The Ten Commandments Part III, Bible Study 08/28/10

Posted on September 1, 2010 by growintheword

The Ten Commandments Part III

Synopsis of Bible Study 08/28/10

Delivered by Bishop Walker III

7^th Commandment – Thou shall not commit adultery

This is simply a transgression of covenant in any form. When we look at marriage, we have to understand something about what God was doing in this area of covenant. When he put this commandment out there, Israel (God’s chosen people) was becoming a nation. Generational blessings were real important to them. God was concerned about the seed or the generations that would follow. This is why marriages were important. God wanted marriage to be healthy. He was protecting this covenant. 1 Corinthians 7:2 says ²Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. Hebrews 13:4 says ⁴Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. – As we look at this, we have to think about what is the actual cause of adultery.

Causes of Adultery:

Some people suggest that unhappy marriages can result in adultery. Clearly, lots of people can marry too soon. Some people marry for the wrong reason. Some people marry just to have some eye candy, but as you know, candy can set up and spoil just like anything else. Candy can get hard and change on you. You can’t marry someone, just because they are eye candy. You have to marry somebody, because they share values with you and have destiny with you. Sometimes when you don’t have understanding of what marriage is about, you don’t understand that it takes more than love to have a successful marriage.
It takes more than love to be married. Wherever there are vulnerabilities, the devil pokes at it.
Unhappiness in marriage can be from a lack of communication. Wherever there is a deficiency in the home that will be a point of attack and the devil uses adultery to come in. If you look at how the Devil attempts to get at Adam you will see the attack was on their marriage. Adam was not paying attention to Eve and Satan came in and had a conversation with her, without Adam even being aware of it.

Now here is the deal about adultery.

Whoever it is that you are committing adultery with, know that they are not going to commit a future with you. The person may be unhappy in their marriage and you may feel like you got them, but understand at best, whatever you have with them has tenure.
Cheating on a spouse tells you how this person deals with a situation they don’t like. This says that this person avoids dealing with unpleasant situations they don’t like. This tells us that this person avoids dealing with unpleasant situations head on. This should tell you that if the person is with you and they have a situation that they don’t want to deal with, they will resort to devious behavior. If you are the person having the affair, you are not the only one.
Hiding is exhausting. Some of you are not even married and you are cheating too. It is hard to creep. You have to watch your phone; you have to have two or three email addresses, two phones, and etc… It just takes too much time to lie. You can’t even keep track of the lies you told. This wears you out!
You are allowing that person to have their cake and eat it too. If the person has a legitimate marriage, it allows them to keep their public persona and then they have their illegitimate relationship with you. Ultimately one person serves as position and the other serves as function.
Can you really love somebody that is disrespectful to their spouse? The existence of a relationship with a married person tells you how little they respect their spouse. They are lying to their spouse instead of being man/woman enough to tell them that they want out.
Once they lose respect for you, it’s over.
If you have an affair, you are not a home wrecker, you instead are an accomplice. You are willing participant of a person violating their vows and betraying the trust of their covenant. You are willing accomplice of disappointing their children and bringing shame on their family.
You are kidding yourself. Despite the compliments that they give to you, you are kidding yourself.
You got to be aware of the guilt boomerang. Many times people have difficulty accepting full responsibility for their actions. As a result, we like to send out blame to everyone else for our being in this situation. There are moments where you feel like you are entitled to do something crazy, so you start throwing guilt out to others. The problem is that same guilt will start coming back to you.
Time is too precious to waste. Time passes fast so imagine the time you spend in foolish relationships. You could have used that time pursuing your destiny and probably walking into your destiny by now.

What is Adultery?

Adultery is really a curse. Some would suggest that a lot of disease comes from adultery.
It is when you are not at ease. Sometimes people (victims) make themselves the problem. They say that it wouldn’t have happened if maybe they had done a certain thing. This is not true. This would happen no matter what you have done. The person that is acting in the act of adultery is not at ease. If there is a disconnect in their relationship with God or themselves, it doesn’t matter who they are with, until they get into proper relationship with themselves or God, they are not going to be in proper relationship with you. The myth about marriage is people think they need to get married so they can start living right. You don’t realize that this will not happen. You got to get into proper relationship with God and yourself first. There is something that is not at ease in your life.
Adultery has a bad effect on children. Adultery leads to divorce. There are more than 9 million children in this country alone who are in step-children situations. Social-ologist suggests it takes children up to 33 yrs just to get over a divorce. Parents may get over it quick, but the child has a harder time. They carry this hurt into other relationships and it shows up in how they interact with other people. When you come together, it has to be deeper than you. The enemy is after your children, not just you. This is why most men aren’t just fighting their own demons. They are fight demons of their Fathers.
Effects your Devine Judgment. Proverbs 5:20-23 says ²⁰And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? ²¹For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings. ²²His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. ²³He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray. Proverbs 6:32-33 says ³²But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. ³³A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away. Proverbs 7:22-23 says ²²He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; ²³Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life. – He has no idea that when he is running after this, it affects his life. It is fun on the front and fatal at the finish.

Kinds of Adultery

Physical Adultery-This is what David did in 2 Samuel 11 when he slept with Bathsheba. This is when you go with someone who is married and cross boundaries into having a relationship. Galatians 5:19 says ¹⁹Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, – This scripture lists it as works of the flesh. Notice Adultery is listed as the very first work of the flesh.
Mental Adultery – Matthew 5:27-28 says ²⁷Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: ²⁸But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.- The lusting of another person is equated to adultery. You will be surprised at the stuff that goes on in people’s minds (some would say no they wouldn’t be surprised, because they know what goes on in their mind). How many of you have caught yourself, after seeing somebody that was married, yet handsome or cute, and you had to reel your mind back in? If you are human, many of us are guilty of this. Your flesh is always going to challenge you and push you out like that. It tries to push you from admiration to desire. 2 Peter 2:14 says ¹⁴Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:- You want what somebody else got and all of a sudden you end up with cursed children. You have been cursed because of your eyes and as a result, whatever you produce is cursed too. Ex- Daddy was a rolling stone and wherever he laid his hat was his home. Now his children are this way too.
Spiritual Adultery – This is when you break covenant with God. There is no sin hierarchy. Solomon committed spiritual adultery. In 1 Kings 11:3-13 it says ³And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.⁴For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. ⁵For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. ⁶And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father. ⁷Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. ⁸And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods. ⁹And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice, ¹⁰And had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods: but he kept not that which the LORD commanded.¹¹Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. ¹²Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father’s sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. ¹³Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen. In Hosea, there is another example. Hosea is a book dramatizing the relationship between Israel and God. It is dramatized metaphorically as God being the husband and Gomer as Israel. Gomer represents Israel and Hosea the prophet represents God. Gomer breaks covenant with Hosea who represents God. Gomer keeps leaving and having affairs. She is a prostitute and Hosea keeps bringing her back. It is like Gomer is saying, this time I will be faithful in church and I am going to do what I am supposed to do and after a while, she quits coming to church. It is like being a Deacon and then to stop Deacon-ing so to speak. It is like being a choir member and then stop being a choir member. You make a covenant with God and then you break your end of the bargain. Hosea 4:15-19 says ¹⁵Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven, nor swear, The LORD liveth. ¹⁶For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place. ¹⁷Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone. ¹⁸Their drink is sour: they have committed whoredom continually: her rulers with shame do love, Give ye. ¹⁹The wind hath bound her up in her wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices. – Though we are like a heifer that resists, God says he will feed us like a lamb. We need to ask ourselves are we a spiritual adultery? When we promise the Lord we are going to do better and then we fall off, this is spiritual adultery.

How do we cure this?

Watch your company. Proverbs 5:8 says ⁸Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house: – There are some people that you have to recognize that you just can’t hang around. They bring out all of your vulnerabilities. Some people have great influence over you and you have to be careful that you don’t put yourself into situations. If we feel something in you that shouldn’t be there when you are with someone, then we need to be careful how you interact with that person alone.
Be careful with your eyes. Eyes represent focus and what you focus on. Job 31:1 says ¹I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid? – Job was saying to himself, “I am tripping. I am focusing on something I shouldn’t be focusing on.’ He was at a place of vulnerability. Vulnerability leads to gullibility. The devil always attacks you when you are vulnerable. How many will be honest and say most of your attacks came when you were the most vulnerable and needed somebody to talk to. This is why you need to be careful with your conversation. 1 Corinthians 15:33 says ³³Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. – Remember it was the devil that got Eve through talking. Delilah got Samson through talking. The devil tried to tempt Jesus in Matthew 4, by talking! It was by language and words. Addiction is the accumulation of diction. This is why people that are addicted say it talked to me. Some people have incredible influence when they talk to you. We call it swagger. Some people can talk you into anything. You start out saying no at the beginning of the conversation and you at least say you will think about it at the end of the conversation.
Look after your heart. Proverbs 4:23 says ²³Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. – This stuff can get into your heart and then into your spirit.
Pay attention to your dress. Proverbs 7:10 says ¹⁰And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.- This woman knew she was going to meet him, she put what she wore on purpose, to come and tempt this man. – Nothing happens by coincidence. Ex: Them: “I didn’t know this was too short” Us: “yeah right!”. This person stood in the mirror for 30mins looking at how short this dress was before they came out with it on. Them: “Really, Is this too tight? – This person knows that they did this on purpose. We do this on purpose and then we get upset when people are drawn to it. We say, “I am more than my body”, yet it is hard to see your brain past your cleavage. Whatever you put out there is what people will be drawn to. Any man or woman of integrity is drawn to mystery. We are often like a flea market (all out in the open) instead of a boutique. Don’t be a flea market, be a boutique. Things are more expensive in a boutique.
Avoid bad literature and pictures. You are putting things into your spirit. These magazines and pictures put stuff into your life. Pornography gets in your spirit and causes you to bring things home and you start expecting your mate to do what you saw. You have a wonderful relationship and then you start trying to change them into your porn image or fantasy. Nobody is going to do all that. You have to have a normal healthy relationship with somebody.
Avoid idleness. When you don’t have anything to do or too much time on your hands, this is when you are in trouble. This is what happened to Sodom. God says to the prophet Ezekiel 16:49 says ⁴⁹Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.- This is what happened to them. It was caused by the abundance of idleness. They had too much free time on their hands. Ask God for a Christ like love for your mate. Ephesians 5:25 says ²⁵Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;- Ask the Lord every day, “Lord give me a passion and love for my spouse”. When we see the light dimming, ask the Lord to light the fire again. The grass might look greener on the other side of the fence and sometimes it is, but it is because of the manure that fertilized it. Get knee deep in that if you want to.
You got to labor to get the fear of God in your heart. Proverbs 16:6 says ⁶By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil. – Sometimes you ought to fear God enough to say you can’t do that.
Take delight in the word of God. Psalm 119:103 says ¹⁰³How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! – God’s word is sweeter than honey. When you get a chance tonight read Psalm 51:1-12 and pray this prayer in it. It will bless you

8^th Commandment- Thou shall not steal.

A thief is somebody that takes something that doesn’t belong to them. The cause of theft can sometimes be laziness. It can come from people who don’t want to work and just want to take (just lazy). There are 2 kinds of people in the world. They are givers and takers. Which are you? A thief thanks he can master the situation. Every thief thinks he is smarter than the system. Proverbs 26:16 says ¹⁶The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason. – The thief thinks he is bigger and better than the whole system. Proverbs 13:4 ⁴The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.- If you are lazy, you will not get anything out of life.

Things that will position us to be a person that steals

Excessive Debt– Dept can bring on poverty which can drive you to be a thief. Everyone poor is not a thief, but debt can put you in want which can put you in a position to challenge your integrity. Romans 13:8 says ⁸Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. – It is a wonderful thing to desire to be debt free. When you are debt free, you can walk in a place and say, “Do you still accept cash?” This is a wonderful thing. Proverbs 30:9 says ⁹Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.- The bible says we don’t want to be so destitute that we start contemplating things beyond our convictions.
Unbelief- This is not trusting God. Psalm 78:19 says ¹⁹Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? – This is what we do. We question whether God can make a way in our situation. You got to know that God can do whatever he says he is going to do in our situaton. No matter what the dead line is, you got to walk by faith.

Kinds of Theft

Money:

a. We steal from our employers. – This is one of the most common types of theft. If you do not give your employer the amount of time that you have been contracted to give them, you are stealing. When you come to work late, take two hour lunch breaks, you are stealing. When you take off early and you come to church and tell that they are attacking you on the job, this is wrong. You are stealing. When you ask people to clock you in at work, when you are not there, this is stealing.

b. Employers steal from employees by not paying them when they supposed to be paid. Leviticus 19:11-13 says ¹¹Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another. ¹²And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD. ¹³Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning. – If somebody has a working relationship with you and you say that you will pay them on Friday, then they expect to be paid on Friday. Pay them when you say you are going to pay them. This is called integrity.

c. It is considered theft when you overcharge people for stuff. Leviticus 19:15 says ¹⁵Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour. – Do right by everybody. Don’t take advantage of people, because of their situation. Don’t over charge someone just because you think they can pay it.

d. Borrowing and forsaking payment. Psalm 37:21 says ²¹The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth. – How many people are owed money now? How many people are owed money and the recipients of that loan walk around you like they have amnesia? They owe you money and walk around you with new stuff on like they don’t owe anything. How many of you owe somebody? This text says just because somebody didn’t pay you back; it shouldn’t cause you not to be a gracious person in giving to somebody else. Ex- Bishop has a method. When you get credit and don’t pay it back, that is thievery. Even if situations, don’t just not answer the phone. Make payment arrangements. If you are loaning money to the same folk and the same folk is not paying you back, then you maybe you need to change the folk you are loaning money to. Bishop’s theory in life now is if he can’t give it to you, then he doesn’t have it. He doesn’t want to put you in the situation by you not being able to pay it back and thus being awkward around him. Your friendship means something too much him, so if he can’t afford to give it to you, he just doesn’t. Sometimes you have to tell people you don’t have it. It doesn’t mean you necessarily don’t have it physically. It just means that you do not have them in your budget this month.

Possession:

a. Time – When you get home read, read Ecclesiastes 8:5-13.

b. How do we steal time? We steal time away from our family and our children. We have no balance. We sacrifice family to alter our careers. Do you know how many people work and work and work, yet their children are neglected? We even neglect our spouses in the name of work.

c. You can steal hearts. 2 Samuel 15:6 says ⁶And on this manner did Absalom to all Israel that came to the king for judgment: so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. – Absalom turned their heart away from God. We do the same. We turn people away from the church and from God, by the things that we do. If you are going to leave, because of what happened to you at church, just leave. Don’t leave and take 20 people with you! We try to turn people away from God and we will have to answer for this. We have to get to a point where we recognize that our witness matters.

d. Stealing credit and honor away from God. How many times do you see people of God taking credit for success and victories that God gave? Ex- Acts 12:20-23 says ²⁰And Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Sidon: but they came with one accord to him, and, having made Blastus the king’s chamberlain their friend, desired peace; because their country was nourished by the king’s country. ²¹And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them. ²²And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. ²³And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost. – God will not share his glory with anyone.

e. In Tithe an offerings. Ex-We have been meeting with our security team at Mt Zion, because on Sundays we keep getting robbed. With all the cameras and security, we can’t figure it out. Why do we keep getting robed every Sunday? Security says the answer is found in Malachi 3:8 where it says ⁸Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. – You pay your tithe and you ask isn’t it enough. The answer is no it is not. Tithe is what you owe and offering is what you sow. Everyone knows that everything you have, God gave it to you. If you know this and God just asks for 10% of what he gave you initially, then you have robbed God. At least the burglar has the decency to wait until you are gone to burglarize your stuff. A robber comes to your face with a gun with the intent of causing bodily harm if you don’t give it up. This is like what it is on Sunday. You are saying stick em up God! When a person doesn’t tithe, they inflict bodily harm.

What are the results of stealing

It puts you in position to be hated by society. Zechariah 5:3 says ³Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it. – A thief lives in fear wondering when they are going to be caught. Fear is a great tormentor. 1 John 4:18 says ¹⁸There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. – Fear has great torment. Joshua 7:25 says ²⁵And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. –Judgment came to him for what he had done.

How do we avoid stealing?

We must live in our calling. Ephesians 4:28 says ²⁸Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.- God gave you all these resources inside of you. Even when you hit rock bottom, there ought to be some ingenuity inside of you that makes you not have to resort to stealing. We can write books, hustle, and everything else to get by. When you in purpose, you gifts will make room for you. You ought to desire not to have to work for somebody, or if you do have to work for somebody, you have something on the side that your gifts allow you to do just incase they trip.

Stealing is about:

1. Stealing is like when you don’t report all your income on your tax return.

2. Stealing is when somebody under charges you and you don’t call it to the merchants attention. This is stealing.

3. Circumstances will put you in situations where you contemplate things you never thought you would. Ex- You are in a place like Wal-Mart at 10pm. You are getting some toiletries, and then rent due, and you are laid off. In the corner by the trash can, you see a wallet on the way out. You look in it and it has 12- $100 bills in it and no one is around. If you are thinking right now that you are not sure what you would do in that situation, then you may have a little thievery in you. Even if you say, I am not sure I would give it all back; you have a little thievery in you. Ex- Bishop says he was in Los Angeles CA and something like this happened. Coming down the escalator he saw something shining. It was a ring. He asked one of the cashiers if they had a lost and found in the store. The lady he asked said do you know what this is? She said it was a flawless diamond. It was about an 80-100,000 dollar ring. Now Bishop said Rev Walker found that ring, not Joseph Walker. When she said how much it was worth, he said had second thoughts. He took the ring and turned it in and they took his information. A month later he got a letter from the family that owned the ring and they sent him a check with some money. They explained the history of the ring and how it was passed down and etc… That gave him a better feeling about turning the ring in. On another note, that ring could have had a serial number in it and a hidden camera and instead of preaching to us today, he could have been hemmed up somewhere. You have to be careful with the decisions with you make.

4. Be content with the estate God has given to you. Hebrews 13:5 says ⁵Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.- Stop trying to compete with others and wanting what they have. Be happy with what God gave you. We might not have but two pair of pants, but time we rotate our shirts out, people won’t know it. It will be like having 50 outfits. God allows us to go through sometimes as a test of our integrity. Philippians 4:11-13 says ¹¹Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. ¹²I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. ¹³I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.- If we are in the mountain or valley, we are good, because we have learned to be content. If we lost everything, we won’t resort to stealing. We can create meal with what we have. We will stack crackers with peanut butter, fry bologna, and do whatever it takes to make it. We have learned how to make it and we have learned the art of driving to with the gas light on. We can drive until we only have 75 cents worth of gas left. Tell someone you can make it! We can do all things through Christ that strengthens us!

The Ten Commandments Part III

Synopsis of Bible Study 08/28/10

Delivered by Bishop Walker III

7^th Commandment – Thou shall not commit adultery

This is simply a transgression of covenant in any form. When we look at marriage, we have to understand something about what God was doing in this area of covenant. When he put this commandment out there, Israel (God’s chosen people) was becoming a nation. Generational blessings were real important to them. God was concerned about the seed or the generations that would follow. This is why marriages were important. God wanted marriage to be healthy. He was protecting this covenant. 1 Corinthians 7:2 says ²Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. Hebrews 13:4 says ⁴Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. – As we look at this, we have to think about what is the actual cause of adultery.

Causes of Adultery:

Some people suggest that unhappy marriages can result in adultery. Clearly, lots of people can marry too soon. Some people marry for the wrong reason. Some people marry just to have some eye candy, but as you know, candy can set up and spoil just like anything else. Candy can get hard and change on you. You can’t marry someone, just because they are eye candy. You have to marry somebody, because they share values with you and have destiny with you. Sometimes when you don’t have understanding of what marriage is about, you don’t understand that it takes more than love to have a successful marriage.
It takes more than love to be married. Wherever there are vulnerabilities, the devil pokes at it.
Unhappiness in marriage can be from a lack of communication. Wherever there is a deficiency in the home that will be a point of attack and the devil uses adultery to come in. If you look at how the Devil attempts to get at Adam you will see the attack was on their marriage. Adam was not paying attention to Eve and Satan came in and had a conversation with her, without Adam even being aware of it.

Now here is the deal about adultery.

Whoever it is that you are committing adultery with, know that they are not going to commit a future with you. The person may be unhappy in their marriage and you may feel like you got them, but understand at best, whatever you have with them has tenure.
Cheating on a spouse tells you how this person deals with a situation they don’t like. This says that this person avoids dealing with unpleasant situations they don’t like. This tells us that this person avoids dealing with unpleasant situations head on. This should tell you that if the person is with you and they have a situation that they don’t want to deal with, they will resort to devious behavior. If you are the person having the affair, you are not the only one.
Hiding is exhausting. Some of you are not even married and you are cheating too. It is hard to creep. You have to watch your phone; you have to have two or three email addresses, two phones, and etc… It just takes too much time to lie. You can’t even keep track of the lies you told. This wears you out!
You are allowing that person to have their cake and eat it too. If the person has a legitimate marriage, it allows them to keep their public persona and then they have their illegitimate relationship with you. Ultimately one person serves as position and the other serves as function.
Can you really love somebody that is disrespectful to their spouse? The existence of a relationship with a married person tells you how little they respect their spouse. They are lying to their spouse instead of being man/woman enough to tell them that they want out.
Once they lose respect for you, it’s over.
If you have an affair, you are not a home wrecker, you instead are an accomplice. You are willing participant of a person violating their vows and betraying the trust of their covenant. You are willing accomplice of disappointing their children and bringing shame on their family.
You are kidding yourself. Despite the compliments that they give to you, you are kidding yourself.
You got to be aware of the guilt boomerang. Many times people have difficulty accepting full responsibility for their actions. As a result, we like to send out blame to everyone else for our being in this situation. There are moments where you feel like you are entitled to do something crazy, so you start throwing guilt out to others. The problem is that same guilt will start coming back to you.
Time is too precious to waste. Time passes fast so imagine the time you spend in foolish relationships. You could have used that time pursuing your destiny and probably walking into your destiny by now.

What is Adultery?

Adultery is really a curse. Some would suggest that a lot of disease comes from adultery.
It is when you are not at ease. Sometimes people (victims) make themselves the problem. They say that it wouldn’t have happened if maybe they had done a certain thing. This is not true. This would happen no matter what you have done. The person that is acting in the act of adultery is not at ease. If there is a disconnect in their relationship with God or themselves, it doesn’t matter who they are with, until they get into proper relationship with themselves or God, they are not going to be in proper relationship with you. The myth about marriage is people think they need to get married so they can start living right. You don’t realize that this will not happen. You got to get into proper relationship with God and yourself first. There is something that is not at ease in your life.
Adultery has a bad effect on children. Adultery leads to divorce. There are more than 9 million children in this country alone who are in step-children situations. Social-ologist suggests it takes children up to 33 yrs just to get over a divorce. Parents may get over it quick, but the child has a harder time. They carry this hurt into other relationships and it shows up in how they interact with other people. When you come together, it has to be deeper than you. The enemy is after your children, not just you. This is why most men aren’t just fighting their own demons. They are fight demons of their Fathers.
Effects your Devine Judgment. Proverbs 5:20-23 says ²⁰And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? ²¹For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings. ²²His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. ²³He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray. Proverbs 6:32-33 says ³²But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. ³³A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away. Proverbs 7:22-23 says ²²He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; ²³Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life. – He has no idea that when he is running after this, it affects his life. It is fun on the front and fatal at the finish.

Kinds of Adultery

Physical Adultery-This is what David did in 2 Samuel 11 when he slept with Bathsheba. This is when you go with someone who is married and cross boundaries into having a relationship. Galatians 5:19 says ¹⁹Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, – This scripture lists it as works of the flesh. Notice Adultery is listed as the very first work of the flesh.
Mental Adultery – Matthew 5:27-28 says ²⁷Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: ²⁸But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.- The lusting of another person is equated to adultery. You will be surprised at the stuff that goes on in people’s minds (some would say no they wouldn’t be surprised, because they know what goes on in their mind). How many of you have caught yourself, after seeing somebody that was married, yet handsome or cute, and you had to reel your mind back in? If you are human, many of us are guilty of this. Your flesh is always going to challenge you and push you out like that. It tries to push you from admiration to desire. 2 Peter 2:14 says ¹⁴Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:- You want what somebody else got and all of a sudden you end up with cursed children. You have been cursed because of your eyes and as a result, whatever you produce is cursed too. Ex- Daddy was a rolling stone and wherever he laid his hat was his home. Now his children are this way too.
Spiritual Adultery – This is when you break covenant with God. There is no sin hierarchy. Solomon committed spiritual adultery. In 1 Kings 11:3-13 it says ³And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.⁴For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. ⁵For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. ⁶And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father. ⁷Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. ⁸And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods. ⁹And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice, ¹⁰And had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods: but he kept not that which the LORD commanded.¹¹Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. ¹²Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father’s sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. ¹³Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen. In Hosea, there is another example. Hosea is a book dramatizing the relationship between Israel and God. It is dramatized metaphorically as God being the husband and Gomer as Israel. Gomer represents Israel and Hosea the prophet represents God. Gomer breaks covenant with Hosea who represents God. Gomer keeps leaving and having affairs. She is a prostitute and Hosea keeps bringing her back. It is like Gomer is saying, this time I will be faithful in church and I am going to do what I am supposed to do and after a while, she quits coming to church. It is like being a Deacon and then to stop Deacon-ing so to speak. It is like being a choir member and then stop being a choir member. You make a covenant with God and then you break your end of the bargain. Hosea 4:15-19 says ¹⁵Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven, nor swear, The LORD liveth. ¹⁶For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place. ¹⁷Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone. ¹⁸Their drink is sour: they have committed whoredom continually: her rulers with shame do love, Give ye. ¹⁹The wind hath bound her up in her wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices. – Though we are like a heifer that resists, God says he will feed us like a lamb. We need to ask ourselves are we a spiritual adultery? When we promise the Lord we are going to do better and then we fall off, this is spiritual adultery.

How do we cure this?

Watch your company. Proverbs 5:8 says ⁸Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house: – There are some people that you have to recognize that you just can’t hang around. They bring out all of your vulnerabilities. Some people have great influence over you and you have to be careful that you don’t put yourself into situations. If we feel something in you that shouldn’t be there when you are with someone, then we need to be careful how you interact with that person alone.
Be careful with your eyes. Eyes represent focus and what you focus on. Job 31:1 says ¹I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid? – Job was saying to himself, “I am tripping. I am focusing on something I shouldn’t be focusing on.’ He was at a place of vulnerability. Vulnerability leads to gullibility. The devil always attacks you when you are vulnerable. How many will be honest and say most of your attacks came when you were the most vulnerable and needed somebody to talk to. This is why you need to be careful with your conversation. 1 Corinthians 15:33 says ³³Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. – Remember it was the devil that got Eve through talking. Delilah got Samson through talking. The devil tried to tempt Jesus in Matthew 4, by talking! It was by language and words. Addiction is the accumulation of diction. This is why people that are addicted say it talked to me. Some people have incredible influence when they talk to you. We call it swagger. Some people can talk you into anything. You start out saying no at the beginning of the conversation and you at least say you will think about it at the end of the conversation.
Look after your heart. Proverbs 4:23 says ²³Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. – This stuff can get into your heart and then into your spirit.
Pay attention to your dress. Proverbs 7:10 says ¹⁰And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.- This woman knew she was going to meet him, she put what she wore on purpose, to come and tempt this man. – Nothing happens by coincidence. Ex: Them: “I didn’t know this was too short” Us: “yeah right!”. This person stood in the mirror for 30mins looking at how short this dress was before they came out with it on. Them: “Really, Is this too tight? – This person knows that they did this on purpose. We do this on purpose and then we get upset when people are drawn to it. We say, “I am more than my body”, yet it is hard to see your brain past your cleavage. Whatever you put out there is what people will be drawn to. Any man or woman of integrity is drawn to mystery. We are often like a flea market (all out in the open) instead of a boutique. Don’t be a flea market, be a boutique. Things are more expensive in a boutique.
Avoid bad literature and pictures. You are putting things into your spirit. These magazines and pictures put stuff into your life. Pornography gets in your spirit and causes you to bring things home and you start expecting your mate to do what you saw. You have a wonderful relationship and then you start trying to change them into your porn image or fantasy. Nobody is going to do all that. You have to have a normal healthy relationship with somebody.
Avoid idleness. When you don’t have anything to do or too much time on your hands, this is when you are in trouble. This is what happened to Sodom. God says to the prophet Ezekiel 16:49 says ⁴⁹Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.- This is what happened to them. It was caused by the abundance of idleness. They had too much free time on their hands. Ask God for a Christ like love for your mate. Ephesians 5:25 says ²⁵Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;- Ask the Lord every day, “Lord give me a passion and love for my spouse”. When we see the light dimming, ask the Lord to light the fire again. The grass might look greener on the other side of the fence and sometimes it is, but it is because of the manure that fertilized it. Get knee deep in that if you want to.
You got to labor to get the fear of God in your heart. Proverbs 16:6 says ⁶By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil. – Sometimes you ought to fear God enough to say you can’t do that.
Take delight in the word of God. Psalm 119:103 says ¹⁰³How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! – God’s word is sweeter than honey. When you get a chance tonight read Psalm 51:1-12 and pray this prayer in it. It will bless you

8^th Commandment- Thou shall not steal.

A thief is somebody that takes something that doesn’t belong to them. The cause of theft can sometimes be laziness. It can come from people who don’t want to work and just want to take (just lazy). There are 2 kinds of people in the world. They are givers and takers. Which are you? A thief thanks he can master the situation. Every thief thinks he is smarter than the system. Proverbs 26:16 says ¹⁶The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason. – The thief thinks he is bigger and better than the whole system. Proverbs 13:4 ⁴The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.- If you are lazy, you will not get anything out of life.

Things that will position us to be a person that steals

Excessive Debt– Dept can bring on poverty which can drive you to be a thief. Everyone poor is not a thief, but debt can put you in want which can put you in a position to challenge your integrity. Romans 13:8 says ⁸Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. – It is a wonderful thing to desire to be debt free. When you are debt free, you can walk in a place and say, “Do you still accept cash?” This is a wonderful thing. Proverbs 30:9 says ⁹Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.- The bible says we don’t want to be so destitute that we start contemplating things beyond our convictions.
Unbelief- This is not trusting God. Psalm 78:19 says ¹⁹Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? – This is what we do. We question whether God can make a way in our situation. You got to know that God can do whatever he says he is going to do in our situaton. No matter what the dead line is, you got to walk by faith.

Kinds of Theft

Money:

Possession:

a. Time – When you get home read, read Ecclesiastes 8:5-13.

What are the results of stealing

It puts you in position to be hated by society. Zechariah 5:3 says ³Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it. – A thief lives in fear wondering when they are going to be caught. Fear is a great tormentor. 1 John 4:18 says ¹⁸There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. – Fear has great torment. Joshua 7:25 says ²⁵And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. –Judgment came to him for what he had done.

How do we avoid stealing?

We must live in our calling. Ephesians 4:28 says ²⁸Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.- God gave you all these resources inside of you. Even when you hit rock bottom, there ought to be some ingenuity inside of you that makes you not have to resort to stealing. We can write books, hustle, and everything else to get by. When you in purpose, you gifts will make room for you. You ought to desire not to have to work for somebody, or if you do have to work for somebody, you have something on the side that your gifts allow you to do just incase they trip.

Stealing is about:

Stealing is like when you don’t report all your income on your tax return.
Stealing is when somebody under charges you and you don’t call it to the merchants attention. This is stealing.
Circumstances will put you in situations where you contemplate things you never thought you would. Ex- You are in a place like Wal-Mart at 10pm. You are getting some toiletries, and then rent due, and you are laid off. In the corner by the trash can, you see a wallet on the way out. You look in it and it has 12- $100 bills in it and no one is around. If you are thinking right now that you are not sure what you would do in that situation, then you may have a little thievery in you. Even if you say, I am not sure I would give it all back; you have a little thievery in you. Ex- Bishop says he was in Los Angeles CA and something like this happened. Coming down the escalator he saw something shining. It was a ring. He asked one of the cashiers if they had a lost and found in the store. The lady he asked said do you know what this is? She said it was a flawless diamond. It was about an 80-100,000 dollar ring. Now Bishop said Rev Walker found that ring, not Joseph Walker. When she said how much it was worth, he said had second thoughts. He took the ring and turned it in and they took his information. A month later he got a letter from the family that owned the ring and they sent him a check with some money. They explained the history of the ring and how it was passed down and etc… That gave him a better feeling about turning the ring in. On another note, that ring could have had a serial number in it and a hidden camera and instead of preaching to us today, he could have been hemmed up somewhere. You have to be careful with the decisions with you make.

Be content with the estate God has given to you. Hebrews 13:5 says ⁵Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.- Stop trying to compete with others and wanting what they have. Be happy with what God gave you. We might not have but two pair of pants, but time we rotate our shirts out, people won’t know it. It will be like having 50 outfits. God allows us to go through sometimes as a test of our integrity. Philippians 4:11-13 says ¹¹Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. ¹²I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. ¹³I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.- If we are in the mountain or valley, we are good, because we have learned to be content. If we lost everything, we won’t resort to stealing. We can create meal with what we have. We will stack crackers with peanut butter, fry bologna, and do whatever it takes to make it. We have learned how to make it and we have learned the art of driving to with the gas light on. We can drive until we only have 75 cents worth of gas left. Tell someone you can make it! We can do all things through Christ that strengthens us!

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Joshua Generation Part IV, “Why the little stuff keeps stressing me out” Sermon 08/22/10

Posted on August 24, 2010 by growintheword

Joshua Generation Part IV
Why the little stuff keeps stressing me out.
Synopsis of Sermon 8/22/10
Delivered by Bishop Walker III

Text: Joshua 7:1-5: 1But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel. 2And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Bethaven, on the east of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai. 3And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labour thither; for they are but few. 4So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai. 5And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water.

All of us recognize that it is not the big stuff that has us stressed out. Instead it is the little things that trip us up. In our studies in this series, we have learned that the children of Israel were obedient at Jericho. They marched around the city six times and on the 7th time they shouted just like God instructed them to. As a result, God gave them the city of Jericho. Because of their favor with God, they got the victory everywhere they went. They go to the country of Ai after the wall has been torn down at Jericho and Joshua decides to send a few members from his troop to defeat Ai, because they were so small. The few that Joshua sent out to take over Ai came back fearful. Now Ai has caused panic and confusion in Joshua’s camp. All of us have Ais in our life. In other words, it is that little thing that keeps us up all night long, when we know we should be sleep. We keep tripping over the little Ais (little stuff). Why does the little stuff keep tripping us up is the question? The children of Israel were just one wall away from what God promised them and they came out victorious. Now something little has tripped them up. They have been defeated by a minor foe.
I. Defeated by a minor foe
1. This is supposed to be a routine mission or so they thought. How do you handle life, when in one moment you are on a spiritual mountain and next you are on a valley of despair? For example 1 Kings 19:10 says 10And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. In other words, how do you handle being in victory in one moment and the next being defeated. To take it further, before you could get your dance out from the first victory, something came in our life and changed your joy to sorrow. Sometimes things will get real rough.
Joshua 7:7-8 says 7And Joshua said, Alas, O LORD God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan! 😯 LORD, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies! – At this point, Joshua wants to know what’s up. They would be content on the other side of the Jordan. Many of us get so cocky, because we won over there, that we forget that we must use those same principles to get the victory over here.
2. Reasons why we are tripped up:
A. We rejected the principles of the past- What got you where you are, is going to get you where you are going. The same integrity and obedience that got you the victory at Jericho will get you the victory at Ai.
B. We respond to the problems with no power. -You can’t go on your own power and your own might. It was God’s power that did it at the city of Jericho, not the children of Israel. Many of us have power while we are at church, but our power has to mean something on Monday and the rest of the week. They needed the same God Power that they had at Jericho to make them victorious at Ai. Your power means nothing unless is portable.
C. Revelation of providential perspective – Maybe God is trying to get them to see something in themselves that they have never seen before. We get in our situations and lose perspective. We have to ask God to let us see our situation like he sees our situation. One moment they (the children of Israel) have amazing victory in Jericho and the next minute, they can’t defeat Ai.
II. Deceived by manipulating folk
1. We read this book, went to this conference, and attending every church service offered and now we don’t know why we can’t get the victory. Let’s go to Joshua 6. When the children of Israel got the wall to fall, God gave specific instructions.
2. Specific Instructions:
a. Destroy everything but Rahab. Joshua 6:17 says 17And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to the LORD: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. – The city was cursed. Only Rahab, the prostitute, would be allowed to live after the attack.
b. Don’t take anything that is already cursed. Joshua 6:18 says 18And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. – God told them not to take what is already cursed. This will only in turn make them cursed. When you take something from the land that is cursed, then you will cause the curse to come to your camp.
c. Take the gold, silver, brass, and iron and add it to the Lord’s treasury. Joshua 6:19 says 19But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the LORD: they shall come into the treasury of the LORD.- God told them to go into Jericho, walk through the rubbish of the wall, but they were instructed not to take anything. God did however tell them to take the silver, gold, and vessels of brass and iron, and put it into the treasury of the Lord. Joshua 6:24 says 24And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein: only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD.- The children of Israel took this powerful city of Jericho and burnt it to the ground.
3. Why they can’t they beat Ai?
a. Prayer won’t fix this situation. Joshua 7:10 says 10And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? – Prayer is not going to fix what you need fixed in this situation.
b. Israel has sinned. Joshua 7:11 says 11Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. – Israel has sinned. They took the cursed thing and bought a curse to their camp. They have a crooked person in their camp and they took Gods stuff, jacked it up, and made it look like it belonged to them by putting it with their stuff. Malachi said you are cursed with curse, because you have taken Gods tithe. In other words, when you take what belongs to God, you are cursed with a curse.
c. The curse must be destroyed. Joshua 7:12 says 12Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.-Ai beat them, because they had a curse. God says unless they destroyed the cursed thing among them, he would not be with them anymore. They had a fellow in the camp called Achan that had kept the things God instructed them not to take.
Proverbs 28:13 says 13He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. Numbers 32:23 says 23But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out. – Lots of you are secretly doing stuff that is not constant with God’s word. They are causing their blessing to be retard. Anything that hinders your blessing means you have given too much power to it.
d. You must sanctify yourself. Joshua 7:13 says 13Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the LORD God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you. – God says get up and sanctify the people. Achan refuses to obey. It is that spirit that sits back and says they are going to do what they want to do, regardless to what God says, that is our problem. We are tired of dealing with stuff that is hindering our breakthrough. Achan will always be out of order. You have to learn how to remove your Achan. You can pray all you want, but until you deal with the sin in your camp, you won’t get victory over the little bitty stuff that is hindering you. You have to get up and sanctify yourself. Our problem is we just keep moving Achan around instead of removing it. It is like going to the doctor and the doctor saying, “We got the cancer out of your body and we want to put it into your brain”. This will not work. No matter what, Achan has to go!
4. Toleration spawns irritation, which spawns revelation, which spawns confrontation that spawns elimination, and then consecration. When you tolerate something long enough, it will irritate you. God will give you revelation, and he will say that we must have a confrontation. Then we will have to tell Achan it is time for elimination. This will bring on a time of consecration. We have to say goodbye to our Achan. Until we deal with our Achan, we will be stressed out over Ais.

III. Determined to move forward
1. To accomplish what God has, requires reassessing. All the places and things you should have now, is because you have been tolerating it.
2. We must:
a. Regain our focus.- Some of you are here or reading this, because you are more focused now than ever before. You just want more of God.
b. Reinforce your faith-Don t let him/Achan mess you up.
c. Remember you can fight- We will forget that we just defeated Jericho. You have fight in you and God has his hand on you.
3. There was a concept in the Hebrew bible called corporate personality. This suggests that when a person sinned, when they were dealt with, so was the whole family. They just didn’t put Achan out. They put the whole family out. Everything has to go. Once Achan was gone, they got it straight. Joshua 7:24-26 24And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor. 25And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. 26And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day.
4. Joshua 8:1 says 1And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land:
5. We have to have:
a. Positive Posture – We have to get in position to receive the blessing.
b. Prophetic promise – You don’t see yourself with it. You have to see yourself with it before you get it. See yourself healed delivered and set free, before you ask the Lord for it.
c. Purposeful praise – If we can handle the big victory, know that we can handle little one!

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The Ten Commandments Part II, “The Fourth Commandment”

Posted on August 20, 2010 by growintheword

The Ten Commandments Part II

Synopsis of Bible study 8/18/10

Delivered by Bishop Walker III

The Fourth Commandment

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Exodus 20.8

The Sabbath Day was traditionally observed on the 7th day of the week. To the Jew the Sabbath begins Friday evening at 6pm and goes through Saturday 6pm. The bible teaches that day was special. There were certain rules that had to be observed on the Sabbath. Exodus 31:15 says ¹⁵Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. – The Sabbath Day was honored by the Jews.
The Sabbath Day was not always kept on the 7th day. Leviticus 23:39 says ³⁹Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath. – Note that we are teaching bible right here and not doctrine. Sabbatarians[1], believe the Sabbath is still observed today on Saturday. For example the Seven Day Adventist. The Adventist even believe that it is the mark of the beast not to observe the Sabbath on Saturday/7^th day..
Know that our Salvation does not depend on keeping or not keeping the Sabbath. It has nothing to do with our salvation. Our salvation is not dependant on the law or keeping low. Romans 3:20: says ²⁰Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Romans 3:28 says ²⁸Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Galatians 2:16 says ¹⁶Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. – We simply are not brought to salvation according to what we do according to the law.
The Sabbath is the only ceremonial commandment given in the Ten Commandments. Paul writes to the Colossian, because there is the clinging to the ten, the Torah, the law. They are trying to use the law under the new covenant. Colossians 2:14-16 says ¹⁴Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; ¹⁵And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. ¹⁶Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: – Don’t let anybody judge you by you not observing the Sabbath on a certain day. Just like the issue with the meat. Ex – In the Torah, they judged for eating certain meat until Paul got a vision that said that everything God created was good.
The Sabbath was given to Israel. Ezekiel 20:12 says ¹²Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.- This was something that God gave to Israel. 1 Corinthians 1:22 says ²²For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: – The Sabbath was a sign between God and them. It is important to note that none of the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob) kept the Sabbath. In Genesis 2:2 says ²And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. – God didn’t call it a Sabbath; he just rested on the 7th day. Paul and Jesus observed the Sabbath, because they were Jews. It was Paul after receiving the revelation of the dispensation of grace that went into the synagogue and preached the gospel to the Jews. Ephesians 3:2 says ²If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:
The 7th day is Saturday, but let’s takes a look at the book of Acts, and see the actions of the early Apostles. Acts 20:7 says ⁷And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.-It was on the first day of the week that Paul preached to the disciples in this scripture, which is Sunday.

1 Corinthians 16:2 says ²Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. – This is an offering on the first day of the week which is Sunday.

We began telling about the Old Testament covenant. When Christ came he deals with the Old Testament in light of the New. Hebrews 8:13 says ¹³In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. – The New Covenant has come and the Old one is vanishing away. Hebrews 10:9 says ⁹Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. – God established a New Covenant. Hebrews 8:6 says ⁶But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. – God established a better covenant with better promises.

Matthew 12:1-8

¹At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat. – Jesus was Jew. If a person does not rest on Sabbath and works, Jewish Law said they should die. Jesus and his disciples worked on the Sabbath when they plucked the corn to eat.
²But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day. – The Pharisees, the keeper of the Law, said it was unlawful because it was not lawful to work or pick the corn on the Sabbath.
³But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him; ⁴How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests? – Jesus says, when David was hungry, he went into the house of God, went to altar and ate the bread off the table. Only the priests were allowed to do this.
⁵Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless? – Jesus reminded them that the Priest in the temple did it and were found blameless.
⁶But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple. – Jesus reminded the Pharisees that if they did it, he was greater than they. He was Jesus the son of God.
⁷But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. – Jesus also reminded them that if they knew the real meaning of the Sabbath, they wouldn’t kill people for working on the Sabbath.
⁸For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day. – Jesus is Lord over the Sabbath. This means as heirs, the Sabbath is not over us either. We are lord over the Sabbath.
We are blood covenant bought. Jesus lives in us. We make the same declaration about the Sabbath as Jesus did. Mark 2:27-28 says ²⁷And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: ²⁸Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. -The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Whether you worship on Saturday or Sunday has nothing to do with whether you are going to heaven. What determines this is what you do on the other 6 days of the week. Often we are at our best on 7th. When you declare God can only be observed on certain days, you have minimized the Sabbath to serve you. We don’t condemn people who worship on Saturday and we should not be condemned for worshiping on Sunday.
9. Components of the Sabbath
1. Should be a revival. The six days we lived has exhausted us. When we come to church it ought to be about to being filled up and revived. If you come to church drained and leave feeling more drained, you’re probably in the wrong place. You can’t live pouring into others and not ever being poured back into.
2. Should be about Reflection– We should be able to take the word of God, reflect over it, and see where our life is going. You can’t do that when you are busy. Ex- Stop complaining about how long it takes you to get out of the parking lot after church. Take this time to reflect.
3. We should Rest– Take an opportunity to rest on the Sabbath. Most preachers work on the Sabbath, so they often are not able to start their rest until later that evening and on until Monday. Note: When a Pastor gets through preaching, ministering, and pouring out, it is not a time to put something on him heavy to answer. He is empty and has to be replenished first.

Fifth Commandment

Honor thy father and thy mother, that your days may be long upon the land, which the Lord your God is giving you… Exodus 20:12

Proverbs 30:11-17 says ¹¹There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother. ¹²There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness. ¹³There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up. ¹⁴There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men. ¹⁵The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is enough: ¹⁶The grave; and the barren womb; the earth that is not filled with water; and the fire that saith not, It is enough. ¹⁷The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it. – When you honor your Mother and your Father, your days will be longer upon this earth.

1. How do we show honor:
1. In word – Start with respect. Learn to say “Yes ma’am” and “Yes sir” when you address your parents.
2. In gesture -Joseph bowed to his father. Genesis 46:29 says 29And Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen, and presented himself unto him; and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. , 1 Kings 2:19 says 19Bathsheba therefore went unto king Solomon, to speak unto him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself unto her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a seat to be set for the king’s mother; and she sat on his right hand. – Bathsheba was Solomon’s mother. King Solomon bowed to greet his Mother and had a seat placed on the right hand side of his through. Being seated to the right was a place of power. Solomon let the whole kingdom know he respected his mother
3. By obedience. Ephesians 6:1 says ¹Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. – If the command is against God, then and only then the parent loses the right to be obeyed.
4. By instruction. We have to learn to listen to their cancel and hear their instruction. Proverbs 1:8 says 8My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: Ex- Bishop tells of a friend he had in Louisiana named Willie. Bishop explains that he was tired of his Mother trying to pick his friends. Willie was the same age as Bishop and he liked taking risks. Bishop’s Mother told Bishop he could not hang out with Willie. One night, Bishop got a public whipping for hanging out with Willie. Years later, Bishop went to the State Fair in Louisiana and there was this elderly guy sitting by the gate. Bishop walked through the gate and the elderly called out, “Joe?” When Bishop looked around, he saw that it was Willie. Bishop hardly recognized Willie. Life had taken toll on him. We have to get to point where we learn to accept and follow the instruction of our parents. Even in church, the extended parental relationship that most of us grew up needs to be put back in place. Any adult ought to be able to correct a child that is out of line, without the fear of the parent cursing them out.
5. In meeting their needs. Genesis 47:12 says 12And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father’s household, with bread, according to their families. John 19:26 says 26When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! – When Jesus was on the cross, looked at John the disciple and said take care of my mother.
6. 2. Reasons why we honor our parents:
  1. There comes a time that you have to recognize that even if they didn’t know how to parent correctly, we have to be able to honor them, even if you have to ask God to release you from the pain.
  2. Honor should come to the elders of the church. Honor your elders and your days may be long too.
  3. Your mother got pregnant with you. We all share one thing. We know we were born of a mother. Somebody was pregnant with you had a lot a choices to make at that time and they chose to carry you to term. That alone is worth honoring them, if nothing else.

Sixth Commandment

Though shalt not kill Exodus 20:13

If you would be honest, there are a lot of us that thought about killing someone in some moments.
Killing deals with the word murder
Jesus translates this by saying though shall not murder. This is the unjustified killing of another.
Murder can consist of Homicide, suicide, genocide.
1. Homicide is the murdering of a person.
2. Suicide is the murdering of oneself.
3. Genocide is mass killing.
4. When you study the scripture, from the Torah’s perspective all the way to the New Testament, you will see the law gives permission for governments to execute death of those who kill. The bible says, when one kills, there is a life for a life. That’s how the Jews lived. Note: Please note, we are not expressing our stance on capital punishment. The point here is just to deal with the bible’s perspective at this point.
5. Paul talked about the reprobate mind. Romans 1:29-33 says ²⁹Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, ³⁰Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, ³¹Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: ³²Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. -. To kill is to take something that you didn’t’ give. If you didn’t give life, you shouldn’t take it.
6. When you kill somebody, you could be on a slippery slope as it relates to where you will spend eternity. Are we saying you will automatically go to hell if you kill somebody? No. God did use murderers, so it implies that maybe you can be forgiven for it.
7. When we murder somebody, we are taking something precious. God blew his breath in Adam and he became a living being. When you kill someone, you are saying I want your watch, your car, your money so bad, I am ready to take God out of you. Then we will have to face God in eternity and say I did this (taking all of what God put into that person) for a watch, a car, or money. What does it prophet a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? When we murder, we are willing to take God out of that person and face God on judgment for it?
8. When we commit suicide, we are so selfish, we are willing to take our own life, and not think about our family. We are just going to think about what we want. Our life was never ours to take. It was always God’s. When we commit suicide we are saying to God, “Take this. I don’t want it!” simply because we are hurt, disappointed, or somebody doesn’t like us.

10. How many have been in relationship with somebody and something traumatic happened that caused us to feel like we died. How many of you as a young child had something happen to you that caused something inside you to die. How many have had people who never had a conversation with you, create perceptions about you that made you feel like a dead person walking? The next time you open your mouth up to talk about somebody, see your mouth as a weapon. If not for Jesus, none of us would have been resurrected and brought back to life.

11. God wants us to choose life. Deuteronomy 30:19 says ¹⁹I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:-God says he lays before us every day, life and death. He wants us to choose life. Rebuke those that say it is devil attacking their body, when all the time it is cholesterol, cigarettes, and other things that we are doing to ourselves. The harm we do to our body is suicide in the slow lane. We don’t think about it this way. When we don’t take care of our bodies, then we are saying to God that he gave us this body and we are just willing to blow it. For some of us, all we want to do is come to church and shout and then get back to our cigarettes and the other harmful things we do. The body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. Ex – Bishop explains that since he has been on his diet, people tell him not to lose any more weight. Bishop explains that if he was getting bigger, no one would say anything. We have gotten used to seeing people harm themselves. Bishop has chosen not to contribute to his own demise.

12. Why should we choose life?

We should want to have life both here and in heaven. Romans 6:23 says ²³For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord
The thief comes to take our life. John 10:10 says ¹⁰The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.- All the thief comes to do is take life. No matter how he packages it, he is a taker. When you look at your engagements and affairs with Satan, he has taken more than he has given.
God came that we would have abundant life. That is the Zoë or the God kind of life. God says what exists in heaven can exist in our life. Anything beneath Zoe is beneath what God has for my life. Let your God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Every decision we make should be for God’s glory. We not are trying to get pie in the sky, but ham where we am, so to speak. We are trying to make good decision.
Every day you wake up, thank God for life, no matter what Satan has done. Regardless of your financial situation, your heartaches, disappointments, and pains, we ought to wake up and say thank you that we are alive to know about it. We ought to thank God that we are in our right mind and that we didn’t wake up trying to brush our hair without toothbrush. God has been good to us. Every time with inhale and exhale, we ought to thank God for life.

[1] a person who observes the seventh day of the week, Saturday, as the Sabbath.

Posted in ten commandments | Tagged Bible Study, Bishop Walker, Direction, Encouragement, Faith, God, Mt Zion, ten commandments | 3 Comments

The Joshua Generation Part III, “You’re one wall away” 08/15/10

Posted on August 17, 2010 by growintheword

The Joshua Generation Part III
You’re one wall away
Synopsis of Sermon 8/15/10
Delivered by Bishop Walker III
Text
Joshua 6:1-5: 1Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in. 2And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour. 3And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. 4And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets.5And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.

When you’ve walked with God any significant amount of time, you are convinced that if God be for you, he’s more than the whole world against you. This is of great comfort, particularly when there is direction in your life. When you have direction, you have goals. You understand that your goals are never achieved without challenges. People who are progressively moving towards their destiny are often confronted with challenges, obstacles, and barriers. Great things are done when men and mountains meet. Those of us who are spiritual understand and are not discouraged or frustrated because of the mountains, walls, or barriers we encounter. We see them as opportunities for God to show out. We don’t get upset and just give up or resign. We see them as opportunities to see the glory of God manifested in our lives. We realize that the barriers are there to discourage us and prevent us from achieving our goals. You can be on your way somewhere, on the way to destination, and the destination can be in view, and all of a sudden, you can run right into a wall. You can be ready to walk onto a new job and have everything ready for the job and all of a sudden they call and tell you that they are sorry, but they changed their mind because of a hiring freeze. This is a wall. You might be getting ready to close on the house you wanted and may have already made plans and ordered the furniture. They can call at the last minute and say that the deal fell through, because there is a problem with your credit. This again is a wall. You may have met someone and the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost may have confirmed that this is the one. Out of nowhere, they started acting a fool. This is a wall. Have you ever had some walls in your life? Some of you have come here today with some walls and barriers that are preventing you from walking into your destiny. Don’t be discouraged. God sent this message for a reason. We have direction and goals; you understand goals are not achieved without challenges. God is in the wall falling business! There are people around you that can testify that God is in the wall falling business. If you trust him and obey him in this season, you will see the manifestation of God’s power like you have never seen it before. We need not be frustrated, because of what it looks like statistically or what it looks like on paper. Take one last look at this wall, because God is about to do something to your wall. You might be tired, you might be frustrated, but know you are just one wall away. You might have felt like giving up, but God says to tell you that you have come too far to turn around and you so close to what God is about to do, you might as well say, “Lord just go ahead and do it now”. God is about to move this wall out of your life. Take a moment to thank God, because he is in the wall falling business. We are but one wall away.
As we have been following the children of Israel under Joshua’s a leadership, we notice that several things about them. We notice now that as they come to the city of Jericho, God makes them a promise that the city is theirs. Though Jericho was a mighty city, they were feared the children of Israel. Jericho knew that God fought for them. When you see the children of Israel walking toward this city, you know God is about to give it to them. (Remember God promised Abraham that every where his feet touched, he would give it to him). Jericho shuts the city up in efforts to keep their city from getting overtaken. They put the city on lock down and no one can go out and none can come in. They think no one is going to have this city, but what God has promised you, is for you. You will encounter in your life challenging obstacles.

I. Challenging obstacles

Joshua 6: 1Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in. 2And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour. 3And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.
1. This is part of the process. You can’t avoid these obstacles. You can either listen to people or listen to God.
2. In verse one we are clear. Jericho had been shut down.
3. Verse two says God told Joshua that he had given them the city of Jericho.
4. Verse 3 says they must march around it for 6 days.
5. The revelation of this is the revelation of the problem. You can’t be in denial about the problem. Many of us try to over spiritualize the reality. Jericho is a real city that is shut up and what you need is on the other side of the wall. No matter what you do to try and avoid it, you will still have to face the wall. Walls are real. There is no need in being in denial about it. The good news is God has a promise for our every problem.
6. Looking back at Verse 2 God says, “I have given into thine hand Jericho”. We look at the wall and get frustrated, because we try to figure this wall out cognitively. You can’t figure this out cognitively. Realize that when God gives you a promise, don’t focus on the wall. Instead we should focus on what’s on the other side of the wall. God says he has already given us what’s on the other side of the wall. Stop tripping over the wall. We have to get to a point where we say,” It is already ours”.
7. 3 things that happen when we get this kind of prophetic word:
a. We are solidified in the spirit – If God said its mine, it’s mine. It might not be in our hand, but God’s word is settled in heaven. There are some of us who know how to give God glory on revelation, not manifestation. It is already done in the spirit.
b. There is a specific season – God is going to release it out of the spirit into the natural. When God gives you a word, it is for a specific season. When God gives you vision, it is for an appointed time and season. Remember his reference to a set time in the scripture.
c. We are situated to see – Get up from where you are, stop doing what you are doing, and ask God what he wants us to do and what he wants you to be, so you can see what he wants you to see. We will have challenges. What’s the challenge? It is our wall. God says here’s the problem, but here is my promise. The promise is God has already given them Jericho, though they haven’t occupied it yet. Now you can chip at the wall if you want to, but God said what is behind the wall is already yours. You might not have the money, but God says don’t worry about that. Everything behind the wall is already yours. It’s already done.

II. Complete obedience

1. We must walk in complete obedience. This is the point where you realize obedience is better than sacrifice. Joshua did like Moses and asked the Lord what he should do? God gives him specific instructions. Their survival will be contingent on the adhering to what the man of God says to them. They realize that their destiny is in the man of God’s mouth.
2. They must:
a. Get in proper position. People often don’t get the victory, because they don’t put people in purpose, in position. Ex- You can’t put people in children’s church who don’t like kids. You can’t make a person an usher who has an anger problem. You can have good people in good positions, but who are out of purpose. This is the season to put things back in position, where purpose and position is the same.
3. Let’ take a look at this (positions). Joshua 6:4-9 says 4And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets.5And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.6And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said unto them, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the LORD. 7And he said unto the people, Pass on, and compass the city, and let him that is armed pass on before the ark of the LORD. 8And it came to pass, when Joshua had spoken unto the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns passed on before the LORD, and blew with the trumpets: and the ark of the covenant of the LORD followed them. 9And the armed men went before the priests that blew with the trumpets, and the rereward came after the ark, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets. – This scriptures shows that they were in a certain order. The order was; armed men who had weapons go first, then the priest, and then trumpets went just before the ark. The unarmed people came after the ark. So to sum it up it was Warriors, worshippers, the word, witnesses, and wonders.
a. Warriors- They were those that were armed. They were not cowards and trained to fight. They are not scared of the devil. They were placed upfront. Like this, you have to pull out your warrior spirit up front. We might look like a push over, but we know how to have a spiritual war.
b. Worshippers were next – These were those who know how to usher in the Spirit of God. They summon something from heaven. God says quit complaining about your wall. When you are a worshipper, you don’t worry about what’s going on around you. You believe God for what is already done.
c. The Ark- This symbolizes the presence of God among Israel. Notice that the worshippers were placed just before the Ark. It symbolizes how worshippers first usher in the Spirit of God.
d. Witnesses- They not fighters and they are not worshippers. They know a little word, but they really just came to see. God needs these types of people too. They are witnesses to what has happened so they can report it to the earth realm. They tell what they saw God do.
e. Wonders- In verse 10, the children of Israel were told to walk around the city and not to shout until they were instructed to. You might get frustrated over the redundancy. We have been taught if we do the same thing over and over expecting different results, then we are insane, but God told them to walk around with conditions. This is a season for us to be quiet. God don’t want us to talk or ask questions about it. Sometimes you ought to thank God for the season of silence. Just keep it quiet. This is not time to say anything yet. Just because God is quiet, doesn’t mean he is not moving. Exodus 14:14 says 14The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. – If you will be still, God will fight your battles. This is the greatest season of your life for you to be quiet.
4. Sometimes you can open your mouth and get ahead of your blessings. We must:
a. Stay focused – Hebrews 12:1-2 says 1Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.- We need to stay focused on what God has shown us.
b. Maintain your faith- Hebrews 11:1 says 1Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:6 says 6But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrews 11:30 says 30By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.
c. Know God has Favor on your life – Everywhere the children of Israel went, they kept walking in the favor or God. The hand of God is on our life. You got to say you are working on something. If you walk it out, god will work it out.

III. Conquered the opposition

Joshua 6: 2-3 2And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour. 3And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.
1. You will conquer the opposition. You see the problem in verse 1, in verse 2 & 3 you get a prophetic word that it is already done, and then you walk it out for 6 days. God says do what you can do. God said you fill out the application and he will take care of the wall. Don’t sit around and say “Lord do it for me”. Get up, fill out the application, and then watch him work it out. You can sit in the mirror and say do it, but this is wrong. You have to step away from the cobbler and then watch him do it. Do what you can do and God will do what you can’t do.
2. It was on the 7th time/ 7th day that God instructed them to shout. There is power in the shout. A shout is hard to understand for some of us. When they shout, you think they might be delusional considering they had this wall around the whole city that God said he would give them. The truth is everyone from the warrior to the witness has shouted at one time or another. If this wall is going to fall, protocol has to be broken. When people come together in faith over a common goal and open their mouth and shout, something breaks out in the house of God.
3. What is a in a shout? Shouting is a transcending sound. What a shout really says is, no matter what is happening in my life, no matter the context, we choose to rise above it, and transcend it.
4. When we shout, we let the devil know:
a. We have risen about our context- Like Paul and Silas in the jailhouse, we show we are not a prisoner of our context. Our shout says we are over it and trusting God. You have risen above what is trying to block you.
b. It troubles Satan. When you shout, you make the devil nervous. When a child of God opens their mouth, it is a war cry. Our mouth is the trumpet and we are blowing our trumpet to let the devil know his days are numbered. When we shout, we are looking at the devil telling them that his days are numbered. Wall, get ready to come down!
c. It triggers the super-natural. It triggers something in the heaven. When a child of God opens their mouth down here, something is released in heaven. Did you not hear Jesus say whatever you bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven? Touch your neighbor and tell them you about to trigger something in heaven. God is about to release his power. Open up your mouth and give God a shout. Ex- We remember in the 80’s when President Ronald Reagan stood by the Berlin Wall and said, “Mr. Mikhail Gorbachev, tear these walls down.” Bishop explains after reading history he realized that the moment was preset. Demolition crews had gone in and already put explosives in the wall. All they were waiting on was a great crowd to make a shout. The demolition specialist that preset the explosives would demolish the wall once they heard the noise. Like this, God has already set it up. When you make noise, he sends his angels as a demolition crew to tear that wall. Think about every wall that has been blocking your blessing and destiny and give God a shout! Shout on the wall. Sickness is coming down! Unemployment is coming down! Cancer is coming down! Open up your mouth and give God a shout! Use your trumpet in Zion!

Posted in Joshua Generation, Uncategorized | Tagged Bishop Walker, Direction, Faith, God, joshua generation, sermon | Leave a comment

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The Ten Commandments Part III, Bible Study 08/28/10

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7^th Commandment – Thou shall not commit adultery

8^th Commandment- Thou shall not steal.

7^th Commandment – Thou shall not commit adultery

8^th Commandment- Thou shall not steal.