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How to have friends Part II, Bible Study 05/11/11

Posted on May 16, 2011 by growintheword

How to have Friends Part II

Synopsis of Bible Study 05/11/11

Delivered by Bishop Walker III

Last week we asked you to write down 3 things you think you bring to a friendship.
Then we told you to write 3 things down that people might say you bring to a
friendship. Then we told you to write down 3 things that you bring to a
friendship and one thing that you feel people take for granted with you.

Now if you had to choose one thing that you know without doubt that you
bring to a friendship, write it down. Then write down one think that you know
people take for granted in your life. We will come back to these.

I.
Characteristics of a friend

Tells the truth- Proverbs 27:5-6, 9 says ⁵Open rebuke is better than secret
love. ⁶Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an
enemy are deceitful. ⁹Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so
doth the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel. – We are
looking for people that will tell us the truth. We want people that will tell
is like it is.
Loves with pureness of heart- Proverbs 22:11 says ¹¹He that loveth pureness of heart,
for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend. – We act in
ways that are not consistent with our heart, by the things we do. In fact, we often tell people to charge it to our head
and not our heart. We really desire for people to know our hearts. If people
really knew our heart, they would not judge us by how we act or our actions. Sometimes people can act certain ways,
because of things that happened in their past. If we knew their hearts, we
wouldn’t be so bitter towards them.
Loyalty – They are loyal. Proverbs 27:10 says ¹⁰Thine own friend, and thy father’s
friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brother’s house in the day of thy
calamity: for better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off. -We need
somebody there with us. Loyalty will take you a long way. No matter what happens,
you know you can count on this person.
Loves at all times –Proverbs
17:17 says ¹⁷A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
– I friend will love you no matter what. No matter what happens, we know this person loves
us.
1. There are things that separate us friends.
2. i.
  Whisperers – Proverbs 16:28 says 28A froward man
  soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends. – You have this person
  who has a friend. They have been friends with you for a year. A new person
  comes in and is friends with you for week. The old friend is intimidated that they
  might not be able to keep you as a friend. The old friend whispers things that
  cause you to have doubt in the new friend. It is not about the integrity of the
  new friend. Instead it is about the lack of security in the old friend. Be
  careful of those that whisper things in your ear.
3. ii.
  Violating trust- Proverbs 17:9 says ⁹He
  that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter
  separateth very friends. – Tell you a secret and next day it is in the Tennessean,
  on Facebook, or on Twitter. This will mess up a friendship when you can’t keep
  mouth closed.
4. iii.
  Money- Proverbs 6:1-3 says ¹My
  son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a
  stranger, ²Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art
  taken with the words of thy mouth. ³Do this now, my son, and deliver
  thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself,
  and make sure thy friend. – This is talking about money and friends. Ex- Bishop explains how he has a policy;
  he doesn’t loan money to his friends. Bishop learned that if he can’t give it
  to you, he just won’t do it. Bishop
  says that he don’t want money to get in
  between he and his friends relationship. You got people who know that they owe
  you money and they act like they don’t. They will buy new stuff and act like
  they don’t owe you money, as if you forgot about it. Proverbs 19:4 says ⁴Wealth maketh many friends; but the
  poor is separated from his neighbour. – It is not so much that the poor
  is separated from his friends, but when your conditions change, things change. If
  you have a lot of money and then all of a sudden it’s gone, some friends will
  fall off. Proverbs
  19:6-7 says ⁶Many will intreat the favour of the
  prince: and every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts. ⁷All the
  brethren of the poor do hate him: how much more do his friends go far from him?
  he pursueth them with words, yet they are wanting to him. – He hooked
  them up when they were in need. When he was in need, there was none to be
  found. People have selective amnesia when it comes to money and this can mess
  up friendships. Ex- People come to
  us (Mt Zion) on our benevolent program and we try to help people. We have
  safeguards in place so we can be good stewards over our blessings (the money).
  We have policies such as the maximum we can give a person, so that we can be
  good stewards of this. You can help a
  person in December, January, then February, March, and finally you have to tell
  them that you can’t do it anymore. If a person has come to us over and over
  again and they have exhausted he amount of times that they can come to us, then
  all of a sudden our name (Mt Zion) is mud.
  Learn how to say no to friends and learn to be comfortable with this decision.
  When you are a giver, don’t allow the lack
  of integrity of others prevent you from blessing
  somebody else. Don’t let somebody’s issue cause you to miss your blessing.

II.
Advice and friends

Have problem having friends. What is the problem? Proverbs 18:24 says ²⁴A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and
there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. – You have to first be
friendly, before you can have a friend. You got to have the personality that is
friendly and stop being so unfriendly.
You will attract what you are. If you are a person who has a warm
personality, you will always attract that
to yourself. If you gossip you will attract that. Gossipers are not attracted
to you if you don’t like to gossip. You have to examine what people are seeing in you. We need advice
from people that understand us. Proverbs
22:11 says ¹¹He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips
the king shall be his friend.- He knows that he has gracious speach, Proverbs 27:6 says ⁶Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an
enemy are deceitful., Proverbs 22:11 says ¹¹He that loveth
pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend. – We are looking for someone
that can shoot straight with us. They can tell us what we need to hear.
Why is this important? In order to get good advice we
must be mindful of how you select our friends.
Be mindful of how you select friends. Proverbs
22:24-25 says ²⁴Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man
thou shalt not go: ²⁵Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to
thy soul. , Proverbs 12:26 says ²⁶The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour: but the
way of the wicked seduceth them. – There are two kinds of people you have to choose
from. There are those who will lead and walk with you towards your destiny and those that will walk and lead you down path of destruction. With them you
have two choices, life or death or
spending eternity in smoking or non-smoking.
As you select friends, be careful. 2 Corinthians 6:14 says ¹⁴Be ye not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
and what communion hath light with darkness? – The issue is, we all have
friends who are not saved (People that don’t go to church and who are down with
whatever). We learned last week that there are some friends that are going to
be on the fence, the porch, and the house. We don’t want you to feel like you
need to cut them off, because this is not good
evangelism. We have people that are not saved, but they are cool. We have to
know where they fit in. You can’t allow them to have more influence on us than
we do on them. As a child of God, how can they get you to stay out all night,
and you can’t get them to come to church? Ex-
A saved person that is going through a crisis can’t get advice from unsaved
folk. 2
Corinthians 6:16-17says ¹⁶And
what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the
living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I
will be their God, and they shall be my people. ¹⁷Wherefore come out
from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean
thing; and I will receive you. – In other words, what relationship do we have with
these so called friends? Unsaved people operate from a different frame of reference. If you going through
a spiritual thing, they will say you ought to”be out” or “do you” or “let’s roll” (referring to leaving your
relationship). They can only interpret your situation based on what they know to do. We got these
unsaved friends, but we are not trying to take
their advice. For example, if we went to speech therapy and the Doctor
stuttered, “Good morning” to us, we would not want to go through with the
session. If we went to Dentist and they had a cavity in the front, we would not
have much faith in their ability or their advice. You wouldn’t take advice from
these types of people, because their actions don’t show that they are qualified
to give advice. So why do you let non spiritual people give advice to you about
your life.
Friends that want wisdom – Proverbs
13:20 says ²⁰He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion
of fools shall be destroyed. – We want to be with the type of people they want wisdom. Proverbs 13:14 says ¹⁴The law of the wise is a fountain of life, to depart from
the snares of death. -Wisdom will teach you how to say a thing. Ex- Say you have a friend going through something and they start emotionally eating. As a result, they
are starting to get larger. You are concerned, because you don’t want them to
get larger and larger. You can’t just go up to them and say, “You’re just fat!” This would not be wise. Some people are still
in counseling over things that you have said in the past. What would be wise to
say is something like this: “I love you and I can’t imagine being here without
you. I want to help you stay here for me and you and I will start by walking
with you.”
How do we maintain friendships? They can be disrupted for a variety of
reasons. Here are some things messes friendships up:
1. Repeating what you hear. Proverbs 17:9 says ⁹He that covereth a transgression
  seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.- The
  simply means we can’t tell you nothing, without you repeating it.
2. Getting into senseless arguments. Proverbs 17:14 says ¹⁴The beginning of strife is as when
  one letteth out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled
  with. – Some people just wake up wanting to argue.
3. Overstaying your welcome- Proverbs 25:17 says ¹⁷Withdraw thy foot from thy
  neighbour’s house; lest he be weary of thee, and so hate thee. – Let folk
  miss you. Your friends try to send you messages and you still won’t go home. Everytime
  you go home, this kind of friend will ask to come over. Give your friends time
  to miss you.
4. Meddling in affairs that are not your own- Proverbs 26:17 says ¹⁷He that passeth by, and meddleth
  with strife belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears. – Nobody takes
  a dog by the ears, because they know they would get bit. This is how we mess up
  other folks friends. We get into other folks business. If you are invited you
  can involve yourself in their business, but don’t come into folks business uninvited.
5. Playing bad jokes. Proverbs
  26:18-19 says ¹⁸As a mad man who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, ¹⁹So
  is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith, Am not I in sport?
6. Being a talebearer- This is gossiper. Proverbs 26:20 says ²⁰Where no wood is, there the fire
  goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth. – When
  there are no gossipers around, everyone is good. When a gossiper walks in, the
  atmosphere changes.
7. Being contentious- Proverbs 26:21 says ²¹As
  coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle
  strife.-These are people that are always starting stuff.
8. Engaging in insincere flattery-. Proverbs 27:14 says ¹⁴He that blesseth his friend with a
  loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him. – There are
  people that tell you things, but they are just trying to manipulate you to get what
  they want.

III.
Selecting Friends

Be mindful of how you select friends. Proverbs
22:24-25 says ²⁴Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man
thou shalt not go: ²⁵Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to
thy soul. , Proverbs 12:26 says ²⁶The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour: but the
way of the wicked seduceth them. – There are two kinds of people you have to choose
from. There are those who will lead and walk with you towards your destiny and those that will walk and lead you down path of destruction. With them you
have two choices, life or death or
spending eternity in smoking or non-smoking.
As you select friends, be careful. 2 Corinthians 6:14 says ¹⁴Be ye not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
and what communion hath light with darkness? – The issue is, we all have
friends who are not saved (People that don’t go to church and who are down with
whatever). We learned last week that there are some friends that are going to
be on the fence, the porch, and the house. We don’t want you to feel like you
need to cut them off, because this is not good
evangelism. We have people that are not saved, but they are cool. We have to
know where they fit in. You can’t allow them to have more influence on us than
we do on them. As a child of God, how can they get you to stay out all night,
and you can’t get them to come to church? Ex-
A saved person that is going through a crisis can’t get advice from unsaved
folk. 2
Corinthians 6:16-17says ¹⁶And
what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the
living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I
will be their God, and they shall be my people. ¹⁷Wherefore come out
from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean
thing; and I will receive you. – In other words, what relationship do we have with
these so called friends? Unsaved people operate from a different frame of reference. If you going through
a spiritual thing, they will say you ought to”be out” or “do you” or “let’s roll” (referring to leaving your
relationship). They can only interpret your situation based on what they know to do. We got these
unsaved friends, but we are not trying to take
their advice. For example, if we went to speech therapy and the Doctor
stuttered, “Good morning” to us, we would not want to go through with the
session. If we went to Dentist and they had a cavity in the front, we would not
have much faith in their ability or their advice. You wouldn’t take advice from
these types of people, because their actions don’t show that they are qualified
to give advice. So why do you let non spiritual people give advice to you about
your life.

IV.
What kind of friends do you want?

Friends that want wisdom – Proverbs
13:20 says ²⁰He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion
of fools shall be destroyed. – We want to be with the type of people they want wisdom. Proverbs 13:14 says ¹⁴The law of the wise is a fountain of life, to depart from
the snares of death. -Wisdom will teach you how to say a thing. Ex- Say you have a friend going through something and they start emotionally eating. As a result, they
are starting to get larger. You are concerned, because you don’t want them to
get larger and larger. You can’t just go up to them and say, “You’re just fat!” This would not be wise. Some people are still
in counseling over things that you have said in the past. What would be wise to
say is something like this: “I love you and I can’t imagine being here without
you. I want to help you stay here for me and you and I will start by walking
with you.”
How do we maintain friendships? They can be disrupted for a variety of
reasons. Here are some things messes friendships up:
1. Repeating what you hear. Proverbs 17:9 says ⁹He that covereth a transgression
  seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.- The
  simply means we can’t tell you nothing, without you repeating it.
2. Getting into senseless arguments. Proverbs 17:14 says ¹⁴The beginning of strife is as when
  one letteth out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled
  with. – Some people just wake up wanting to argue.
3. Overstaying your welcome- Proverbs 25:17 says ¹⁷Withdraw thy foot from thy
  neighbour’s house; lest he be weary of thee, and so hate thee. – Let folk
  miss you. Your friends try to send you messages and you still won’t go home. Everytime
  you go home, this kind of friend will ask to come over. Give your friends time
  to miss you.
4. Meddling in affairs that are not your own- Proverbs 26:17 says ¹⁷He that passeth by, and meddleth
  with strife belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears. – Nobody takes
  a dog by the ears, because they know they would get bit. This is how we mess up
  other folks friends. We get into other folks business. If you are invited you
  can involve yourself in their business, but don’t come into folks business uninvited.
5. Playing bad jokes. Proverbs
  26:18-19 says ¹⁸As a mad man who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, ¹⁹So
  is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith, Am not I in sport?
6. Being a talebearer- This is gossiper. Proverbs 26:20 says ²⁰Where no wood is, there the fire
  goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth. – When
  there are no gossipers around, everyone is good. When a gossiper walks in, the
  atmosphere changes.
7. Being contentious- Proverbs 26:21 says ²¹As
  coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle
  strife.-These are people that are always starting stuff.
8. Engaging in insincere flattery-. Proverbs 27:14 says ¹⁴He that blesseth his friend with a
  loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him. – There are
  people that tell you things, but they are just trying to manipulate you to get what
  they want.

V.
Solving problems with friends

Make sure that you are at peace with the Lord. Proverbs 16:7 says ⁷When a man’s
ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. – Don’t
respond to your haters. Please God and he will make your enemies be at peace
with you.
Be slow to anger- Proverbs 15:18 says ¹⁸A
wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.
– You got folk that know how to push the right buttons, but you got to
know how to process that. Learn to respond with your new man and not your old
man. Ex-Some people don’t think Bishop
gets angry. They act like he is not human. Bishop explains that when people
pull out in front of him, he gets angry too. We all have to learn how to
control our anger.
Be slow to respond- Proverbs 18:13 says ¹³He
that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him. -You in a
heavenly debated issue and you won’t let them finish. Let them finish it. Be
slow to answer.
Avoid quarrelling- Proverbs 20:3 says ³It
is an honour for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling. – Any fool
can start fight.
Speak gently- Proverbs 15:1 says ¹A
soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger. – Speaking
gently can avoid confrontation.
Speak briefly- Proverbs 10:19 says ¹⁹In
the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips
is wise. -Tell them how you feel and be out.
Be quick to show love- Proverbs 10:12 says ¹²Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love
covereth all sins. – When we love a person, it can cover up a whole lot of
what is wrong with you. If you love right, the person might choose not to hold your
flaw against you.

VI.
4 types of friends

The developer- This is a person that brings out the best in you. It
doesn’t have to even be a saved person.
The designer- These are mentors or advisors. Jesus ministered to
thousands; he trained hundreds, equipped 12, but had 3 intimate friends. Designer
mentor us in marriage, business, and a variety of other areas. Designers can be an author, acquaintances,
rangers or even people who are dead, because they can design our life through
scriptures, books, tapes, articles, or seminars.
The disturber- This is a person who shakes up the status quo. They know when we have retreated to our comfort zone. It
is like the eagle that stirs her nest and allows the eagles to fall out of the
nest for their own good. They ask the
question that others won’t ask. They want to know if your car note is more than
your house. They want to know why you want to buy the car right now. In other
words, they make you examine your
motivation. If you say you want to open a business, they are the ones who
ask if you got a business plan or have you worked out how you are going to
finance it. Most of the time when we want to do something jacked up, we won’t
go to the disturber. We need people in our life that can come to us and
literally disturb stuff and ask the right
questions.
The discerner – This is that
person that comes into our life and is spiritual enough to give us advice. Very
few people will play this role in our life. They know how to keep you on the
right track. Proverbs 27:6 says ⁶Faithful
are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.- They can tell you that
they can sense something. They can come and tell you stuff bad that they see,
when you feel you are on the mountain. They can tell that something is wrong
with you, even when you try to hide it.

Assignment: Think about your circle of 20 people in your life. If you don’t have
20, think about the 10 or the 5. They can be relatives, friends, or authors. Think about where they fit into your life as
it relates to these categories or friend types we just mentioned. Does their
role in your life meet your assumptions about them? Lay it all out and it will help you understand
your friendships.

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How to have friends Part I, Bible Study 05/04/11

Posted on May 16, 2011 by growintheword

How
to have friends Part I

Synopsis of
Bible Study 05/04/11

Delivered by
Bishop Walker III

Many of us
struggle with this idea of friendship.
In fact, many of us can count on one hand, how many real friends we have.
Remember the song, “Friends” by Whodini? If you think about it,
Whodini might have been on to something. All of us have experienced the
complexity of friends. It is really difficult, because many of us have
experienced wounds and bitterness from our so called friends. Today we want you
to understand who really doesn’t qualify to be your friend.

Proverbs
1:10 NKJV says 10My son,
if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.- King Solomon says we have to be
careful about the associations that we have, because those associations can
bring about simulation, which means you could be in danger of becoming like the people that you hang out
with. This is where the whole idea, “Birds of a feather flock
together” comes from.

People you should not be in friendship with:

Stay away from violent people – These are people scary to be
around. They throw things and talk with an elevated voice whenever
disagreement comes up.
Stay away from greedy people- Proverbs 1:19 (NKJV) says
19 So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain; It takes away the
life of its owners.- These are people that are in pursuit of stuff all the
time. They always want more.

Manifestations of greedy people:

The
thief – Person that will take and steal.
Proud
rich person – Once they
arrive at a certain level, they think they are better than others.
Subtle
thief – Will still from
you as if you don’t know they are stealing from you
Can’t wait crowd – Will do anything to get
it, even manipulating people.

Stay away from froward people – They swerve from one side to the
other. They can’t make up their mind. They go from one way to
another. Proverbs 2:12 says 12To deliver thee from the way of the evil
man, from the man that speaketh froward things; – There is no stability in
their lives.
Stay away from people who despise knowledge. Proverbs 1:29
says ²⁹For that
they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: – These are people who do not want to
grow in the word of God. Often people that don’t want to do better don’t
want you to do better, because when you do better, you intimidate them. As
long as you both struggle, they are good.
Stay away from immoral people – They will do anything. They have
no moral compass. Proverbs 2:16-19 says 16To deliver thee from the
strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;
17Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of
her God. 18For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the
dead. 19None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the
paths of life.
Stay away from talebarriers – These are people that gossip too
much. Proverbs 10:19 says 19In the multitude of words there wanteth
not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise.
Stay away from Liars – Proverbs
14:5 says 5A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will
utter lies. – These people just make up stuff. Sometimes these people make
up lies simply to make themselves look good.
Stay away from the angry man – Proverbs 15:18 says 18A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but
he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife. – These are the people that
make you nervous to go out with them. They are always ready to fight. You
have to tiptoe around this type which is unhealthy, because it is a fear
based relationship. Any fear based relationship is unhealthy.
Stay away from the lazy people- Proverbs 10:5 says 5He that gathereth in summer is a wise son:
but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame. – These are
people that just sit around trifling and have no regard for deadlines or schedules.
This laziness is a spirit and it
is contagious. Ex-”I am going to clean my house”.
Second Person: “I’m just going to chill”. Before long, you come over and
hang out with them and you end up doing what they do.
Stay away from Drunkards- We all have people who drink, but this type
of person loses control every time
they drink. We will always be in an unhealthy relationship with this
person, because we never know who is going to show up. These people put us in jeopardy, because
we don’t know what they will do or say.
Stay
away from fools –Psalm 14:1
says 1The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt,
they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.- Fools are
just fools.

For some of us, this list names just about
everyone we know.

Types of friends

The company that we will keep can have an adverse affect on us. 1 Corinthians 15:43 says 43It is
sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is
raised in power: – This means we need to be strategic about who we will
allow to be our friends.
Friendship is really a matter of trust.
Types of friends:

Acquaintances – These are people that we know by
name, we talk to them when then opportunity arises, but our interaction
is very limited. We don’t go out of our way to talk to them, but when we
encounter them, we speak. Some
people are only meant to be acquaintances in your life. These are also
referred to as associates.
Friends-These are people whom we voluntarily
negotiated a personal relationship with. These are people that we look to
have similar values, beliefs, attitudes, and values. This is something we
intentionally invest into.

Friend Expectations

We expect them to be positive- We want to
be able to enjoy their company.
They must be assuring- In other words, we
trust each other.
We share openness – We share our feelings with each other

Intimate Friendships (Your inner circle)

These are people that have another level of trust and commitment
with you. These are people that you confide in. You ought not to feel guilty about
having this, because Jesus even had an inner
circle.
These are people that you will have very few of in a lifetime. In
fact if you get 3 in a lifetime, you are doing well. Jesus only had 3 (Peter, James, and
John) in his inner circle.

Mentoring Friendships

There are 3 types of Christian
Friendships

Mentor Friendship – These are relationships whereby we teach,
we council, we disciple, and we are the ones who literally pour into
other people. Our role in this person’s life is hierarchal. We understand as a mentor that there is something
that God wants us to pour into someone. Some friendships will be this
way. There is something in you that God wants you to impart into the other person.
Mentee Friendship – You are the person that is receiving. Now
you are in a position where you know God has put you into a person’s life
to get everything out of them you can as it relates to wisdom.
Mutual Friendships – Not
based on mentoring. They are situations where two individuals are aligned
spiritually and emotionally and intellectually. They recognize the
relationship is not unilateral or one way. Instead it flows both ways. One of the biggest
frustrations you can have is when you are in a unilateral friendship. By this we mean that we pour out and
no one pours back into us. We have the understanding that this thing
requires mutual investment.

Try this. Take the top 10 people that you
check on in a month and don’t check on them for two weeks and see who
checks on you. Your feelings will really be hurt by these results. This
will give you an indication of what relationships you are in. Ex- Bishop explains that some of
the closest relationships that he is in, he doesn’t call them every day.
Though he doesn’t call them every day, but when they talk, they catch up.
They pick up where they left off.
Anyone that is real needy won’t understand this. You can’t be a needy
person in a relationship. If you are, this might indicate that you are
using the relationship for something that God didn’t intend. The
motivation by which you are in this relationship can be considered
unhealthy.

The difference between friends and associates

Do you know the difference between friends and associates?
Should your mate be your friend first?
Do you know how to make and keep a good friend?
If you are young, should parents choose your friends?
Are you with friends right now for a good reason?
Are you friend worthy?

5 characteristics of a healthy friendship

Friends love sacrificially- John
15:13 says ¹³Greater
love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. –
Jesus was our example. He loved sacrificially, selflessly, and he
demonstrated his love by laying down his life on the cross. If you choose
to be in a friendship, you must understand that part of your investment is
to give selflessly and sacrificially
to the friendship without expectation.
Friends give without expecting in return
– The Lord gave to us without expecting. He said he would love us until we
learned how to love him back. His love is not contingent on how we love
him. As a result, we have to realize that our contribution to the
friendship must be selfless. It
doesn’t always revolve around us. We might have to sacrifice things for
the sake of the friendship. Ex- Sometimes
on Saturday, while putting the icing on the sermon (though it is done way
before Saturday), a friend may call in need and Bishop is forced to make a
decision. Sometimes, he has to sacrifice and stay up a little longer for
the sake of the friend, because the friend needs you. What are you willing to sacrifice for
the friendship? Philippians 2:3 says ³Let
nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let
each esteem other better than themselves. – Consider the other
person. Value your friends’ needs
above your own. If you are the only
one sacrificing, this is not a healthy Christian Friendship.
Friends love unconditionally –Proverbs
17:17 says ¹⁷A
friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. –
A true friend is not a person that just loves me when I am mountain or
when all is well in my life. A true friend will love us when we are at rock bottom too. We can’t tell who our real friend is
when we got a lot of money, because rats come out when there is a lot of cheese around. If you want to know who your real
friends are, hit rock bottom or lose your job. Let stuff happen and see
how they respond. When things go bad, you will find out who your friends
really are, because they will love you unconditionally. Some of us throw people away when people
mess up, because we have a difficult time accepting ourselves. Ex
– There is a probably a psychological construct for this, when a
person has a person conversation with
themselves about themselves. For
example we might say, “What is wrong with me” and no one is in the house
but you. What is going on is you are making yourself sick and you are
telling yourself about. The way you love yourself, is the same way which
you have to love your friend, because we love our neighbor as our self. God sends people into our lives, prior
to adversity without us being aware why they are there. The truth is, they
were born for the adversity that we are about to go through. We have a tendency to push these people
away, because we don’t understand why they are there. They might not fit the pedigree that your
other friends have, but these are the people that truly pray for you. It is this person born for your
adversity that will stay and pray for you while everyone else goes the
other way.
Friends trust completely –Proverbs
18:24: says ²⁴A
man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend
that sticketh closer than a brother. – Trust is something that has
to be earned. It takes time to come to place of trust. Ex- Bishop explains that when he was in his early twenties, he used to
give everyone he met a 100%.
And then he would allow their actions to deduct from that 100%. He had
expectations of 100% on people and he would end up hurt, because of unmet expectations. Now he starts
everyone a 0% and allows them to earn the expectation. This avoids disappointment
from unmet expectation. Trust has to be earned. As relationship grows, confidence is added. Can you be
trusted? What do you do with Juicy information? Some of us have a big
mouth and tell everything we know.
Keep healthy boundaries – 1 Corinthians 13:4
says ⁴Charity suffereth long, and
is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed
up, – Boundaries are so important. If you are not careful, people
can break boundaries. Friends can
come between spouse, children. You can be in the mall and people who know
you can come up to you and speak to you while acting like your spouse is
invisible. Another example is people calling your house late at night. You have to have
certain boundaries. Space is a good sign for a healthy relationship. Ex-
Bishop explains that when he was young, he used to go out in the
country to his Granma’s house. There was a fence with a gate, a big front
yard, a porch, a screen door, and a door. Some friends would come to gate
and Grandma would say go where they are at. He knew that it was implied
not to open the gate. Some people would come and she would say come on in
and then tell them to go to field and play. She didn’t want them on the
porch. There were others that she allowed to sit on the porch with us.
There were others that were like family that were allowed in and out of
the house and they were allowed to eat with them. This is a revelation of
how we should appropriate friends in our life. Some people should be allowed
just outside the gate. Jesus had
3 into the garden with him while he prayed and he left 8 at the gate. We
have a problem of letting gate people in
the house. Boundaries are
important. We must have boundaries.
Don’t let people violate your boundaries. Set boundaries for your
friendships.
Friends give mutual edifications – Proverbs
27:6 says ⁶Faithful
are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. –
If a friend tells you something that cuts you, you can trust that, because
it is real stuff. We need people in our life that can keep it 100, even if
it makes us bleed. How do we tell people something they don’t want to
hear? We have to say something
like, “I realize that what I have to say, may jeopardize our relationship,
but I am so committed to our relationship that I am willing to put our
relationship in jeopardy even if you might talk to me for month… ” It is
important that we be who we said we were going to be in their life. We are
willing to accept any response back given, but we must remain responsible
and be who I said I was going to be in this relationship. If your friend
is wearing something that they shouldn’t wear, we should be able to tell
them this out of love. There are people that told us things that stung and
mad us upset, but we are glad that they told us. We rather someone tell us the truth now
and be upset, than being hurt later and saying “you should have told me.”

Note: One thing we need to know is we are breaking boundaries on Facebook
and Twitter. We put too much of our personal information out there, then we
wonder why people look at s like we are crazy. You got to be careful. It’s
about boundaries

Assignment…

Write down 3 things that you know you bring
to friendships. This is not things money can buy. These are things money
can’t buy. For example, “ I bring … because I am loyal or I am a good
listener.
Write down 3 things people take for
granted about you when they are in Friendship with you.
Next week we will discuss this assignment
and how it is relative. Have a blessed day.

Posted in friends | Tagged Bible Study, Bishop Walker, blessing, Direction, Encouragement, friends, Inspiration, Mt Zion | Leave a comment

Power of a made up mind Part III, “The Power of being properly connected”, Bible Study 03/09/11

Posted on March 31, 2011 by growintheword

Power of a made up mind Part III

The Power of being properly connected

Synopsis of Bible Study 3/9/11

Delivered by Bishop Walker III

I. Why is this important?

Well remember last week we talked about the goal (the destination)? Know that there is always something that God aims us towards and it is the goal. When we look at that goal, often we think that it is about the end result, but the truth is, it isn’t. There are some things that God wants manifested in us and through us once we arrive at that place. People go through life and they wonder why they are not bearing fruit. They wonder why they are not productive and why they are not where they need to be.

II. This is where it begins:

It starts with frustration – You are saying to yourself that you are frustrated, because you know that there is so much more that you can do with your life. We know that there is so much more that God has inside of us that we should be doing and producing. What that frustration should do is bring you to a place of motivation.
Motivation – If you are not frustrated about it, you will not be motivated to do anything about it. Now you become motivated to figure out that there is another shift going on in your life. This causes a season of evaluation.
Evaluation- You begin to access your relationships and your crowds and environments. All these things are important. Now as you begin to assess and do this evaluation, you have started to read this synopsis and you have begun going to church more often, because you need revelation.
Revelation- We need a word. We know if we are going to get where God needs us to be and if we are going to be productive in our life, we come to church, to bible study, and we read these notes, because we need revelation. It is our hope that once you get the revelation from reading this tonight, it will spawn a great deal of determination within you your life.
Determination- -We hope you leave here determined and you leave here saying I got it and I am going to move forward in it. Through this determination, we hope you get restoration.
Restoration- We want to get back into proper alignment with God. We want our relationship to be restored in proper relationship with God. When that happens, you experience, elevation.
Elevation- All the dreams and all the things just begin to manifest at an entirely different level in our life.

III. It is important to know what it means to abide in him

To abide suggests that we are enduring without yielding. It means that we are remaining stable or fixed. We maintain stability in an unstable situation. We must repeat to ourselves, “Stable in an unstable situation.” Often times we can’t control the environment around us, but we can control ourselves in it. As a result, the idea of abiding means that because of our proper connection to him, we are able to have stability even when things around us might not be as stable as we like them to be.
The Greek word for abide is 3306. meno men’-o a primary verb; to stay (in a given place, state, relation or expectancy):. It really suggests to stay in a given place in expectancy. We are not stable in this place for nothing. We are stable expecting something to happen. If we didn’t believe anything was going to happen, we would fall into depression. The fact that we are here and stable in this place, though there is uncertainty around us, shows that we expect something to happen.
Jesus wants us to be clear about our position. Jesus shares in John 15:1-3¹I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. ²Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. ³Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. – Jesus says he is the true vine. God is the gardener (the one who takes care of the garden; the vinedresser). Christ is the true vine. We are the branches. At the end of the day, that is what makes us all alike. It doesn’t matter what is behind our name. We have to see ourselves in relationship with God as branches.
The branches benefit from the relationship with the vine. John 15:4 says ⁴Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. – Everything that the branches need to be productive, they get by relationship with the vine. Who’s the vine? The vine is Jesus Christ. Our proper connection to Christ allows us to receive whatever he wants to have manifested in our lives as it relates to fruitfulness and productivity as long as we stay stably connected to him.
You can be attached, but not truly abiding. John 15:2 says ²Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.- This scripture suggests that you can be a branch connected to the vine, but not in proper alignment or connection with God. You can be attached, but not truly abiding. You can tell this, because you are not producing fruit. You can be in church every week and doing the things that you think are right, but still be frustrated because there is no fruit in your life. It is sometimes because branches can be connected to vines, but not properly connected. You look connected, but you are not. Sometimes you can have branches on trees and winds and storms will come and shake the branches and pull at the branches in such a way that that pressures from the wind will cause the branch to severe itself from the vine just a little bit. Well that little bit of severe impacts what the vine is trying to get to the branch. As a result of that space that has been created between the vine and the branch, even though it looks connected from a distance, there is no fruit on the branch. Sometimes people, who are playing, can jump up and try to pull down a branch. In other words, people on one level can reach up and try to pull a branch down to their level. This can cause harm to the branch, because it can cause the branch to severe from the vine and as a result, the branch does not bear the fruit. You are a branch and your responsibility is to stay connected to the branch. Sometimes the storms in life will come to test you. Sometimes you will succumb to the storm out of frustration and sometimes the storms will pull you away from the vine just a little bit. This is evident when you don’t come to church or pray like you ought to and all of a sudden you are wonder why there is no fruit. Sometimes people on a much lower level than you are playing with your life. They are pulling at you and pulling you down from where you ought to be. The bad thing is we sometimes entertain this. As a result it pulls you away from God and you don’t bear fruit.
When there is a disconnect, it is bad advertisement for the kingdom.
And to every branch, just because you bear fruit, don’t get comfortable. God says he will have to prune us so that we can bear more fruit. You thought you bore fruit last year, that ain’t satisfying God, because this year you have to bear more fruit. We ask the Lord to enlarge our territory and as a result, the Lord says we need more pruning. Because we don’t like pain, we say that we have had enough, but know that you got to bear fruit.
You can’t become stagnate because productivity is progressive. If you are productive and you remain productive the same every year, you become antiquated and outdated. Productivity is always moving. This is one of the beautiful things about technology. As soon as you buy it, it is already outdated, so we understand that in order to be productive, we have to stay ahead of the curve.
We can’t produce of ourselves. John 15:4 says ⁴Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. – We need the vine. Everything we need is in the vine. When you can wrap your mind around that principle, then you will stop looking for it outside the vine. You will never go and play yourself doing foolish stuff like trying to get people to pay your rent when the vine is right there to take care of you. We don’t need anyone to take care of us when we got the vine doing it. If you are not connected to the vine, you put people in a position that they were never intended to be in. If Jesus calls himself the true vine, then this is acknowledgement that there are other vines available.
We have to see ourselves as one with Christ. This whole idea of aiding or stability is to become one with Christ. John 17:20-22 says ²⁰Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; ²¹That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. ²²And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: – Jesus says that you know we are one (Him and his father). He says what he is praying for is that we who come into relationship with him might be one with them. When we come into relationship with Jesus Christ, we become one with the Father, the son, and the Holy Ghost.
The glory is on us. We become one with him, because he’s the vine and we are a branch. When you see a beautiful tree, you don’t say “Look at that beautiful branch”. Instead you say, “Look at that beautiful tree”, because they see it as one. This means when people see you, they ought to see Christ in you because they see us as one with Christ.
Your oneness and your mate’s oneness ought to be connected to the same vine. The only way you two become one is through that vine. You can’t be connected to a vine and they are on another farm connected to something else. We need someone on the same vine. Ephesians 1:3 says ³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: – We have every spiritual blessing that God has available to us, through Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2:4-6 says ⁴But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, ⁵Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) ⁶And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: – God loved us when we were dead in our trespasses. When we evaluate this, we are at a whole other level. Productive people live at another level mentally and spiritually. They operate at another altitude.

IV. How do they do it?

They do it because they understand communion with Christ. The problem in so many churches is we understand communion as something that happens in church. They say they are going to take communion, but don’t’ have any idea what communion really means. The word communion is a Greek 2842. koinonia koy-nohn-ee’-ah. It means having common partnership or fellowship. It means that a person shares in fellowship and they enjoy it and it is not forced. It is not something that is forced upon you. It is something you enjoy doing. When you in relationship with someone (such as a spouse) it is koinonia, because you like spending time with them. Even when they are not in your presence, you can feel them in your presence.
If you have a relationship with God and you don’t miss him, then this isn’t koinonia. This is not communion, it is just communication with God Ex- You speak to someone when you enter a room it is just proper and polite. On the other hand if you make an investment in the person by stopping to get to know them and talking to them every time you see them, then you begin to carry that person with you. You have a connection. It has taken another form other than just communication.
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 13:14 ¹⁴The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. – Notice this scripture says the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. – He says he wants us to understand the power of communing with God. Corinthians 10:16 says ¹⁶The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? – The cup which we bless, isn’t it the communion of blood of Jesus Christ? The bread which we break, isn’t it the communion of the body of Christ. In other words, when we understand communion, it means that we have been through enough stuff that this thing is no play thing for us.
Our communion with God is born out of experiences that we have gone through. We don’t come to church out of religious requirements, because we have been through too much. This thing is real. No one has to make us make us lift up our hands or tell us to clap. You can respond to God like you want. This thing is so real to us; we refuse to respond to some human in a greater way than we respond to God. If some human can give us chill bumps when we see them, how come God can’t give us chill bumps? The name of Jesus ought to make something happen inside of us. If you don’t understand this, it is because you don’t get communion.
I start looking like him and talking to him because of the things we have gone through. Philippians 3:10 says ¹⁰That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; – When you come to place of communion, it is powerful. When you come to a place of communion, you commune with people who have similar experiences as you. Ex- Bishop was preaching in a city a few years ago. They put him on the 37^th floor of a hotel. He got on and the elevator which was crowed. Bishop says he is the guy who speaks to everyone on the elevator, particularly those who are trying to be quiet. Bishop’s belief is if you are going to be in an enclosed environment together with someone, you need to know who you are and what they are doing. You don’t know what is going to happen between their floor and your floor. So Bishop starts speaking and finding out where everyone is from. He starts meeting people and getting to know them. However, some conversations were cut short, because they had to get off on earlier floors. The longer conversations occurred with those that got off on the later floors. The communion developed with those people who were going to his level or his floor. You can’t commune with people who are not trying to go where you are going. Some people are trying to figure what happened. Why don’t you talk to these people that you used to be cool with anymore? It is because they had to exit. They are not going where you going. You can’t commune with people that have to get off on lower floor. What is frustrating to the kingdom is when you try to stand in the elevator door and have communication with people who have exited. The problem is you are holding up people who are trying to get to their floor (their level). Please close that door. Even the elevator makes a sound trying to tell you to close the door. If you were supposed to be on the 4^th floor, you would have had a key to the floor.

V. We have to learn how to depend on him

Now look at this. John 15:5 says ⁵I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. – If you know your proper alignment with God, then you realize without him you can’t do anything Ex-. The Associated Press released something from a study done by the Agriculture School of Iowa. They studied 100 bushels of corn for one acre of land. They looked at the hours of labor required to produce the 100 bushels. It took 4 million pounds of water, 6800 lbs of oxygen and 5200 lbs of carbon, 160lbs of nitrogen, 125 lbs of potassium, 75lbs of yellow sulfur, and other elements too numerous to list. In addition to this, rain and sunshine were critical. It was estimated that only 5% of the produce that was produced on the farm could be attributed to man’s efforts. After all of those different elements, man only had 5% contribution The other 95% of it was all God. After all your getting, remember this: When they say you are hired, when you walk across that stage, when you get approved for that house, remember that it was God that made possible.
Without the vine, the branch can’t do anything. John 15:6 says ⁶If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. -It appears that a branch has to make a conscious effort to stay connected to the vine. John 15:2 says ²Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. According to this scripture, you can be connected and not bear fruit. In verse 6, it says if you make a conscious decision to do your own thing, then you are cast forth as a branch, but you will wither. In other words, you will wonder why your carrier is not taking off or why your family is not functional. It will be because you made a conscious decision to disconnect from your source of your strength which is the vine. When you are separated from the vine, you start to wither.
1. Men gather you. Now your destiny is in the hands of man. Now you have placed your destiny in the hands of people who might not even have a relationship with your God. Now you got to pass out your card, suck up to folk, and kiss folk’s behind just to get by. Now you need man to take care of you. Remember that people may hook you up for a season, but according to verse 6, you will end up burned. How many of you know people who ended up burned. We don’t want to go through all of that just to end up burned? We are ready to get back properly aligned.
Ask what you will. John 15:7 says ⁷If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. – If you understand what it means to be one (abide), then his word (gained from communion) is inside of you, then you will ask what you desire. This is not giving you your carnal contemplation. You will never ask for anything that is not in this word. If you ask it in this word, you then have a right to receive, because his word abides in us and we abide in him. It will then be done. The desire that you have according to his word will be done. Ex- Go to McDonalds and go to the drive through. You order from the menu, because you know what they have in the restaurant is on that menu. The more you go to McDonalds, the less you have to look at the menu, because the menu is in you. When you order it, you already know that it is done. You have anticipation that what is called up is already done before you get to where you need to go to receive it. You spoke it, because you knew it was on the menu. When you get God’s word it is the same way. When you see it in God’s word, you have a right to order it off his word. Just like McDonalds, when you have a strong desire for something, you can ask for your order to be supersized. God promised that he would do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we could ask or think. We are not being selfish, but we need a supersized blessing over our life right through here.
Look at the verse 6 again. John 15:6 says ⁶If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. It says if we ask for it, it shall be done. Sometimes you got to wait until other folk in front of you get the blessing first. God might just fix it to see how you are going to react when your neighbor gets their blessing first. Tell them to get the blessing and get out the line. When they get their blessing we move up one more place.
1. Sometimes when you get there (to the window), they tell you to pull over, because it ain’t ready yet. Now you got to watch folk behind you get blessed before you. Can you praise God when people that started after you get their blessing before you? When your blessing comes, they are going to put something extra in your bag for the wait. That is called double for my trouble. Sometimes when you get up there (to the window), it seems like they gave the last person before you the last order of fries. What we love about this is they now have to drop us a fresh order.
God gets the glory when I bear fruit. John 15:8 says ⁸Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. – It is the will of God for us to be productive and bring forth fruit. Our sufficiency is really in the vine. We recognize that what we need is in the vine. The first 2 words of verse one tells you who he is. Who is going to pay my bills? He is. Who’s going to heal me? He is. We can’t afford to go on the spiritual sabbaticals. We need to get connected. The productivity of our lives is tied to us being connected.
God aimed you towards a goal and Satan tried to keep you from getting there. It wasn’t about reaching for the goal alone. If it was, we would have forgotten God when we got there. By this we mean what it cost us to get it, made us forget it. We have to know that we can’t produce in this place without him. We pray in this spot. We read the word in this spot. We will never get too busy to move him out of the way. We want to be productive, because now the father will be glorified. Whatever we do, he will get the glory. He might have to prune us, but everything we go through, is to get more fruit out of us. Some of you know that you have shifted. When we talked about the elevator, it was real for you. You are at a point that in you is so much that God wants to see produced. You want the Lord to use you. You don’t want to be locked in this spot. You are ready to be used and you a willing to do whatever God wants you to just to be fruitful. If you pushed through you have brought forth fruit before. However, in this season, you will have the greatest season of producing that you ever had before. Know that we produce without excuse.

Posted in Power of a made up mind | Tagged Bible Study, Bishop Walker, connected, Direction, Encouragement, Faith, God, Holy Sprit, Mt Zion, power, Relationship | Leave a comment

The Power of a made up mind Part I, “Laying a foundation for Greatness” Bible Study 03/02/11

Posted on March 15, 2011 by growintheword

The Power of a made up mind Part I

Laying a foundation for Greatness

Synopsis of Bible Study 03/02/11

Delivered by Bishop Walker III

Greatness often times is understood by experience. Some people view greatness based on their exposure. You can think you are the greatest of all time in your own zip code until your travel the world and realize that there is something greater than you. Lots of times vision has to do with our perception of what greatness really is. What is important for us to understand is whatever season God is moving us into (which we believe he is moving us into a new season), it is very important not to bring the residue from past situations into the new season. It is critical right now that you are able to deal with the pain and the issues of the past, so that you do not taint this incredible season that God wants to move you into. There is a great thing that God is getting ready to do. Isaiah 42:9 says ⁹Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.-God says there are some amazing things that are getting ready to happen, but he needs us to properly deal with those things in our past. They are over. Get ready, because God is going to tell you things before they happen. He is going to tell you what he is getting ready to do in your life.

I have to be ready to move forward into another season

What does this mean? Philippians 3:13-14 says ¹³Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, ¹⁴I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. – In this scripture, Paul is saying that he recognizes that you had a past, but he doesn’t want you to allow what has happened to you to influence the present to the point that it cripples what God is about to do in your life. God doesn’t want you to have amnesia and act like it never happened, but he wants you to recognize that you must properly deal with those issues of the past so that they don’t paralyze the promise of God over your life.
Paul says you must reach forward to those things which are ahead. You got to stretch for it. What are we stretching for? It means we are pressing towards a goal.
What is the goal? It is this thing that God has promised you. This is the thing that God has ahead of you. It is something God wants to do in your life. This is something that God wants to manifest.
You are in a place, this place is not the goal, but you clearly understand the goal. Between you and the goal, there will always be resistance. As long as the goal is of God, the devil will cause resistance between you and the goal. Rather than getting upset, because of the resistance, you should thank God for the resistance, because the resistance would not come if the goal was not of God.
Therefore Paul says what I want you to do is press towards the goal. Press is where we get the word pressure, which means the resistance is pressure aimed at resisting you and preventing you from getting to the goal. Now your pressure is greater than the resistance coming at you.
Pressure: Now you have the goal, the resistance, and where you are. Many of us don’t deal well with pressure. We want to know why this is happening to us.

The power of pressure

Press towards the goal. We have an amazing future. There is something God wants to do in our lives, so we are pressing towards this goal.
We can’t press in our flesh. We must press in the spirit. 2 Corinthians 4:16 says ¹⁶For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. – The outward man is the flesh and the inward man is the Spirit of God. What happens is, now that we have this goal, we must recognize that the attack or resistance is always on our flesh.
What is between us and the goal is resistance that is getting at our flesh. There is no such thing as people who are going after a goal and don’t get frustrated in their flesh. No matter how deep you think you are, there are things that run your pressure up and gets on your nerves. This is the season where you ask the Lord what is going on, because it is getting at your flesh.
What do we need to do? We have to recognize that we cannot get to the goal in our flesh. When our outward man perishes or is worn down, we must recognize the power of the Holy Spirit.
The way to achieve the goal is through the Spirit of God. It is the Holy Spirit’s Ministry to push us towards the goal. Isaiah 43:18-19 says ¹⁸Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. ¹⁹Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. -The prophet says do not be influenced by what has been. You are making a shift from what has been to what shall be.
Stop considering the systems and the way and methodologies of old. This is a new system now. It is a brand new season. God says behold, he is going to do a new thing in your life.
When is this going to happen? It will happen now!
How will it happen? It will spring forth!
How do things spring forth? Things spring forth through resistance. You need resistance for something to spring. Ex- Remember the toy “The Jack –n- the box”? There was a little clown attached to a box that always had a little smile. Jack in the box is in the box and box represents confinement. Where is jack? He is in the box. This box represents confinement. There is no light in the box and the box is dark. What is jack doing in the box? He is smiling because his smile is not affected by the box or its conditions. He is in a confined situation in darkness and he can’t get out. There is a crank outside the box. Somebody outside the box cranks the box and they are putting pressure inside the box. Jack inside the box is receiving the pressure, but he is not complaining. He is still smiling, because he knows when the pressure gets to the right point, his now is going to come. When his now comes, Jack n the box is going to elevate out of the box. He is going to come out higher, because of the pressure applied to the box! So rather than complaining about the pressure you are going through, and rather than being upset because you are in a confined situation and you can’t see how you are going to come out, just thank God for the pressure. You ought to go on your job and look at the folk who is causing pressure in your life and say, “Thank you for the pressure”, because when your “now” comes, you will be elevated higher. It shall spring forth!
God doesn’t want you to give him statistics. He doesn’t want you to give him things like no one is hiring or I am too late to apply. Verse 19 says he will make a road in the wilderness. God says stop telling him how many trees are in the way. When he gets ready to cut down trees and make a road, he will do it. Stop telling God what you need (things like: “I don’t have the money to pay for it”), because he will bring water in a dry place. God will make a way when it seems there is no way!

We have to work on us

Let go of your past. God has given us a clean slate, but we continually torture ourselves. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says ¹⁷Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. – All things have become new.
Stop beating yourselves up over things that you have repented for. Psalm 103:12 says ¹²As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. – God will forgive you. We dwell on the past and we are still dwelling on it. This is like are moving air through a dirty filter. Even though something new and fresh is coming through the filter, it still comes out dirty, because of the filth it has to flow through.
Stop letting people make you feel guilty about your past. Romans 8:1says ¹There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. – We will do this after the spirit. We walk after the spirit. We are pursuing greatness. There is a goal, not in my flesh, but in the spirit. Ex- A hip-hop artist talked about his success once. They asked him how he obtained his success. They wanted to know what made him different from anyone else. He responded by saying that he was hungry for it. This is important to know, because you must be hungry for it.
You must have a hunger and thirst for it. What separates you from mediocrity is being hungry for it. You live it and it is a part of who you are.
The goal in which we pursue, we do so in our spirit and not our flesh. Matthew 5:6 says ⁶Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. -This means I walk in integrity towards the goal. If we walk in integrity, this means we are walking right or walking justly towards the goal. If we walk fleshly, we are willing to cut deals and do anything to get there. If we walk righteously before God, then he is glorified in the process.
1. When you are hungry, you are self motivated. There are 2 kinds of people that get up in the morning. They are those who get up and those who rollover. Those who rollover are people that have nothing to get up for. They are not aimed at anything.
Your flesh is always telling you to hit the snooze button on things. Your flesh wants you to do things like skip class or to take off from work. It is not pushing you to a goal. The spirit on the other hand is always pushing you. You are self motivated.
When you are hungry, you always know because you are always around people who are hungry. Ex – Ever been out to eat with someone in the natural and they didn’t eat? Wasn’t it awkward? You order and they don’t and you want to know why they are even there. It is awkward eating around people who aren’t hungry and don’t eat. In the spirit it is awkward being around people who ain’t hungry too. You got a passion and you around people that don’t have the same hunger or thirst. We get frustrated because we are around people who are not hungry, because they don’t understand our passion and they are not after what we are after.
How does this work? Purpose gives birth to passion. Once you have a purpose you are passionate about that purpose. If there isn’t any passion, you won’t have purpose. Passion causes us to make preparation. If we are passionate about it, we want to prepare and get sharper at it. The moment we start making an investment in it, make preparations, and get passionate about it, then the devil gets the memo and he starts making preparations for our life. This is when the headaches come, but because we are spiritual, we don’t respond in our flesh. Instead we respond in our spirit. Therefore, we have the proper perspective. Now we see the goal and not the drama. We see where we are going and we recognize that this resistance is all necessary. As a result of our perspective, we prevail and the fruit of us prevailing is that we are always productive.
Now let’s recap. We have purpose that spawns passion which causes me to prepare. We have problems, but we have proper perspective. We prevail and consequently, we are productive.
Isn’t it amazing that most of your haters hate your productivity. Ex- Bishop explains that there are people that have never met him, never had one conversation with him, but they hate on him because of his productivity. You walk into a room and people just start hating on you. They hate on you because you have a degree. They have no idea that before you got productive, you had to prevail over some problems. Bishop explains that if they only knew the problems he went through, the times he didn’t know where his next meal was coming from, or the times he was up at night while they were out kicking it, they would think differently. Passion made Bishop step out when folk thought he was crazy, because God had shown him something. Don’t hate on our productivity if you do not know our purpose, our passion, our preparation, our problem, our perspective, and how we prevailed. The problem is you tried to mimic our productivity by taking the elevator when we took the stairs. You can’t get this by taking the elevator. You have to get this by the stairs.
There are some things we need to do in order to work on ourselves
1. Don’t be attached to your identity. Psalm 51:10 says ¹⁰Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.-God will continually change your identity, the more you are conformed to his image. Ex- Bishop explains that when our church was growing, and we moved to the World Baptist Center, and people thought we were going to be swallowed up in it. We only had 3000 members and people just thought we would be swallowed up. Bishop says to the Lord, “You are doing it for a little preacher like me” and the Lord said to him “You are insignificant to the process.” Once you understand the process, you will stop wrapping your identity around what he is doing. At the end of the day, he will do it without you if need be. This is why he says less of us and more of him. He wants you to decrease, so that he may increase. Realize that we are just a conduit by which God uses, because we made ourselves available. One challenge of churches all around the world that grow like this one has is trying to get members of these kind of churches to not be personality driven. In other words, people can come to bible study, even if Bishop Walker is not preaching. People attach greatness to identity. It is not about the Pastor, it is about what God is doing in a house. There is such anointing in this house that whoever God puts up here to preach, you will get an anointed breakthrough every time.
2. Ask what the Lord wants from you

i. It takes a restored vision.

ii. It requires strength. There is no way you will accomplish this without strength. Just because you are spiritual, doesn’t’ mean you don’t get tired. Isaiah 40:31says ³¹But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Ex- Have you paid attention to an eagle. Why does God use the eagle to tell us to be like?

1. Eagles fly alone. They are not like turkeys or chickens that flock together. They fly alone. You will never reach the level of greatness that God is getting ready to take you to until you get comfortable navigating in seasons by yourself. The higher God takes you, the thinner the air is going to be and the fewer people you will have in your inner circle. Jesus started with 12 disciples, but when he came into his glory, most of them fled. So if you are a person who needs a crowd and needs people to validate you all of the time or if you are a person who needs somebody to stroke you all the time and tell you it’s going to be alright, you going to be right here! If you are the person that says I can fly alone and I don’t need constant affirmation, because I know who I am, you are an eagle.

2. Eagles stir their nest. Mother eagle builds her nest high up in the tree and she puts twigs in it that are sticky. At a certain season called “Now”, she comes in and spreads her wings in the nest to trouble the eaglets. It almost looks sad to see. The eaglets way up in the top of this tree has never flown before, but mother eagle knows that in order for the eaglets to have long survival, they must learn to fly. She made the nest uncomfortable so that they could never become comfortable in certain spots. When they try to get comfortable, they would be stuck. When the time is right, the mother eagle flutters her wings and she pushes the baby eagles out of the nest. They then have two options. They are to fly or die. This is what God does at a certain season in our life. He says if he allows us to stay in this comfort zone, we will die anyway, because we won’t be able to take care of ourselves. We will go through life waiting on momma (in this case God) to come and feed us. You an eagle and God says like the momma eagle, he has to get us out of this nest (our place of comfort) and between the top of the tree and the ground, you will figure out how to fly. There are some of you that figured it out just before you hit the bottom!

3. Eagles fly towards storms. Unlike other birds, mother eagle does not run for cover when a storm comes. She looks for the storm and then she takes flight towards the storm. Why is she flying towards the storm? When she takes off, she is flying into pressure. Where there are storms, there is pressure in the atmosphere. When she flies into the storm, it is the same aerodynamic principle that an airplane uses to take off on a runway. The plane is designed to fly into oncoming wind. When you stick your hand out the door of a moving car, watch what your hand does. When the wind catches it, the wind makes it go up. There is an elevation that goes on when you fly into the wind. The eagle knows that if she flies into the wind (pressure), then her wings will automatically elevate her and she will have strength to get elevation. The pressure will make her go higher and higher. This is what we who are like real eagles do. When we wait on the Lord, we know we shall be renewed. God says he will put enough pressure in our life to see if we will run like a turkey or chicken or will we embrace the storm and be stronger after we have gone through it. For many of us, we would testify that we wouldn’t pray like we do, if we hadn’t been through so many storms. We wouldn’t be reading this or going to bible study in the middle of the week if it wasn’t for the storms in our lives.

4 ways to get greatness

Rely on Holy Spirit to help you and to keep you. Colossians 1:29 says ²⁹Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.- Mighty here means miraculous power or miracle itself. What is inside you that is at work is this miraculous power. It is a miracle that some of you have been able to endure some of the things that you have endured to get to goal. It is a miracle that some of you are still here today after all you have been through. It is the miracle of the Holy Spirit working inside of you. Romans 8:11 says ¹¹But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Must build on past successes and learn from past failures- Failures are only temporary test to prepare you for permanent trials. Philippians 3:16 says ¹⁶Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.- People of God, everybody has failed at something. It is how you deal with failure that determines how you get motivated. Are you motivated by your failure? Does failure send you into the abyss and cause you to say I will never try it again or are you motivated by your failure? It is said that a successful person fails every 2 out of 5 times. It says an unsuccessful person fails 3 out of 5 times. What is the difference?
Think of the goal as a target. Find how you missed mark. Think of a goal is a target. The bull’s-eye is the area with the most points is in the middle of the target. It is 100points. You aim at the 100, but sometimes you may hit 80 or 20. If you don’t aim for 100, you will hit 0 every time. Every time you get up, you ought to be aiming at a 100. Never allow yourself to think you are only worth the 20. Even in relationships, aim for 100%. You are worth 100. If you don’t aim for the 100, you may end up with 0.
Set new goals. Proverbs 29:18 says ¹⁸Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. – What is vision? Have you ever had something revealed to you in the spirit and you felt that nobody around you would understand it? How many of you reading this think that telling this would make people around you think that you were crazy? Ever saw something in the spirit and didn’t have the money for it.? All of this is vision. Keep believing it and seeing it.

When you see vision and set goals:

1. Make a list of the areas you want victory in.
2. Make a list of every area you want to be diligent in.
3. Make list of new areas and experiences you want to come into. Greatness is about exposure. You have to see and be exposed to more.
4. Make a list of new areas that you want to recommit yourselves to. There are things that we have to recommit to or commit to, in order to get better.
5. Make a list of what God wants to do in your family. Whatever God wants to do, is going to require you to think about family. Whatever you are going to do, think about how God wants this to relate to your family.

Become accountable to someone in the area you are looking for change and newness. That is a big way of saying, get a mentor. Have somebody in your life that you can tell you the truth. This is a prayerful thing. It is a relationship. You don’t need to pick somebody that you won’t listen to. Ex- 5 people go out and at least one has on something on that they shouldn’t have on. At least one of the other folk should have said something in a loving way to this person. We need a mentor, not someone that will cosign our foolishness. Philemon 1:6 says ⁶That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. – You need somebody to share your faith and struggles with.
Expect the Holy Spirit to bring forth new beginnings. Expect greatness to happen.
Must have confidence. Philippians 1:6 says ⁶Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: -We are not walking around with low self esteem and our head down thinking that we don’t know anybody. We know we have been shown something called a goal. We are confident. You can call it arrogance if you want to. We speak to people and we are very nice, but we are just confident. You need to learn how to walk in your godly confidence. Don’t allow people to dictate to you how you feel. You have to say that you are confident of this one thing. Know that God is working something in your life. God is working and it will happen in your life.

You got to go through 3 seasons

Season of development- Everything that happened in your life, is development. God says he has to work on you. It is about training. Stop despising it and just go through it. Some people ask for prayer in their situation, but sometimes God don’t want you delivered from what he is developing you in. Embrace the development.
Season of disclosure-That’s when God shows it to you. He can show it to you if you are not mentally and spiritually in a place to receive it. If he shows you something great, you will reject it. Once you’ve been developed, he can show you this great thing. When he shows it to you, it gets on you. When it gets on you, others see it on you. That’s when they start saying; there is something different about you. They know you are not like everybody. When it’s on you, it’s on you. Even the devil knows it’s on you. God can’t show it to you unless you are mentally and spiritually in a place to receive it.
Season of delivery- Now it is about to jump off or spring forth. It is about to happen. This thing is about to manifest in your life. People that are in development don’t hate on people that are in the season of disclosure. Your season is coming. Just hang in there!

There are some of you that God is about to deliver it on right now. You have been developed and seeing it so long, it’s got to happen any day now. You got to get ready, because it is so awesome, but it won’t happen until you discover the power of laying a foundation for greatness. It is about your mind being right to receive it. It is not about you, but it is about him.

Prayer

Lord thank you for showing me that thing you put before me. When I get out the bed in the morning, I am getting out of the bed fresh and new.

Please know that it is a brand new day and know that there is greatness on you.

Posted in Power of a made up mind | Tagged Bible Study, Bishop Walker, Encouragement, Faith, God, Greatness, Laying a foundation, Mt Zion | Leave a comment

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How to have friends Part II, Bible Study 05/11/11

I. Characteristics of a friend

II. Advice and friends

III. Selecting Friends

IV. What kind of friends do you want?

V. Solving problems with friends

VI. 4 types of friends

How to have friends Part I, Bible Study 05/04/11

People you should not be in friendship with:

Types of friends

Friend Expectations

Intimate Friendships (Your inner circle)

Mentoring Friendships

The difference between friends and associates

5 characteristics of a healthy friendship

Assignment…

Power of a made up mind Part III, “The Power of being properly connected”, Bible Study 03/09/11

I. Why is this important?

II. This is where it begins:

III. It is important to know what it means to abide in him

IV. How do they do it?

V. We have to learn how to depend on him

The Power of a made up mind Part I, “Laying a foundation for Greatness” Bible Study 03/02/11

I have to be ready to move forward into another season

The power of pressure

We have to work on us

4 ways to get greatness

You got to go through 3 seasons

Prayer

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I.
Characteristics of a friend

II.
Advice and friends

III.
Selecting Friends

IV.
What kind of friends do you want?

V.
Solving problems with friends

VI.
4 types of friends