The power of revelation, Sermon 01/18/10

Posted on January 20, 2010 by growintheword

The power of revelation
Synopsis of Sermon 01/18/10
Delivered by Bishop Walker
Matthew 16:13-19 says 13When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
One of the most important things for all of us to know is how progressive our relationship with God should be. The more you grow in God, the more you learn of him. God takes us through experiences to reveal himself to us. This implies that God is intentional about what he allows us to go through. We kick and we scream because we don’t want to deal with some of the things he allows, but the reality is, for God to reveal himself to us is for him to give us experiences. This is why you should look back over your life and thank him for everything he allowed you to go through, because without it, you wouldn’t know him like you do. Every test and every miracle and every trial and every lesson that God took you through was all a part of a plan to move you into a progressive revelation. It is important for us to understand this, because God wants to manifest his power in your life. Jesus in Caesarea Philippi calls his disciples in. They are at a pivotal place and he asks them who do people say he is? Then he pulls them in closer and asks the disciples, who do they say he is? This is a powerful day in this message about revelation. This message is being preached today, because people need to understand that God is reserving the blessing of the Lord for people who have come into revelation. This is the year for us to get to know him for ourselves. This is the year to really get to understand the power of revelation. No longer can we just sit in church and allow our relationship with God to be stagnant. We can’t allow ourselves to remain in the same place year after year. Like Paul, we want to know him. Every day we live, we ought to want to know more about God.
Let’s put a framework around what revelation is. Revelation is the highest order of knowledge; an understanding of the plan of God at our level of comprehension for which we are now accountable (Once that revelation comes we are now accountable for it.). It is the product of the Holy Spirit where by the Holy Spirit breathes fresh on the word of God and makes it come alive. It is the ability to know beyond what you know and to know that you know it. – Whatever God has to take us through, we have to be willing to go through it because we want revelation. Whatever has to leave our life, we have to be willing to allow it to leave. Somebody reading right now can testify that they are hungry for revelation.
Looking at this lesson, Jesus raises the question, “Who do men say I am?” and the response of his disciples reveals to us the danger of restrained knowledge.
I. Danger of restrained knowledge
1. Jesus is asking this question (Who does people say he is?) not because he is concerned about public opinion or because he seeks validation from the public. He is asking this question to show his disciples how limited the world is. There is a difference in the way we view Christ and the way the world views Christ. The world does not see him the way we do. If you will notice that when Jesus asks who does the world say he is, the disciples response is that some say he is John the Baptist and some think he is Jeremiah and some say he is Elisha. The point here is that all the people can do is lift up folk who is already dead. They are standing before a living Christ and associating him with that which is dead. The reason why they do this is because the world only operates on:
a. Reason and logic-The world is limited because they can only understand through reason and logic. Most of what Jesus did was beyond reason and logic. Jesus was the word, because the bible says in the beginning was the word and word was with God and the word was God. In fact the “word” in the Greek means logos. Logos when you transliterate it comes back to English meaning logic. In other words this word is God’s logic. This consequently contradicts the logic of man. Therefore if we look at God’s logic will never make sense to the world’s logic. Give 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread to you and I and apply to 5000 folk to feed, somebody is going hungry. Apply God’s logic to 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread and 5000 folk are fed with 12 baskets leftover. God’s logic doesn’t make since to man.
b. Respond by laughing- Many people responding by laughing because they are limited to logic. The Sadducees and Pharisees looked at Jesus from afar and they think he is a religious fanatic and they respond by laughing. Many people do us the same way. They will look at you and laugh trying to minimize the impact of your conviction or conversion. They think you are not in touch with reality. Just like in Genesis when God gave a vision to Abraham saying that he was going to have kids. Sarah was 89 yrs old when God said that she was going to have a child. She laughs, because this is all she knows to do. She laughs because what God is saying to her doesn’t make sense under the world’s logic. When we are not at a place of revelation, we will think what God says he is going to do is funny. There are people that are laughing at you, but it won’t be long before they will be laughing with you, because when God promises come to pass, he will silence your haters and make folk who were talking about you have to get behind you and apologize. The restrained knowledge of revelation is also about rejecting his Lordship.
c. Rejecting his Lordship-Jesus knew that the fact that the world would never accept or acknowledge his Lordship was the revelation that the disciples needed to understand. When Jesus asked who they say he was, it was not for his benefit, because he knew who he was. They could only associate him with prophets. Jesus was the Lord of lords and King of kings. The revelation is when public perception is not where is should be, it will keep you prisoner to your past. It is funny how some people never move into new dimensions, because they are limited to their revelations. If you are stuck in the same place year after you, then you haven’t been through enough to really know him for yourself. Philippians 3:9-10 says 9And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; There are people that run through the church and shout like they have a great relationship with God, yet never get to know him for themselves. Jesus says to the disciples, who does the world say I am? It gives us an indication of how the world today views Jesus Christ. When you are limited in the knowledge God, you will misinterpret Gods sovereignty.
II. Misinterpret God’s sovereignty
1. If you don’t understand the sovereignty of God, you won’t understand who he is. This is why they would ask Jesus why he would sit with sinners and engage with ladies of the world. They could not understand his sovereignty. In other words, God can move the way he wants to move. When you are limited in your revelation, all you do is interpret the activity of God in your own limited framework. You begin to use it for political and social gain. This is why ignorant folk are talking about what happened in Haiti as being a result of somebody cutting a deal with the devil. It isn’t Haiti’s fault that they are going through what they are going through. When your revelation of God is real small, all you know to do is use tragedy to promote your own religious and political agenda. What happened in Haiti is not a political, social, religious, or racial issue. It is a human issue. We don’t serve a God that punishes people like that! People used 911 to say God was mad at America. They used Katrina saying that God was mad at New Orleans. If that was the case then all of us would be out right now after all the mess we have done! We are still here simply because of God’s grace.
a. Mishandle success- Because our understanding of God is so limited, we mishandle success. You don’t know how to handle success because you miss the plan of God. This is what happened with the recession. Go back 5-10yrs ago, we were prosperous or so we thought. Everyone was laying money at the altar in their churches and then we got away from God. Matthew 6:33 says 33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.- We got the things, but forgot about the kingdom of God. God allowed the recession to refocus us back on the kingdom, so that we would put our success back in perspective, so that we wouldn’t miss the shift.
2. Miss the shift-Restrained knowledge will cause you to miss the shift. Jesus is at a pivotal point in his ministry in the text and he is trying to find out if the disciples are ready before he leaves. He needed to know if they knew where his heart was and if they knew what his agenda was. We dare not try not to understand the things of the spirit. Only the spirit understands the things of the spirit. We can’t cognitively interpret the sovereignty of God and what he is doing. All the events we have lived to see over the last 7 yrs such as the tsunami, hurricane Katrina, the recession, Haiti, and 911 was a shift. God positioned us through these disasters to be the people of God. These events were opportunities for us not to be individualistic and to show the world that we can do more than just shout in church. We ought to be somewhere where we can help somebody. Don’t’ miss the shift! We are not trying to keep up with the Jones. We need to help a somebody that is under a rock! The world won’t get this.
3. Jesus says to the disciples since the world doesn’t know who he is, who do you say I am? It is a reality of the kingdom.
III. Declare the reality of the kingdom
Matthew 16:16-18 says 16And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.-Peter was the one that kept his mouth in drive and his mind in park. When Jesus told Peter earlier that Satan desired to shift him like wheat, he told him this, because he knew that Peter had revelation inside of him. This is why you have to careful how you treat people, because you never know who God will use to bring revelation. We might be a little rough around the edges, but we have revelation.
1. Here there is a great departure between Protestantism and Catholicism. The protestant faith and the catholic faith make their departure right here. The phrase, “Upon this rock I build my church” is what the church uses this as an apostolic succession. This is where the Pope comes from. Peter becomes the Catholic’s Church first Pope. In Rome, Peter is buried in the in the basilica under the main altar, because of the phrase about building the church on this rock. Their succession was built on this revelation. Those are those of us who are Protestant that do not believe this. We don’t believe the revelation comes to one man. Protestant’s believe it comes from the priesthood of all believers. We believe we all can get revelation.
a. Declaration of his divinity- When Peter responded to Jesus’ question, for the first time somebody stood up from the ranks of the disciples. Peter said that Jesus was basically God walking among us. Peter said that Jesus was God in Christ and God’s medicine cabinet in the earth realm. Isn’t it amazing how the world wants to accept Jesus as a prophet, but don’t want to accept him as the son of God? There is no way to the father except through the son.
b. Declaration of our dependence. To declare that Jesus is the son of the living God is to acknowledge that we can’t live without him.
c. Declaration of his destiny. This is to acknowledging that we know why Jesus came. This is to recognize Jesus is the fulfilling of the prophesy. Jesus came from heaven to earth to pay a debt that he didn’t know. From the grave to the sky we lift his name on high. It is out of this revelation that prophetic promotion comes. Peter says Jesus is the son of God. Jesus says to Peter, “On this rock I build my church”. This is about promotion. God doesn’t promote you based on tenure. Instead God promotes based on your ability to pass test to show evidence that you have gotten revelation. Many of us want God to do great things in our life, but we don’t want revelation. Know that we have to have revelation.
IV. Dominion in receiving the keys
Matthew 16:19 says 19And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
In most of the things you see that represent the priest hood or the Popes or the Bishops, you see a symbol of crossed keys . Those keys represent access.
1. Access- Kingdom is the sovereign ruler-ship and governing influence of a king over his territory, his domain impacting it with his will intent, and purpose. – The king has a domain. Basila is the Greek word for kingdom. Kingdom and Dominion mean the same thing. Isaiah said he saw the Lord high and lifted up and his train filled the temple. The length of a king’s train indicated the size of a king’s kingdom. This suggests that what Isaiah saw is that God’s kingdom was everywhere. The issue now is why would we need the keys? If we go back, Genesis dealing with dominion, God tells Adam and Eve that he gave them dominion in the Garden of Eden. The devil heard that and came in (found in Genesis 3) and beguiled the woman. She then took the fruit to a spineless man and made him eat it too. As a result, they lost dominion. They were cast out of the garden and Satan began to rule the earth with his dominion. Satan then begins to rule the earth realm. Satan took from us what God had given to us. We were going through the earth trying to get dominion, but the devil had it. Now Jesus says he was going to give Peter the keys. These keys gave us access, abundance, and authority to operate between two dimensions. All our life, we have been operating in one dimension. We have been trying to get stuff done in a world that doesn’t like us. We have been trying to kiss peoples behind while trying to push our agenda. God says he is about to give us what he intended us to have in the first place. You don’t have to just ask for it down here any longer!. You need to know that God has our back up there too (in heaven). Whatever you bind down here, shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose down here, shall be loosed in heaven also. Ex- Bishop says he was preaching in New York City and he was staying at the W motel. He said he checked in @ 5pm and they said they were going to pick him up at 6:30, so he didn’t have much time. He said he steamed his stuff out, changed, and come back downstairs. The next morning he had to minister at 9am, so he had to catch an early flight to Chicago. He says he got there early and they had the room ready for him. He says he got the key and put it in his pocket then they took him to the room. He was at a W Hotel just like in New York and he put his key in the door and the light went red. The key would not work. He was dreading going all the way back down the steps to get the problem with his key rectified. He finally mustarded up the strength to go back downstairs and when he got downstairs he told them that the key didn’t work. She took the key and looked at it and said “Sir, this is not our key”. Bishop says this is your key. “It has a “W” on it”, he said. The receptionist said, “This for the W Hotel in New York. She said you are trying to make a key work here that worked there. She said look in your pocket to see if you have another key in your pockets. He reached in his pocket and sure enough there was another key. “While being embarrassed he said, “Thank you” and went back up to his room. The spirit of the Lord spoke to him after this. He said the Lord told him that every Sunday folk come to church and he gives them keys. He says though he gives them keys, they leave out of church using another key and then they say following Jesus don’t work. Every Sunday Bishop explains that he is giving us keys on how our marriage is supposed to work and we leave out and start listening to Dr. Phil and Oprah, but then we wonder why our marriage ain’t working. The reason is, we are using the wrong keys. Bishop gives you keys to how to get a financial blessing, but we want to play the lottery. We are using the wrong keys and you wonder while it isn’t working. I have you know that we got the Master key now! This key will open up anything. If we open up our mouth, whatever we bound on earth will be bound in heaven. The devil has been trying to run through our life, but you we have to declare that we have authority now. Whatever we bound on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever we lose in the earth will be loosed in heaven.! There is power in revelation!

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Too real to fake it, Bible Study 01/10/2010

Posted on January 13, 2010 by growintheword

Too real to fake it
Synopsis of Sermon 01/10/2010
Delivered by Bishop Walker III
Text:
Acts 17:16-23: 16Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. 17Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him. 18Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection. 19And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is? 20For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean. 21(For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.) 22Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. 23For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.

Whenever you have an authentic conversional experience with Jesus Christ, it is difficult to play church. When you have a real encounter with Jesus Christ, your desire to be real in every area of your life intensifies. This is what happens with Paul. If you will remember, his name was Saul and he had a Damascus Rd experience. Saul was a chief persecutor of early Christians. It was Saul that was present during the stoning of Stephen. Saul was a terror to the early church and the early saints. While he was on his way to persecute more Christians around Acts 9, the bible teaches us that he would have an encounter on Damascus Rd. with God. A light would shine upon him and a question would be raised, “Saul why are you persecuting me?” Paul asked who was he persecuting and the voice came back that he was persecuting Jesus Christ. If you persecute God’s service or his program then you are persecuting him. The bible declares that Saul was blinded by this light, but a few days later his sight would be restored. After his sight is restored, his name would be changed to Paul and he would see reality completely differently.
Here is s a man that totally denied Christ now openly confessing him. This was a man who represented the religious establishment of that day and now his life would become an open paradox. A man who once represented the persecution of church would now be persecuted by the church. Here at Mars Hill found in your text, after Paul’s conversion experience, Paul is prolific in sharing Christ and the resurrection that converted his life. In verse 17 he meets with these philosophers whose religious experience literally included detailed protocol and ritualistic redundancy, but it was void of relationship. Paul would literally challenge the authenticity of their experience by reminding them that showing up and going through the emotions of religiosity was not enough. Those of us that know God know that we must have true authentic experiences with God. It has to be more than just showing up putting on the religious rituals. It has to be about more than just coming to church and turning it into a social club. People have gotten to a place that they desire an encounter with God. There is somebody reading this that wants this to be real. In this day and time, God is looking for people that desire true intimacy with him. While going through this message, examine where you are in your relationship with God and ask yourself are your riding piggy back on what your Mom and Dad had as far as a relationship with God or have you had an encounter with God for yourself? After all we have been through, there ought to be a thirst and a hunger for righteousness like you never had before! We need a real encounter! We are too real to fake it. We can’t be around fake people and we desire our worship to be real.
I. Want relationship over religion
1. Paul is stirred up, because the city he has encountered has gone into idol worship. Paul has been converted and Mars Hill was a place where great philosophers gathered to discuss great religious topics, yet they were simply going through the motions of worshipping God. This fueled Paul to publically challenge them. There he found to types of people gathered.
a. The Epicureans: They denied the providence of God. They believe the world to be the effect of mere chance; asserting sensual pleasure to be man’s chief good, and that the soul and body died together. –In other words they believe be merry, be happy, and go on and live, because when it is over, it’s over. They believed there was no after life.
b. The Stoicks: They held that matter was eternal; that all things were governed by irresistible fate; that virtue was its own sufficient reward and that a vice was its own sufficient punishment. They felt that there was no God above us to judge us on our vices or reward us on our righteousness.- They felt you need to live life now because this life would never end. Can you imagine these two schools of thought giving over to serving idol gods?
2. Paul would meet them as Mars Hill? What is Mars Hill? It is also referred to as Areopagus . This place was literally dedicated to the heathen god of war. It was Areopagus or Mars Hills where the Athenians would have their Supreme Court. Paul was not on trial but he showed up in that place and he confronts the Stoicks and the Epicureans and he literally tells them that are just going through the motions of worship. He tells them they are showing up but he saw them as being being pretentious. Like them, there are a lot of people that show up, but they are just pretending. Like the Epicureans and the Stoicks, some people have become professional church goers, but we have got to have more. On the outside they look like they have it going on, but they don’t have a relationship with Jesus Christ. You have to have a real relationship with God.
3. Pretentious people:
a. Want to be seen to show out. They can’t function without standing out. Jesus warned against this type of hypocrisy in Matthew 6:1:1Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.-The hypocrites give alms to be seen by man. They pray long prayers to be seen of man. God says pray in secret closet and you will be rewarded openly
b. Service without a spot. Pretentious people have to be on program. They can’t serve in the background. There is somebody reading this right now that says you don’t have to call their name in order for them to work for the Lord. They don’t have to have recognition. They simply do what they do for the Lord so they can hear him say “servant well done”. Psalm 100:2:2Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
c. Act saved but are active sinners. Paul says that their pretentiousness has made them powerless. God came to empower us so that we wouldn’t be defeated. How can you hold position in this house (the church) and yet the devil runs rapid in your own house. Your relationship with God is transferable. Your religion is not. Religion is locational. In relationship, you have power.
4. Paul shows up at Areopagus or Mars Hills and confronts these Epicureans and the Stoicks as they are viewing these idol gods as reality. Paul decides to give them a word that is revelatory and relevant.
II. Word that is revelatory and relevant
1. You need a word that is revelatory and relevant. Paul noticed that they were engaging in worship to an unknown god. Acts 17:22-23 22Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. 23For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.-Here we have an inscription and Paul says he sees something. Paul says he sees them making worship to an inscription, but he says he sees that they really don’t know what this means. Here is an historical parallel. We must understand that is Athens Greece. Greece had great philosophers and great poets of old under their history. In the year 399BC, the great philosopher and poet Socrates tried among this Supreme Court. They gave him the death sentence, because he had begun to have a spiritual experience. It began to show up in his literature. Two charges were levied against him. On one hand he denied the gods of the city. He was producing a new deity. They turned against Socrates because he began to realize that there was a real God somewhere. These philosophers were worshipping, but they were worshiping an unknown god. The altar with the inscription of an unknown god was dedicated to the Socrates experience. When Paul had walked up, there were these philosophers that were worshipping an unknown god. There are people in your family that have had authentic experiences with God for themselves. There are others that have tried to ride on the wave of their knowledge of God instead of having our own experience with God. This makes God known to them, but unknown to us. We can’t have a piggy back relationship with God. We have to know God for ourselves. Paul says to the philosophers this has nothing to do with what they knew about God. It was based on Socrates’ experience with God. There is a reference to this in Acts 17:28. It says 28For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.- This scripture says he was not the only one that had this particular experience. There were others that had it as well. Paul says he came to declare God unto them. Acts 17:23: 23For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.- This scripture says he came to them to tell them the real deal so they would know him for themselves. When you are converted you can’t tolerate fake stuff. Paul shares the simplicity of the gospel to them in hopes he could show them they were wrong. When Jesus shared the gospel, it is the simplest way he could. This is why Paul shared with them in the simplest way possible. Real people don’t come to church to be confused. People come to get a practical word and to come to understand what they don’t’ understand. You need a word that you can understand and you need somebody that can break it down and show you how to apply it in your everyday life.
2. The word of God:
a. It corrects, it convicts, it cleanses, it equips, and it confirms to us what the Lord has said. The days of coming to church and not understanding the word is over. Why sit in church just to pacify family members and die on the vine? Some people are mad at you right now because you left the family church to get a word. Getting a word is not a word of entertainment. We have gotten so caught up in entertainment, but we are at the shift now. People need a word that will strengthen their faith. The word we receive should always be prophetic and propel us into our future. Any word that does not do this is just an intellectual property. We are not trying to stay in our right now. We are trying to get to our not yet. We are going to our not yet. Once the word is revealed, it shows us where we should be in our life. We don’t need a word that just tells us what is wrong. We need to know how to fix what is wrong. There is power in God’s word.
3. Paul says God made you and all things of the world. Acts 17:24:24God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
4. What a word will do is:
a. Stretch your Theology (the way we understand God). The word of God will stretch our theology. Any word that doesn’t stretch your understanding of God is not a real in your life.
b. Stretch your Ecclesiology (the way we understand church). Any word we receive will do this. Acts 17:24b says that the philosophers believed they could only experience God in a temple or behind bring a mortar. We must know that our worship is not tied to an address, because where ever we are, the church is.
c. Stretch our Ideology (the way we look at things). Religion thinks it does God a favor when we raise our hands in worship. Acts 17:25: 25Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; – God doesn’t need you to raise your hands in worship. We need to raise our hands for our sake. God doesn’t need us to give him money. We need to give him money for our own sake. When we tithe and when we show up it doesn’t impress God. This is just our reasonable service. You don’t get a bonus for this.
d. Stretches Sociology (the way we interact with others). Acts 17:26 (NLT):26 From one man[a] he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.-In this culture (the lesson), everybody was separated based on class and culture. Paul says that he has come to tear down those walls of tradition. No matter your ethnic background or your social class, we are all in one class as far as God is concerned. When we destroy this wall of segregation based on social status, background, and etc…, the church looks like God intended it to look.
III. Desire real worship
1. There are many of us that need to see this. Acts 17:27: 27That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: – The Epicureans were people that thought sensuality was the way of life. They were feely, touchy type of people. Paul tried to tell them that if they wanted what he has, happy are those that feel after him. In other words, when it comes to worship many people are satisfied with getting a feeling instead of getting filled. Everything that feels good might not fill you. Fill after him (God) and you will quit running after sensual pleasures, because he will complete you.
2. Paul says if they wanted what he had, they had to know how to get to God. This culture viewed God from two perspectives.
a. God was Transcendent and immanent-They reverenced God as one above us that governed our affairs, but at any moment he could come down into the affairs of our life. He can walk with us in the valley of the shadows of death. Anybody ever seen God get in your mess with you? Understand the presence of God, and then you can’t get caught up in preprogrammed coaxing of worship. In married couples, love should be a noun and verb. You make love and then you become love. If you are making love and are not being love, then it makes making love rough. If you are not being love, then when you make love it is out of obligation, and that makes making love hard. It is the same way in worship. Worship is a noun and a verb. You come to church and we know how to make worship, but nobody knows how to be it. When you in love and you are part of worship and it makes worship much easier.
b. Can’t hinder this. Don’t stop people that want to have an experience with God. Worship humbles us and gets us in our place with God. Worship makes us honor God. This thing is personal. Some think that we were just going through this just to play. We might worship God at anytime during worship because what we have is real. In him we live move and I have our being. As your own poets have said, everything we are is because of him. Paul tries to tell them that their idol gods are futile. Paul tries to tell them that what they needed was and encounter with God. Your relationship is not tied to idol gods and what someone else has. You have your own set of experiences with God. Ex- A few years ago the Indianapolis Colts were undefeated. One to the games that everyone thought they were going to lose is the Pittsburg Steelers. Everybody bet on the Steelers. Pittsburg was on the road into town. Everyone was shouting making noise as they came in. The Colts end up winning the game and after the game, they interviewed Ben Rothenberger. They said they noticed he had difficulty during the game. Ben told the reporters that the Colts pump in fake noise into their stadiums. Ben said it made it hard for them to audible because they could not hear the signals. Ben in other words said they lost because of the fake noise. After interviewing Ben Rothenberger, they interviewed Tony Dungy. They asked if it was true that they piped in noise in the stadium. Tony Dungy told the reporters, we are undefeated and don’t have to fake noise. He said they make noise. God is undefeated, never lost a case, has always brought us out and therefore, we don’t have to fake noise. We make noise. Not prefabricated and nor preprogrammed noise. We make some real justified noise!

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Changes I must make Part I, Bible Study 01/06/2010

Posted on January 13, 2010 by growintheword

Changes I must make Part I
Synopsis of Bible Study 01/06/2010
Delivered by Bishop Walker III

We are creatures of habit. We recognize the power of doing things over and over again. Some of our habits are good and some are bad, but all of us know we are creatures. As believers it is important for us to we try to chart a good course concerning our habits. Many of you have made up a list for this year. Our assignment today is to make you understand how to make that list practical.
When you look at how water flows through a canyon, you see that it flows constantly. The more the water flows the deeper the river becomes. Habits are the same way. The longer we continue a pattern of behavior, the deeper we get off in them. The issue is how do we change certain habits or behavior? Paul says in Ephesians 4:22-24: 22That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.- On one hand we have this old man. This is the one we try to change and on the other hand we are standing in between the old man and what the new man will be. We are putting our self into position so that the new man can come to fruition. We have to recognize that it is the spirit of the mind. Whatever we try to change has to begin by changing our mind. Your mentality determines your morality. Get a person to change their mind then you can change their behavior. 2 Timothy 3:16-17:16All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.- This word helps us chart a course that a mature person may have good habits or good nature. Without the word of God, no change can happen. You have to recognize the power of the word of God being part of the change process.
6 steps to change
Step 1- Change your purpose in life.
1. Purpose leads to destiny. We are talking about what God wants you to be and not what he wants you do. Ex-If you are sleep and the house catches on fire, it motivates you to get up. You get motivated by the fire. Likewise, crisis should be your motivation to change.
a. Must have love and dedication to God. Romans 12:1-2:1I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. – God wants all of you. He is not impressed when you give offerings and tithes because this is what you owe. This is our reasonable service. Verse 2 says you coexist in a world that has a certain way of living and a certain way of seeing reality. As a result you have to have a different mindset that is transformed, realizing that you were created to bring glory to the creator, and that you exist to do God’s will in the earth realm. Whatever you do in life, if it doesn’t end up here addressing these things, you have a problem. The problem is you have chosen to conform in your mind. Everything you try to change started in your mind. Our mind is where the battle ground is. If we can get our mind straight, then we can get the rest of us straight. We have got to be dedicated to God. He wants all of us. We want God to have all of us and we are motivated by love. 1 John 5:3:3For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.-When you love somebody this motivates you to change to do the things necessary to chart the proper course. Love will motivate you. Love will make you do stuff you wouldn’t do when you are not in love. Ex-Love will have you at the carnival spending $40 on something you can buy for a $2. You are just trying to win for something for your boo. A lot of people came out in the cold to Bible Study just because they loved God. Nobody will change unless they really love God. Ex- Have you had someone say that they loved you but never manifested it completely? You try to coach them into doing what they are supposed to do, but it doesn’t seem to work until they fall in love. Likewise we will not change unless you completely love God. Love is a thing that will make a man or woman car to trying to save their child.
b. Imitation of Christ-Somebody at the top of their game changes because of somebody they like that is higher in the same game. Ex- A person that likes basketball may desire to imitate Kobe Bryant for example. Matthew 10:24-25 says 24The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. 25It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?-If you say you are a Christian, you ought to strive to be like or imitate Christ. Matthew 6:33 says33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you-Seek Christ first or to be like Christ and the changes you desire will come.
c. Have a desire for eternal life and not eternal punishment. You see people playing hard trying to win the super bowl, but it is a temporary crown. 1 Corinthians 9:25 says 25And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.-We should have the same discipline and strive just as hard to get the crown of righteousness. There are more creative ways to go to hell than attending church. If you are trying to go to hell then why do you spend time attending church? The simple point of matter is this, when you look at what you do that doesn’t bring glory to God, this is a good place to start your change.
Step 2 – Believe you can change with God’s help.
Proverbs 4:23: 23Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.-It is people’s intention to try to influence you, but you don’t have to give in. Stuff that sets up in your head, ends up in your heart. Habits start in your head and later ended up in your heart. As a result, when you start talking, the issues of your heart start coming out. It is the pain in the heart that has been lingering there all this time. You have to be careful to guard your heart.
1. How do you handle temptation? How many people know people that have areas in their life that they should change? 1 Corinthians 10:13: 13There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.-When you go to the movie theatre, the first thing that you hear before the movie is they tell you where the exits are in case of an emergency. The Exit signs even illuminate on emergency power during the emergency so that you can find your way out. At the time of emergency, you have a choice to make. You can finish the movie or run for an exit. Just like this, in life, a lot of us see the exits, but we avoid the exit as long as we can. In the time of crisis you have to know when to hit the exit. Lots of times we fail to take the exit because we are in denial about the exit. We avoid the exit because of the temptation is in our heart. Philippians 4:13 says 13I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.-The key part is the second part of this scripture. What does Christ give us to do all things? He gives us strength. We look strong to others, but we are vulnerable when we confront our temptations. When you try to take your authority back by saying “You have no authority over me!” your tempters begin to discuss how we have made this proclamation before. As a result they feel in a couple of months, we will be right back to our vulnerable self again. The question is what is going to be different this time? The answer is all the other times we were trying to do it without asking for God’s strength. Remember when Paul asked God to remove his thorn and the Lord said his strength is made perfect in our weakness? Like this, we need to ask God to do for us what we can’t do for our self. We need to get real with God. For many of us, this challenges our Theology. The problem is we think change is only a cognitive experience. The truth is the spirit of the mind is the real problem. It is not just cognitive. Ex-You say this is your last piece of chicken or cobbler, yet you continue to go back. Like this example, you can’t do this just because we made up our mind to do it. Like Paul, we need to know how to do what we can’t do. We need Gods strength. It is never too late to change. Psalm 37:5 says 5Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.-We have to decide which was we are going to cast our stream now.
Step 3 – Study the bible and what it says about your habit.
1. You might say you are not sure your habit is in the bible, but know that it is. There is not much God instructed us to do without giving instructions on how to do it. Joshua 1:8 says 8This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.-If you follow God’s word, at the end of this verse, many think prosperity and success is the same thing, but they are not. There are a lot of people that have prosperity, but without a word that creates character, they don’t have the character to keep the money, because they let the money fund their habit. Money doesn’t make success. The world will place your gift ahead of your character. Once they realize your character is jacked up, they will pull endorsements. Some people can be gifted, but gifts won’t take the place of character. If you don’t have character, you can’t handle prosperity. There are some people we could give a check for $100,000 and $90,000 of it would go towards their habit. We all got that one person in our family that come by the house wanting something and you can give them something to eat, but you can’t give them money. There have been homeless people that said they were hungry and when we got something to eat at a restaurant they were gone when we got back. Just like them, we want God to do these great things for us, but we don’t have the character to sustain it. If you are not tithing at the point that you are at now, what makes you think it will change when you get money. If you think about it, maybe God didn’t bless you the way you wanted because your character couldn’t handle it yet. This is ought to be enough to make you want to straighten up right there. You ought to want good success. People ought to be able to pull every stone away from your life and find nothing but good character from you. We have to recognize that we should become an illustration to people that don’t read the bible so they will know how to they are supposed to handle a crisis.
2. Find your habit and see what the bible says about this. Use goggle to find it if you have to. Jesus quoted scripture while he was under temptations. Try to memorize some scriptures, but remember that the devil knows as many scriptures as you do.
Step 4 – Repent of sin.
1. You have a stream flowing and you run into blockage. This is sin. Sin is to miss the mark. We shouldn’t cover the sin up. We should be real about our sin Proverbs 28:13: 13He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.-Go to God and say this is what I did. Ex-Bishop says a year and half ago, he read a book on how it was too easy to pray. Learn how to say exactly what needs to be fixed instead of minimizing your sin by saying phrases such as “If there be anything that’s not right in me, take it out.” You don’t have to tell us, because we can’t handle it, but you should tell God. Tell God you are tired of this and get as graphic as it is. The more nasty and dirty it sounds to you, the less likely you to do the same thing. Culture has us calling things much softer names so we can adapt to it. Ex- “Lord, I have some in indiscretions instead of saying” as opposed to “Lord, I’m a whore. This way you start dreading having telling the Lord what you did and it results in not wanting to do it. John 1:9 says 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.-Be honest. Just tell him it is a good time of year to repent.
Step 5 –Develop a plan of action.
1. Devise a plan to do good and not evil. Proverbs 14:22 says 22Do they not err that devise evil? but mercy and truth shall be to them that devise good.- God has a strategy in everything.
2. How do we make changes?
a. Accurate thinking (truth over tradition) -We take God’s word on our mind and use it to confront that tradition and make it submit to truth. We don’t like confronting traditions.
b. Establish once and for all who you are in Christ. You can’t be that person that shouts in the church, and then smokes and curses people out after church. You can’t be that person that prays in church and then preys on the people in the church.
c. Die daily to the things that strengthen our flesh’s opposition to the word. Your flesh wants it, but you have to die daily to those things that don’t want you to get the word. These are the things you wish God made provision for in the word, those things you wish your Pastor wouldn’t preach about, and the things you try to justify by trying to change the meaning of the scripture. There are people that will try and get you not to come to get the word. Anything that tries to keep us from God’s word is a threat to our change.
d. Be prepared to handle short term discomfort. It is not easy to change. We are naughty by nature.
e. Live everyday according to your convictions and not your feelings and emotions. For woman the devil comes through your emotions and he comes at men through their egos. It is not how we feel, but what we know. Many of us accepted the Lord out of emotion or a feeling. This is not solid enough. Having gas is a feeling too. Many of us grew up in Lord on that feeling we had, but now we know him for real. We now have convictions. You can’t fight the devil on your emotions. Remember the scenario we discussed before. First it is no, then stop playing, and then you play to much!
Step 6 – Pray regularly.
1. You won’t to do this because it is essential.
2. A child of God should pray for forgiveness. Romans 10:9 says 9That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.-If you pray you are sorry he will give you a clean slate.
3. Understand the power of praying for God’s help. Matthew 6:13:13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. – What we are really saying here is “Lord, prevent me from going into this temptation. Whatever you got to do, frustrate my plan so I won’t blow it. You rein in my life and sub-sequentially I need your power and I need your light to be my glory forever. So be it.” You got plans, but you want God to frustrate it so you can get to it. God might fix it one time where your car won’t start. You have to take a victory any way you can get it.

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Who you rolling with, Sermon 01/03/09

Posted on January 13, 2010 by growintheword

Who you rolling with?
Synopsis of Sermon 01/03/09
Delivered by Bishop Walker III
Text:
Mark 8:34-38:34And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 35For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. 36For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? 37Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? 38Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

When we enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ, it has to be more than a simple profession. It is a lifestyle of conviction, loyalty, integrity, and trust. Many of us follow the Lord simply because of what God can do for us. The reality is our relationship with God should not be unilateral (binding on one side). Instead our relationship with God should be reciprocal (done in return for something else). One cannot just follow the Lord for what he can do for us. It must be also about what we can do for him.
There is an interesting moment in the text. In the text Jesus shares the reason that he has come. Jesus calls the multitude together with his disciples and reminds them or prepares them for an imminent journey of persecution and ultimate death for the cause of Christ. It is literally the cost of Discipleship. We shared some time ago that Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) , German Theologian recorded in a book the “The Cost of Discipleship” the cost of Discipleship. He wrote that when God calls us, he bids or welcomes us to come and die. You must understand that there is s distinct difference between a member and a disciple. A member of a church does what they want to do and they come when they want to come, but a disciple is one who literally follows the Lord and who is a learner or imitator of the teacher. He also observes what the teacher has taught them and manifests it into their day to day lives. When you look at this, it is important to understand that what God is after from us is true discipleship. Bishop explains that he saw some boys a few years ago having a conversation. They were getting ready to take a journey and the question was raised, “Who you rolling with?” Bishop said he didn’t understand it then but since then he has come to understand what they were really saying was, who are you going to be with when crisis come? Whose side are you going to be on? Who you roll with will determine where you will end up. As we begin this new year with fresh opportunities and fresh expectations, the Lord wants to know who you rolling with? Are you going to roll with the Lord or the devil? Are you going to be on the Lord’s side and are you going to trust him? It has to be more than lip service. Who you rolling with? It has to be more than just coming to church or religion. This has to be about a relationship. Who you rolling with? It has to be more than just lifting your hands or shouting Hallelujah! It doesn’t matter how high you can jump when you shout. It is about how straight you walk when you come back down. Who are you rolling with? It has to be more than name dropping (the Lord’s name). When crisis comes, who you rolling with is going to show up! This is why you have to have a relationship with Jesus Christ for yourself. God speaks to us today not only to evaluate ourselves. He wants us to ask ourselves are we truly sold out on him. Are we truly in a committed relationship with him? Many of you have made up in your mind that this year you are going for the real thing. You want to be where God wants you to be and you want to do what God wants us to do.
The gospel of Mark is historically the first gospel though it is the second gospel that appears in your bible. The other gospels drew their material from this one. Mark was written at an interesting time, because Mark’s audience was truly being persecuted by Nero the infamous Roman persecutor. Even though Mark is writing what he hears Jesus say, the audience during the time he is writing this does not hear this metaphorically, they are hearing this literally. It was imminent that they might be crucified. It was imminent that they might actually be persecuted so Mark tells them what Jesus has said which was if a man desires to come after him, he must first deny himself, take up his cross, and follow after him. Let’s understand a Disciples Priorities.

I. Disciples Priorities
Mark 8:34 says 34And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. When he speaks to his disciples, he makes a distinction between them and the multitude. To follow him, he says they had to deny themselves. This is a struggle. In all of us, there is a duality. There is in us nature that wants to do what we want to do and then there is a will inside us that wants to do what God wants us to do. Paul wrote about this in Romans 7. He says what he wants to do, he doesn’t do and what he doesn’t want to do, he does. He says he keeps finding himself going back and forth. Ex-You see that cake and say you can’t have it. What we are trying to say is that we spend a lot of time trying to talk ourselves out of doing what we are not supposed to do. It is about denying ourselves. When you come to this place it is what the song writer wrote about when he says I give myself away so you can use me.
1. Must be Spiritual -You cannot be carnal to achieve this. A carnal man has allegiance to the flesh. Your flesh wants to deny this. When you are spiritual, you begin to understand what is said in 1 Corinthians 15:31: 31I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. Romans 6:11: 11Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. – When you are spiritual you wake up every day saying you want to crucify your flesh. It is our flesh that wants to get ahead of God. Once I do this, I understand the value of sacrifice.
2. Must sacrifice – Nobody wants to give up anything which is why this is hard. Romans 12:1 says 1I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.- We must sacrifice meaning we are willing to be stretched for a cause greater than ourselves. It is not about us, it is about him. Nobody wants to focus on the goal; they want to focus on the role.
3. Must be submissive – This means we are willing to share. We are willing to do what we must do and be what he is willing for us to be. The dedication to your service or assignment is taking up your cross.
4. See your Purpose -This is literally about you purpose. Even though Jesus may have struggled every now and then, he knew his purpose. Remember when the woman asked if her sons could sit beside Jesus in heaven and he said that it wasn’t for him to give? We are anointed to carry our own cross. Can’t anybody but us do what we do. We are anointed for our purpose
5. Will experience Pain – Taking up your cross will bring pain. Philippians 1:21says 21For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 2 Timothy 2:12 says 12If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:-Everybody has got to go through some pain. There is no such thing as a Cross-less Christianity. You can’t get a crown without a cross. Everyone must go through. Just take up your cross and walk. Ex-Bishop Walker explained that he went through a period of time where he had a pity-party before (Referring to the death of his first wife). Bishop explains that God told him that this was just his cross. Your goal is not to focus on yourself. God is trying to get the glory in earth realm.
6. Must Persevere -Members that are disciples that hang in there. They realize they will be hated of men for his sake. No matter how rough it gets, just hang in there! Prior to Jesus’ crucifixion, the cross was a death sentence. Now it is a prelude to the next dimension of your life. Jesus is at the right hand of his father. Many want the elevation without the cross. Without crucifixion, there can be no resurrection. With no resurrection, there can be no elevation. We have to be willing to allow God to take us through whatever we have to go through as long as we are going to be elevated. Some people thank God that they went through the crucifixion (they have been elevated).
II. Destiny in Perspective
Mark 8:35-37: 35For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. 36For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? 37Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
1. When you recognize your obligations as disciples then it is easier to see your destiny.
2. Jesus raises the question “What does it profit you to gain the whole world and lose your soul. We have a hard time distinguishing blessings and stuff. Our level of commitment is tied to the stuff that he blesses us with. What if God took our stuff away? Would we still be committed? This is what God did with Job. After all he went through, Job was spiritual enough to say,” Naked I came into the world and naked I will return. The Lord gives and he takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord…”
3. Jesus warns us about holding on to stuff at the expense of losing our soul. You have to be careful that you don’t equate your blessings with the tangible accumulation of things. We live in the world where we think stuff brings value. Your blessing should not be tied to stuff money can buy. Your blessing should be tied to the stuff money can’t buy. There are people that are reading this that might not drive what you drive or live where you live, but they can sleep at night. We thank God for peace, joy, mercy, and things money can’t buy.
a. We suffer from an ethic of entitlement. We think that life and everyone in it owes us something. We have this spirit of individualism. We think it is all about us. As long as God is hooking us up, we are alright, but the moment he stops, some of us stop coming to church, stop tithing, and stop believing. Stuff can never take the place of God. Your greatest desire in life ought to be for us to be saved. When the stuff fades away what will you have? There has never been a funeral with a u-haul tied behind it. Whatever you have when you die, you will have to leave behind. What is important is you are going to have to know somebody in that hour.
4. We got to be in a position to give an account for our soul. What good does it do to have a Cadillac and not have Christ? You got jewelry, but you don’t have Jesus. Imagine trying to brag on what you have when you get to heaven. Imagine trying to brag to the Lord on what you gained on earth. He would probably say up here you are poor. Up here is streets paved with gold. Secondly he would say depart from me worker of iniquity.
5. We would rather have Jesus. You have got to put stuff in perspective. Paul declared he learned how to abound. Whether we are driving or walking, we are rolling with Jesus. You may build all this stuff, but only what you build for Christ will last. Stuff is alright, but give us Jesus! We are rolling with the Lord!
III. Devotion must be professed
Mark 8:38: 38Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
1. You have this responsibility to share the good news. Whatever is good to you, you don’t mind talking about. Jesus knew his disciples would be put under tremendous pressure. Jesus said he was leaving but coming back. Jesus reminds them all that they will have struggles until he came back. Jesus kept trying to prepare them. He reminded them all the time that this is part of being his disciple. He tried to teach them that in the midst of all the trouble they encountered, they would have to know where they stood in midst of it. They were disciples in the midst of a sinful and adulterous generation.
a. Adultery means to break covenant. It is like being married, but wanted to act like you are not. People that are adulterers want the perceptions, but not the commitment. They want to look married, but not be married. Hosea prophesied that God is like a faithful husband who is in love with this metaphorical Gomer. Here Israel is compared to a prostitute. God is the faithful husband who marries a prostitute (us). Though Hosea, representing God brings the prostitute in, clothes her and elevates her, every night she sneaks back out to the street corner and keeps coming back bloody and bruised. Every day he patches her up and gives her water and loves on her and the next day, she goes and does the same thing over again. The woman represents Israel and the people of God. We are the prostitute and God is the faithful father or husband. We say we are married to God, yet we do what we want to do. In other words, we want the benefit, but don’t want the responsibility. We put God on our money, but not our money on God. We pray at the capital, but we legislate prayer out of schools. We want the perception that we are a nation of God, but when it comes down to it, nobody talks about God until they are in trouble! We don’t talk about God until we are in trouble. We pray when we get in trouble, but do we pray when we have a traffic jam in our driveway or a mall in our closet? Who you rolling with? God says he needs someone to take a stand in this adulterous generation. He needs somebody that will take a stand in the midst of folk making them think you are crazy. You have radio host, talk show host, and movies that have no respect for God. They make everything a joke because they have no respect for the church. This is how they see us. We are not a play thing. We have to let the world know that there is something to this.
2. Your deliverance must be shared. People need to know how we got where we are. They need to know our testimony. Jesus says if your are ashamed of him, he will be ashamed of you when you go to heaven. Last Sunday we talked about where Rome was viewed as evil. Seemed like everything that was evil come from that place. It was Rome that crucified Christ. Roman chapter 1 deals with the immorality of Rome. Paul confronted Rome in Romans 1:16: 16For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. – In other words it doesn’t matter what your social background is or your cultural background the same power that saved him is available to save you. He says there is no way he could be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Why do you go around like you are an anonymous Christians and then you come to church acting like you all in it? God is ready for somebody to tell their real testimony! He needs someone who is not ashamed!
3. In closing: There was this friend of Bishop that would stand outside of this grade school waiting for his father to pick him up. His father picked them up every day. It would embarrass this friend though, because he had a hoop tie. The hoop tie would smoke and make a lot of noise. The friend tried to get his Dad not to come and pick him up. Some kids use to tease him, despite having to walk 2 miles to get home themselves. Others teased him when they didn’t have a father at all. Despite all of this, the friend’s father would come and get him and pick him up right in front of the school. The friend tried to negotiate with his Dad and have him pick him up in the back of the school, but his father refused. Bishop asked how did he get over this awful feeling? The friend said that when he got older he realized that it did not matter how he rolled up, as long as he showed up. In like manner, when you grow up, you going to realize that it doesn’t matter how God rolls up, you going to thank God that he keeps on showing up on your job, in your family, and in your health. Thank God he keeps showing up!

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