope. God gives you a new attitude.

7. Hope makes us not ashamed. What sustains us is the hope that we have. Romans 5:5 says ⁵And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is, the Holy Spirit reminds us how much God love us, regardless of what we go through. – Without the Holy Spirit reminding us how much God loves us, we would think God hates us. Because we are saved, the Holy Ghost keeps reminding us so we don’t think God is punishing us for what we did in our past. The Holy Spirit reminds us that no matter what we go through, God still loves us. Ex- Bishop went to the dentist a couple yrs ago. You got to be true teeth or they will be false to you. Bishop had extensive dental work done. Like most men, Bishop can’t take pain like women can. Bishop has phobias about the dentist. Bishop got anxiety about this needle situation. When he finally gets to the dentist, they lay me back, turn the music on sooth him The dental assistant came to give him a shot in the gums. Bishop’s toes start tightening up. She said you going to feel a little pinch. She gives him the shot in his gums. She said we done and few moments later Bishop noticed his mouth feeling funny. In that area it was is numb. Dentist comes in with dental assistant and they have all these drills and stuff. This is stuff that he knows that will cause more pain. The Dentist got him in position, because the prep work had been done. Bishop noticed that when the dentist used the tools that was supposed to hurt, he could hardly feel it. The reason he couldn’t feel it is because the dental assistant gave him a shot in area that they were going to work on. They numbed it enough so when the Dentist came to work in the area it would not hurt. The area was prepared. What God allowed you to go through a few yrs. Ago was a little pinch that prepared you for what you are going through now. You are not hurting while you are going through, because what you have gone through, numbed that area.

Quitting is not an option Part IV