Work your faith, Sermon 05/16/10

Work your faith
Synopsis of Sermon 5/16/10
Delivered by Bishop Walker III
Text: 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.
All of us have this in common. It is the pursuit of our dreams and our goals. All of us should be after something. This is called destiny. We have it in our view and we understand clearly what it takes to get to it. It takes an incredible amount of faith to believe that it is possible, yet you pursue it because you believe it exists. At the same time we have needs they we have not met. Many today stand in the need of healing, understanding, support, and supernatural intervention. What prevents a lot of these things from happening as it relates to destiny is the needs that we have to have met along the way. Often we are not where we should be not because we are trifling, but because we have some needs that need to be met along the way. It takes a big amount of faith to get to a point where we simple trust God. We have to have faith to believe that it is not only possible, but also that God can provide for us the things that we need along the way. Anyone can tell you that the moment you begin to try and pursue things, the enemy will do everything in his power to try and discourage you and try to make you disillusioned by the problem. When people don’t believe in what you believe you have to reach way down inside you and say “I yet believe, because of my faith”
Faith is so simple, but we seem to complicate faith. The Greek word for faith is 4102. pistis (πίστις) pis’-tis which simply means belief. We throw faith around so carelessly. We think it is something everyone just has automatically. We tell people who don’t read the word and who don’t have word inside them to simply to have faith and we expect them to have it. We tell them everything is going to be alright, but we forget that Romans 10:17 says 17So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. – In other words, the only way a person can have faith is by being exposed to revelation. They have to sit under a word that produces faith in their lives. Somebody will tell you that if you have the faith, God has the power. This message is really about moving beyond the lip service of faith and telling people that we believe. We have to go to the next level and learn to work what we believe. There is something that God has given us. It is the ability to work our faith until what we are hoping God for begins to manifest in our lives. Many will tell you if it wasn’t for their faith they would have given up a long time ago. Faith sustains us, keeps us in the race, and keeps us from losing our mind. It is not only important to have faith. We also have to work our faith. Many of us need this word today. To work our faith we need:
I. The right perspective on faith
Hebrews 11:1: 1Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
1. Faith is active, faith simply is. Faith must be present and current. In other words, it can’t be applied in one area and not applied in another. Our faith is always both active and current. This means you can’t have faith and believe God for a job and then not have the faith to tithe. We can’t have faith that God can get us into school and then not have the faith to know he can cure our cancer. If faith is here, it must be there.
2. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Faith creates a sense of expectancy. This is really what hope is all about. We heard a word that brought about the hope for things that we cannot see. We therefore live in expectation of what God’s word said was possible for our life. In faith, we have walk like it and believe it.
3. Substance of things hoped for. The substance of faith is the word. The word produced the hope. By this we mean we wouldn’t have believed it if the word of God hadn’t told us.
4. It is the evidence of things not seen. Since we hoped for it, and because we don’t see it in the natural, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist in the spirit. We don’t walk by sight, we walk by faith. Now we start making preparations in the spirit based on what we know. We don’t walk around with our head down, because we know what God promised us. This is a twitter-able. “If you believe what he told you in the light, it will work in the dark.
Hebrews 11:2-3 says 2For by it the elders obtained a good report.3Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. – Everything that began did so through the word. Go back to Genesis and you will see that God employed the word. God gave the word a job. God said it and it was. The creative power of the word in back in Genesis, is the same word that exists in you and me today. The devil doesn’t want you to get a word, because you will start hoping, start seeing, and start saying. Once you start saying, it will start manifesting. Even if we don’t see anything right now we open up our mouth and speak those things that be not as though they were! Some of you sit back and keep your mouth closed too much! When we ought to be quiet, we talk and when we ought to talk, we are quiet. Because we have faith, you have to learn to create stuff in the Spirit of God.
5. Faith is active. It can’t be over here and not over there. We can’t doubt God. That is an insult to God. If we believe God can help someone perform brain surgery, then we can’t trip over a headache.
II. Have to be ready to prove our faith.
Hebrews 11:4-5 says 4By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. 5By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
1. Enoch lived and pleased God and was translated or caught up. In other words, he didn’t experience death. In the words, we see that people had trials and trusted God through their faith. Faith was used to establish a testimony. Faith allows us to be examples and witnesses of God. Your faith is as strong as the test you survive. Ex- Some people may say my house is worth a certain amount. The truth is your house is only worth what people are willing to pay for it. Know that your faith is only as strong as the test you survive.
2. When you go through something, God knows that you are in pursuit of something awesome up the road. You have these challenges, because the devil is trying to block you, so it takes faith for you to get to your destiny. Do you remember Peter? He becomes a defender of the 1st Century Church. He becomes the first Pope. This is the same Peter that denied Christ three times. Early on, Jesus saw this coming. In Luke 22:31 it says 31And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: – Jesus said the devil wants to sift you wheat…In Luke 22:32 it says 32But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. – Jesus says he has prayed for Peter. Jesus prayed that Peter’s faith would not fail. We must then know that faith is essential.
3. God wants you to outlive what is trying to outlive you. Your testimony ought to be that you desire to hang in there. We have so many people that give up because they don’t have faith. People, who have faith, are inevitably faithful. It is impossible to have to faith without being faithful. Faithful is the ability to believe in the process. People who supervise can tell when their workers have lost faith in the vision of the company. They can tell, because their people start coming to work when they want to come. They have made a shift already. They are already are looking for something else. When we hang in there, we are saying to God that he can still count on us to be here. Our presence is an indicator that we are still faithful and willing to hang in there. It is saying we will be here when the storm is over.
III. Rejoice in the promise of faith.
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.
1. We don’t’ have faith for nothing. We have faith to apply it to something. God has to create a situation for faith to be applied. God doesn’t heal for nothing. He heals for something. If the something didn’t exist, we wouldn’t ever develop the faith. We can’t have more faith in our doubt, than faith in our faith. You can’t be wishy washy with your faith. You can’t have until faith either. You have to trust God even when things are difficult. You have to learn to hold on to your faith regardless to what comes in your life. Without faith is it impossible to please God, because those who come to God must believe that God is. The moment we stop having faith, we doubt the very existence of God. As long as God is, our faith is! The moment we start wavering or the moment there is fear, there is absence of the revelation of God. When we know where God is, we know where our faith is. Whatever you need, God is. If you need a healing, a mercy, or breakthrough, God is! God is a rewarder of those who diligently seeks him, those that won’t let situations detour them, and those that will keep their eye on the prize. These are the one that receive the promises of God. You have to trust God without having a plan B.
2. Faith is not believing he can, because God can whether we believe it or not. Faith is not believing he will, because that is hope. Faith is believing it’s done. Faith says, the moment I was privy to a word, I know God would never give me a word in the natural, that wasn’t settled in the spirit. We are just waiting for what God has already settled in the spirit and we are waiting for it to tinkle down into the natural. Ex-If someone needs $1500 to solve their problem, they would be happy for a check that a stranger writes for them, but more happy after it clears. Once the check is cashed, they develop a sense of gratitude. Faith is rooted in the credibility of the rewarder. When another person that they already trust pulls out their check book, that same person who needed the $1500starts shouting right then They know that this person don’t’ write bad checks. If we know you, we are not going to wait until the check clears. We are going to give God the glory before the check clears. Just like this, when we God is moving, we wait until the check clears. Tension exists in believing God for a thing and it hasn’t shown up yet. Hebrews 11:39-40 says 39And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: 40God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. – God says, your faith has to get to a point that even if God doesn’t do this, you know he’s got that and that is much better than this. In other words, if I don’t get this job, my faith will hang in there, because he is preparing me for that job! If I don’t get this Prince/Princess then he’s got that King/Queen waiting on me! Give God glory for the that he is getting ready to give you. Every time God says no, he’s got something better for you up the road. Real faith says God I trust you in the midst of things that don’t work out the way we want them to. The promise is not based on what you want, but what God wants for our life! Ex- We asked a pew how come people trust them so. People come in and sit all their weight on the pew, but they never look and see if the pew is sturdy. People just flop down and put their whole future on the pew. We asked the question, why do people trust the pew so much? The pew responds, because I held them up last time. We hear the Lord saying, I carried your weight last tim`e, so why do you doubt me this time?

Lessons from by the riverside, Sermon 07/26/09

Lessons from by the riverside
Synopsis of sermon 07/26/09
Delivered by Bishop Walker III

Text: Psalm 137:1-4: 1By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. 2We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. 3For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. 4How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a strange land?
There are experiences that shape us into our destiny. Romans 8:28 says all things work together for them that love the Lord and are called according to his purpose. Look at the portion of the scripture that says all things. It is this portion of the scripture that we often want to discard. We often don’t want to count the bad things. We have to realize that bad things that happen to us count too. All things good and bad collectively work together for our good.
In the text Israel had been taken captive and they were held by the riverside. This represents remembering or reminiscing over what we used to be and what we used to have. In the text the captors of Israel are now mocking them by saying to them “sing some of the songs of Zion”. Israel was noted for the songs they sung in worship to God. Israel was monistic which meant they believed in worshipping one god, this being the one true and living God. The captors were trying to mock Israel’s relationship with God, just like many of you are experiencing your faith being tested right now. God knows how you will speak well of him when all is good, but can you do it when the bottom falls out? Like the captors of Israel, God wants to know if you can sing your song when things have gone all wrong. Is there substance in your relationship with God?
Lessons that we learn through our dilemma will launch us forward into what God wants to come out of our life. In our text Israel has been assaulted and the kingdom has been divided. Their captors do things in this text to trip Israel up concerning their relationship with God.
I. Don’t let the enemy dictate your faith response
Psalm 137:1: 1By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
1. The verse says they are sitting. Sitting means you have accepted where your life is or your present condition. How long will you let the enemy decide how you will end up? There is nothing wrong with weeping, but if you do, do so standing up. Ever talk to someone with same sad song all the time? After you finish talking with them on the phone, you feel down. They have a spirit that brings you down. You have got to learn too stand. You got to stand up, get up, and depend on God to work it out.
2. We have begun allowing the enemy to dictate our faith response now days. While you are going through, your faith ought to be better now more than ever before. We come to take authority over what is trying to take our response! Despite what happens, this is the day that the Lord has made and we must rejoice and be glad in it!
3. While going through our trials, we must remember the response of Jeremiah. Jeremiah 29:4-11: 4Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon; 5Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; 6Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished. 7And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace. 8For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed. 9For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the LORD. 10For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. 11For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
a. God allowed this to happen according to verse 4 of Jeremiah 29.
b. We are supposed to build houses. According to verse 5, though we have been taken captive by our situation, we are still supposed to build house and be productive. We still are supposed to bear fruit.
c. We are supposed to reproduce. Verse 6 says we are supposed to reproduce. Verse 7 reminds us to even pray for the well being of the place that God allowed us to be held captive, because out of it, we will receive peace. God promises in verse 11 that he will return us back to our land. We ought to produce rather than whine in a jacked up situation. Don’t let the enemy dictate your faith response. You have a choice to whine or plant seeds, be productive, and have peace.
II. Don’t let the enemy force your resignation
Psalm 137:2-3: 2We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. 3For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
1. The captors wanted Israel to give an offering of praise to them. Faith needs a corresponding action. We can’t declare our situation is over. Israel hanging up their harps indicates that they had given up and that they thought it was over.
2. God is not concerned about what is on the outside of us but what is on the inside of us. Israel’s songs pointed to the goodness of God in their lives, so them not wanting to sing would signifying the loss of their faith in God. We dance and say God is good as long as things are going well, but we seem deflated when things go bad.
3. Who can give God glory when the bottom falls out? Israel had seen God deliver before yet they resigned or gave up when things got bad. Remember the devil can’t take from you what God promised you. You have to refuse to put down your harp. Israel’s harps represented who they were. When the enemy is after your song, you have to really ask what he is after. Your song is not just simply about compositions or a collection of notes and words. Your song points to your infinite faith. It points to who you are. There is music in your service. Your song has nothing to do with you opening you mouth.
4. Israel’s song represents a shift. Your ability to sing or have a song in a bad situation represents that you are in another palace. That other place for Israel means a shift from where they were verses where God wanted them to be. Ex- Paul and Silas prayed at midnight, which represented a shift. Acts 16:25-26: 25And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. 26And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed. Paul and Silas prayed at midnight. They sang praises and prayed their way out. When we are in a tough situation and we continue to sing, this shows that our spirit has already shifted out of our situation. Some people wonder how you sing despite what you are going through.
5. All the enemy is trying to do by asking you to sing, is to see fight out of you! Grab your harp and start playing again. Get back up in the choir. Keep doing what God told you do. We sing because we are happy and because we are free. You have to go back and get your harp.
III. Don’t allow your ego to rob you your future recovery
Psalm 137:6-7: 6If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. 7Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof. The Edomites had destroyed Israel’s city. The Edomites represent the people that have done us wrong in our lives.
Most people who preach out the scripture that we selected for this text will tell you that scriptures usually have points of reconciliation. Because this is a Psalm, it does not end in reconciliation. It actually ends with more lamentation or sadness. The Edomites had destroyed Israel’s city. The Edomites represent the people that have done us wrong in our lives.
1. Israel wanted the same thing that happened them to happen to their captors. Psalm 137:8-9: 8 O Babylon, you will be destroyed. Happy is the one who pays you back for what you have done to us. 9 Happy is the one who takes your babies and smashes them against the rocks! -Many of us are in this same place right now. We have to remember that what we are dealing with is only temporary. Troubles don’t last always. Why are we tripping so hard over what is happening in our life? This is not a time to give up.
2. We must remember:
a. Don’t bail. Just believe.
b. Don’t let boundaries determine your blessing. Don’t let your situation block your blessing.
c. Don’t be bitter. Being bitter can hinder your breakthrough. The prophet Isaiah speaks to the people about what God is going to do for them. He reminds them that God is going to turn it everything around for them. Vengeance is the Lords. We don’t have to do anything when we are a child of God. All we have to do is sit back and watch God work. God will deal with your adversaries for you. Ezekiel 25:12-14: 12Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them; 13Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; and they of Dedan shall fall by the sword. 14And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury; and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord GOD.
3. Is God really going to do this for us? The enemy didn’t realize they messed with the wrong person when they messed with us. Victory shall be ours. God will restore it all in this season that the enemy robbed you of.
4. In our situation, God was trying see:
a. What your posture was going to be: Others were watching you to see how you will handle your situation.
b. Trying to see your potential: You never would have seen your potential in your comfort zone.
c. This was about your profession: God wanted to know what you were going to say. God wanted to know would you complain or give him the glory
d. This was about your perseverance: God wanted to know would you quit ushering, quit singing, or quit coming to church all together because of your situation.
e. This was about your praise: Can you praise him even when things are not going right for you.

The Remnant, Sermon 07/19/09

The Remnant
Synopsis of sermon 071909
Delivered by Bishop Walker III

Text: Amos 9:11-15: 11In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: 12That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this. 13Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. 14And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 15And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.
God always has a plan for the faithful. If we are honest, we will all agree that it is hard to watch the wicked prosper. It is hard to watch people prosper that are not in covenant with God. We must however, remember what David said in Psalms 37. 1Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.2For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.
It is Amos that prophesied in the years mentioned in our text. Israel was divided and Amos spoke to the northern kingdom on behalf of God. There had been a breach of contract between God and Israel because Israel had turned to idol gods. It is now the prophet Amos that is responsible for saying to Israel what God had to say them in this season. Amos told Israel that even thought the enemy had come upon them, it had been allowed by God. In verse 9, God says these things had happened to Israel, because God desired to sift them. Amos 9:9: 9For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.-God was saying he allowed things to happen to find out who the authentic people were so that he could bless them. God however promised that he was going to restore them after this season of sifting. For some, God is sifting folk from your life as we speak, but afterwards you will have a good idea of the people that you can trust. Out of the whole nation of Israel, God was looking for those who remained faithful. We have to know that our faithfulness has not gone unnoticed. God knows your works and his knows your faithfulness. Even though things may happen in your life, we must know that God is going to raise up a remnant and he is going to show what faithful folk get in the end. Because we know how God works, we are never impressed with crowds, because we know that there is just a fragment within any crowd that will remain faithful.
I. Declared promise
1. All we need is a promise from God. Amos 9:11: 11In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: -No matter how bad things are, all we need is God. The rain falls on the just and unjust alike. By this we mean that sometimes the righteous has to endure what the wicked endures, but the difference is the righteous know how to handle it.
a. Sovereignty-we have to respect God’s sovereignty. Know that God is up to something. We have to know we have security in the midst of what we are going through. The security is the stuff that will not happen to us that happens to others. We have to know that we will survive this season.
b. Whatever we go through is seasonal. 2 Corinthians 4:17: 17For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; -Our afflictions are but for a moment. God said he knows you may be in ruins and brokenness right now, but he is going to raise you out of this. God said he is going to raise a remnant that will not come out empty handed. Right in the midst of the ruins, God will raise up the remnant. The wealth of the wicked is laid up for the righteous. God said to those in the ruins, if you hold on a little while longer, God is going to bring you through your Mess.
II. Devine Plan
1. What you are going through is nothing more than a setup. God is allowing it so you can show your faithfulness. This is not the time for you to just walk away. The enemy wants to get you to point where you to say you want to give up, but the enemy doesn’t know who he is messing with. We will let nothing separate us from the love of God. You will prosper if we faint not.
2. God is always providently working to usher his will into our life. Amos 9:13: 13 “The time will come,” says the Lord, “when the grain and grapes will grow faster than they can be harvested. Then the terraced vineyards on the hills of Israel will drip with sweet wine! – God says he is about to reverse some things in our lives. The laborer sows the seeds for the grapes and works the grapes in the vineyard, but in that day were not allowed to reap of the harvest. In order to make the wine, they had to crush the grapes. When Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane he prayed in the garden where grapes were crushed. You get wine from crushed grapes and blood from a crushed body. God is going to allow us to bypass our crushing. The scripture ensures that we will get wine from places that have not been crushed. In other words, God is going to allow us to get a blessing that we didn’t have to get crushed to qualify for. He is getting ready to reverse things for us. If you remain faithful where you are, God will make it all up to you.
3. When Israel rose up in pride, God allowed the remnant to stay among their enemies so they could see how things go for those that remain faithful
a. Stuck-up-God left you among them so you would not be like them. God wanted you to see an example of what you were not supposed to be like.
b. Selfish-God blessed the remnant to be a blessing. God doesn’t want us to be selfish.
c. Recession-God allowed a recession to come, because they were faithful.
d. Sinful-God has a remnant that he can give a blessing. The remnant has the mind set to say “Bless me and we will be a blessing to someone else”. God has a remnant of people that saw people play church all their lives. The remnant is not concerned with positions or titles; they just want God to get the glory. God is about to switch the script. People at the back will go to the front of the line. The remnant didn’t have to pass emails or kiss anyone’s butt. All they did was remain faithful. Somebody reading this can testify that they feel that they are on the verge of the best season of their life.
III. Destined place
1. God said he is going to bring them back. Amos 9:14: 14 I will bring my exiled people of Israel back from distant lands, and they will rebuild their ruined cities and live in them again. They will plant vineyards and gardens; they will eat their crops and drink their wine. –The remnant is God’s chosen people. After God get’s finished, the remnant will be so productive and fruitful, it will mess you up. God is a restorer. He will not leave you out there by yourself.
2. God says you will have to work it. No that God has restored you, he expects you to built. You will have to be productive and produce.
3. It is all about your witness. Whatever we do, we want God to get the glory. Everything that was lost last year, God is about to restore. There will be a shift in the atmosphere. God said because you stayed faithful, kept tithing, and kept serving he is about to give you double for your trouble. You thought you had it going on before brokenness, but he is going to build it better the second time around. You thought it was something the first time, but it will be much better. The glory of the later house will be better than that of the former house.

Too Busy not to Pray, (book discussed by the author Bill Hybells)