Head Swimming Blessings

Posted on January 2, 2020 by growintheword

Part II: Unexpected Blessings series

“Head Swimming Blessings”

Sermon Synopsis December 8, 2019

Delivered by Bishop Joseph W. Walker, III, D.Min.

 

Amos 9:13-15, “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; The mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; they shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them,” Says the Lord your God.”

 

I.          Introduction

  • Blessings are something that many of us take for granted. The idea of being blessed or at least the word “blessed” is often thrown around without regard for what it really means. For example, when someone sneezes, we say “Bless-you”
  • The truth is God intends blessings with intentionality. God puts something on your life that transcends your zip code and exceeds your financial abilities. It is not dependent upon anything, but God’s sovereign will. God places it on a person even though it is something they do not deserve.

 

  • Proverbs 10:22 (NKJV) 22 The blessing of the Lord makes onerich, And He adds no sorrow with it.– When the blessing of the Lord is upon our life, we are whole, not fractured. There is

 

  • In the story today, God brought His people from ruin to a place of being run over with blessings. God is about to allow blessings to take over your life.
  • This is a restoration oracle written by Amos the prophet. In it, God is about to bring judgement on the Israelite people. Although some people will be destroyed, there is a remnant of people at that same time that God will save. These are those that will be saved and restored. They will see blessings like they’ve never seen before.
  • God is about to do in your life as he did the people of God. He is going to bring an overwhelming blessing into your life.

 

II.          The Time of Reaping

A.    Get ready for what’s about to come

  1. Amos was not a fluff prophet. He was different. What made him different is he spoke to power. He was always about justice. He was always speaking out against those who rendered injustice to people.
  2. Amos cared for the disadvantaged. In fact, his words were so encouraging, many Civil Rights Leaders quoted him.
    1. Amos 5:24 (NKJV) 24 But let justice run down like water, And righteousness like a mighty stream.
  3. God chose to use Amos to tell the people what was coming forth and just like the people in the story today, Get ready for your increase!

 

B.     What you went through prepared you for the increase

  1. Scripture Reference: Psalm 126:5-6, “Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”- You can’t live the rest of your life living in what you’ve gone through. Know that God must be preparing something in you.
  2. Genesis 50:20 (NKJV) 20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; butGod meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.  – Some of you will be thanking God for what you were crying over initially.
  3. Story – There was a Dr that was doing a study. He showed all the participants a picture of a big black dot on a piece of paper. He asked each person what they saw in the picture. He received many different responses, but he never got what he was looking for out of the responses. What the Dr noticed was that everyone had a comment for the dot, but no one noticed the empty white space on the page. The white space was equally as important as the dot, because the white space represented potential, because it was area that had not been used for anything.  It was undeveloped potential.

 

III.          The Time of Restoration

A.    What was lost will be replaced

  1. God is about to replace what you lost.
  2. Scripture Reference: Deuteronomy 30:3 (The Message), “God, your God, will restore everything you lost; He’ll have compassion on you; He’ll come back and pick up the pieces from all the places where you were scattered.”- God is about to restore what the locust have eaten.
  3. God is waiting to put you back in this place. We must refuse to let haters cause us not to enjoy it.
  4. The season between seed and harvest is about to be over!

 

  1. In this season, what you worked for will be enjoyed
  2. The days of laboring and not reaping from it is over. You’re about to reap off your labor!
    1. Amos 9:13-15  (NKJV) 13 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, And the treader of grapes him who sows seed; The mountains shall drip with sweet wine, And all the hills shall flow with it. 14 I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. 15 I will plant them in their land, And no longer shall they be pulled up From the land I have given them,” Says the Lord your God.

 

 

IV.          The Time of Replanting

A.    God is preparing the ground to give you a strong foundation

  1. There is a difference between enjoying what you planted and God planting you. When God plants you, everything around you gets blessed.
  2. What you plant is governed by seasons. God plants without seasonal restrictions.

 

B.     This time, I’m here to stay

  1. We are speaking consistent wins.
  2. When you have a covering and you remain where God tells you, know that the devil is aware of what God promised you. This will cause him to try to attack you.

 

C.     Closing Story:

  1. Bishop shares that after he had been studying for his sermons, he left singing the song, “There is no failure in God”. When he got to the truck, it wouldn’t start. Bishop was concerned, because he was on his way to do Bible Study. God said to him, “Now you know what this is don’t you?”

 

Satan was trying to destroy Bishop’s faith as soon as he had finished studying God’s word.

  1. Scripture References:

Psalm 1: 1-3, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.”-

 

  1. Remain planted. If you trust God, you will recover from your pain. Everything the enemy stole. God is about to give back to you.
  2. Rejoice on his promise. God is going to bring ruins to the wicked, but he is going to restore the remnant.

 

  1. Amos 9:13 (NKJV) 13 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, And the treader of grapes him who sows seed; The mountains shall drip with sweet wine,
    And all the hills shall flow with it.
  2. Jeremiah 17:7-8, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.”

 

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Just a thought for today

Posted on December 17, 2019 by growintheword
Genesis 50:20 New King James Version (NKJV)
20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.
 
Simply put; God not only protected you from the evil that was intended, He also turned it around for our good and for the good of those around us.
 
Then God used it to be a blessing to others so that it might be used as a tool to save lost souls as we proceed down the path that He intended for us to travel.
 
In other words: The lightning bolt that you threw, knocked the tree down and it missed us, then it fell across the river that was blocking us from getting to where God wanted us to go. Then we used that same tree to get to the other side and along the way, we were able to pull those people up that was drowning in the currents of the river. Then we all moved over to the other side and got to our destination using what was a direct result of that which came to harm us.
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Overcoming Discouragement – Bible Study 12.04.19

Posted on December 11, 2019 by growintheword

Overcoming Discouragement

Bishop Joseph W. Walker, III, DMin.

Bible Study Synopsis 12/04/19

Psalm 42:11, “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.”

I.          Introduction

  • All of us know that life is filled with ups and downs. As a result, there are things that come against us that lead to discouragement. Things like heart- break, death, being let down people, and etc … lead to
  • Even though we may experience discouragement, we have to learn how to defeat it and not let it overcome us.

II.          How to Identify Discouragement

Discouragement is a lack of confidence and enthusiasm; dispiritedness. When you experience discouragement, you wake up in a funk and you really don’t on why.

A.    The signs of discouragement

  1. Lack of Sleep – You have to discern if this is from discouragement or from simply not going to bed when you are supposed.
  2. Overly Critical of Self – You are constantly attacking yourself.
  3. Becoming Isolated – The enemy keeps you away from other people so that he can interrogate you. When you notice that you like to isolate yourself, you have to ask yourself, why do you always want to retreat and get by yourself.
  4. Lack of Fruitfulness – You have trouble producing good work.
  5. Loss – This can be loss of loved ones for example. This has to be dealt with! When Moses died, it took a toll on Joshua. When you find yourself still talking about the loss of someone, know that this is sparked from your discouragement over it.

Scripture Reference: Joshua 1:9, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” – God had to literally bring Joshua out of his state of discouragement, because if He hadn’t, Joshua would lose hope and miss out on the next assignment God had planned for his life.

B.     The manifestation of discouragement

Scripture Reference: Nehemiah 2:1-5, “And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before. 2 Therefore the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart.” So I became dreadfully afraid, 3 and said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire?” 4 Then the king said to me, “What do you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.” – This scripture is a great example of how to deal with people who are dealing with discouragement.

  1. The way to weigh authentic relationships is this; know that Spiritual Relationships always pick up pain on your radar. They can always tell if you are hurting. If people hang out with you and don’t notice when something wrong with you, this is a problem.
  2. In this scripture, the supervisor or the King in this case, looked at Nehemiah and knew something was wrong with him. This might also be worthy to note for ourselves that it is not only important to have friends that can tell when something is wrong with you, but also important to work for people who can tell when something is wrong with you. It is important to pick employers that care about the people that work for them.
  3. Nehemiah had a King what was concerned when he realized that something had to be wrong with him.
  4. God gives us time to unload what is bothering us, but often we say “nothing is wrong” when we are asked.

 

III.          Understanding Factors that Create the Spirit of Discouragement

A.    Unresolved pain can place you in the pit of despair

1 Kings 19:9-10 (NASB) 9 Then he came there to a cave and lodged there; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 He said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” – Elijah tried to run and escape it all. As a result, he went and hid in a cave.

  1. The trauma of the past can end up being the drama of your present.
  2. Discouragement will follow you wherever you go, if you don’t deal with it.
  3. Scripture Reference: Jeremiah 20:9, “Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name. But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not.” – Jeremiah was about to quit, but he got a word from God.
  4. You have to come to a place where you won’t let what didn’t happen, defeat you.

B.     Don’t let what didn’t happen defeat you

“Discouragement is not the absence of adequacy but the absence of courage.” –Neal Maxwell – An example of this would be, “ They didn’t choose me… “ or “I didn’t get the job… “

 

  1. Scripture Reference: 1 Samuel 30:6 (KJV), “And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.” – People are your friends until they are not. People will flip on you in a minute.
  2. There is a moment when you experience discouragement that you have to encourage yourself. Sometimes you have to learn to have church all by yourself.

IV.          How to Live Free of Discouragement

A.    Learn to let go and live

  1. God never intended on you living a life of discouragement. How many of you have a big heart or is always the giver or waiting for others to catch up with their commitment? This makes you a perfect candidate for
  2. When you pour out and nothing comes back, it is hurtful. Most people that are shady don’t care if it comes back to them or not. They don’t have any expectations, so they never get discouraged.
  3. Scripture References:
  4. Romans 8:37, “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”
  5. Isaiah 61:3 (NIV), “… provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.” – Down in Louisiana, they have a lot of Oak trees and if the Oak Tree could talk, he would say, “The Oak Tree will say I know that preachers have preached about the Palm Tree and how the palm tree can withstand storms and yet pop right back up after its over.”
  6. The Oak Tree would continue to say, “The only thing is, the Palm Tree can only survive certain environments”.
  7. See the Oak Tree has durability and sustainability. The Oak Tree is always there, year after year. There are Oak Trees there are several hundred years old. We can’t say the same about Palm Trees.

B.     Let God restore your joy

  1. Bishop Walker shares that he has awaken sad and not even know why before.
  2. Scripture Reference: Psalm 51:12, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit.” – This is an indication that there is a season where I am in a sad place. How do I get my joy back?
  3. You can’t depend on the Praise Team or the church to do it for you. When you do that, you have turned them into a narcotic. In other words, you are coming to Church to get a high.
  4. The problem with getting high is, you will eventually come down.

C.     Steps to help you conquer discouragement:

  1. Establish Boundaries – Stop letting people sow seeds of discouragement into your life. Stop having people call you all the time. Learn that it is ok not to answer the phone. You have to decide what you will let into your day.
  2. Change the way you talk – Start speaking positivity over your life. Watch how you ask questions? For example, don’t say things like, “Ya’ll not hiring are you?”
  3. Ask for prayer support (Reference: Deuteronomy 32:30) – Learn to ask the right people to join you in prayer. Misery is contagious. We all need to learn to get us a misery blocker.
  4. Learn to celebrate the small victories – Some people lament even when things are going right.
  5. Put your faith in God– David is in discouragement. It is a spiritual space. Psalm 40:1-2 (NKJV) 40 I waited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry. 2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps.
  6. David waited patiently. He wasn’t anxious. Maybe the word waited in this scripture means servant like a waiter or server in the restaurant.
  7. The scripture says that David served patiently for the Lord. This means he wasn’t doing it for people, he was doing it for the Lord.
  8. The scripture says that while David was serving, he was hurt. What got God’s attention is that he saw us serving while we were hurt. God sees our sacrifice.
  9. The scripture says He heard David’s cry. Cry is a word that has implications of It is like all the child knows to do is cry over the situation, God heard him. Any parent will tell you that they know their child’s cry over anyone else’s child. David says he was in such a place, while he was crying, but God heard him.
    1. No matter how many people are in your church, God heard your cry. That time you left church and cried all the way home, God heard you.
  10. We’ve said before, the way to check an authentic relationship is to see if they pick up on your hurt. Well know that God always hears your cries.
  11. The scripture says that David served patiently while he was discouraged. God noticed it and heard our cry. He brought us up and then he brought us out. The suggests that we were so discouraged that we were laying down on the ground. God had to lift us up out of the pit and the clay that had us bound, but then he set us upon a rock.
  12. This rock suggests that God took us out of something that was slippery and uncertain and placed us onto a place that was solid and dependable.
  13. Finally, God established our steps. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. If we go where God wants us to go, we will be where God wants us to be at the appointed time. This way we won’t miss the blessing or the covering.
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He knew I needed it , Sermon11/24/19

Posted on November 27, 2019 by growintheword

“He Knew I Needed It”

Part IV of the Covered series

Delivered by Bishop Joseph W. Walker, III, D.Min.

Sermon Synopsis 11/23/19

 

Psalm 119:71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes.”

 

I.          Introduction

Sometimes it is unclear what we need. In times of trouble, we often we find ourselves defaulting back to what is comfortable. Going back to what’s comfortable winds up leading us to be frustrated, because it is unable to provide what we need to solve our problem. We then find out that it is God that has what we need.

 

We must let God be our source and our answer. This Psalm is powerful. It is known also to be the longest Psalm in the Bible. In this Psalm, we find that all the things that may challenge the believer is countered by the authority of the Word of God which is hid in our hearts.

 

The Word of God allows you to live out your life. It strengthens you and elevates your mind. It provides revelation of truth.

 

Sometimes God reveals things that we don’t comprehend until later. For example, God will allow you and someone to break up. God knew you needed it ahead of time. You go through counseling trying to get over this break up. 5 yrs later you see the person you broke up with and you begin to thank God for His intervention between you two!

 

We must learn to stop crying and start calling upon the Name of the God, because He knows what he is doing.!

 

God is providently moving in everyone’s life, however, there has to be evidence of acceptance.

 

II.          The Evidence of Acceptance

This is accepting that God governs my life.

A.    This was a necessary season

  1. This season was trial by season to see if we were ready for the next level.
  2. Peter 1:6-7 (NKJV) 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been [a]grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, – You had to go through fire to refine you for promotion.
  3. The heat is designed to remove impurities out of your life. Normally they will heat the gold up with fire until it turns to a liquid. Once it has turned to liquid all the impurities will float to the top and they are then able to skim all the impurities off the surface and then let the gold cool back down to a solid state. The good thing is, now the gold is better and more valuable than it was before it was put to the fire.
    1. There are things you have a problem letting go of, so God made it let us go!
    2. God wants us to start looking like gold. Not fake gold, but real valuable gold. The kind of gold that has been through the fire.
  4. You got to get good letting stuff go. If you allow yourself to stay in despair, you will never get to a place where it blesses you. When God has you to let stuff go, it humbles you, it does not hinder you.

 

B.     It worked out for me when I became good with it

1.      Romans 8:28 (NKJV) 28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. – You’ve got to trust God when you can’t trace God. Trust that God has things under control, even if you don’t see him working.

  1. Can God trust you to make him look good? When you exhibit the strength to move on, you will know that there were benefits from your affliction.

 

III.          The Effects of Affliction

A.    What I went through didn’t make me bitter, it made me better

  1. You are better off that you didn’t’ get that job, because God had a better one for you. You are better off that you didn’t close on that house, because God had a bigger house in mind for you.
  2. “Extraordinary afflictions are not always the punishment of extraordinary sins, but sometimes the trial of extraordinary graces.” ― Matthew Henry – God allows you to go through those seasons not smelling like smoke and not looking like you’ve been through the fire.
  3. Paul had a thorn in his flesh. He asked God to remove it. Corinthians 12:8-9(NKJV) 8 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. – It might not be for you, but God gave them a level of grace to be able to walk through their circumstances. God is the grace that makes us able to withstand it.

 

B.     The affliction was connected to my assignment

 

  1. Your affliction ushers you into your assignment. It was never designed to destroy you.

2 Corinthians 4:17 (NKJV) 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, – There is a weight to God’s glory. People see your glory, but they don’t understand the weight that comes with it.

  1. They don’t understand the weight of your glory was an indication of the weight of your story (your affliction).
  2. When the student is ready, the teacher will come. God will show up when you are ready for him to take you to the next level.

 

IV.          The Education of the Acts

A.    The Lord didn’t block it so He could let it develop me

  1. God will deliver you when he is ready. Stop asking people to ask God to take you off your cross before its time.

2.      Psalm 34:19 (NKJV) 19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all. – You have to look back to see the revelation in your life.

  1. There was a time you had to develop film in a dark room. In order for the picture to develop, you had to place the film in a dark room, absent from the light. Like this, God has to take you thru a fearful season, a season where you have to experience some dark times.
  2. Remember that we can’t get to the picture, unless we first experience some darkness.

 

B.     I had to learn it in order to live it

 

  1. If you let it teach you, deliverance can reach you.
  2. Revelation is a powerful thing. Lots of people say they don’t have to go to church, because they can read the word out of the bible for themselves. This is true, but just reading the word only gives you knowledge. God anoints somebody to deliver the same word you read, but he enables them to provide you with revelation.

a.      Jeremiah 3:15 (NKJV) 15 And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.– You come in the house or the church, because there is an anointing that brings forth revelation there.

  1. God says you ain’t done, until God gives you an experience to match the revelation you are about to get. The experience brings about your testimony.

“The school of suffering never graduates any students, so ask God to teach to you the lessons He wants you to learn.” ― Warren W. Wiersbe

  1. Out of our affliction, we learned:
  2. How to have Prayer over Worry
  3. How to have the Posture of a Winner
  4. That Praise is your Weapon
  5. The Power of Worship

 

 

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