POSITIVE WRITTEN SERMON - What's In A Name?
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Allow me tell you a story. Once upon a time there was a little boy who was walking along with his mother. As they were walking along, he was looking down at the sidewalk. As he was looking, he noticed a little flower that was growing up out of the hard concrete. He asked his mother, “How can this possibly be?”
She responded, “Honey, it is because the flower has life.”
We all have life. Yet we hit the concrete walls of life, whatever we have made them to be, and they seem too hard. Yet, if a little flower has the power to rise above circumstances and grow through adversity, we have the same power. No matter what obstacle there is in our life currently, we have the power to go through IF we are using our faith correctly.
A lady in Kentucky was telling how she grew up in a one-room log cabin in Kentucky. They put newspapers on the walls; that was their only form of insulation. She said generation after generation after generation had lived in the same house.
I looked at her and asked her why she was different. What gave her the power to move out of this one-room house? She said something that is important for us. She said, “I guess I came to the belief inside of my mind that I could have better.” That was her turning point. Otherwise, she would still be in that one-room house.
All the relatives before complained about living in that house. But they didn’t know where the door was. They knew where the physical door was, but they didn’t know where the door to change their circumstances was. I think that everyone who is looking to change the circumstances of his or her life is looking for a physical door. But the true power lies in the spiritual door.
“Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. God brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.” Genesis 2:19
Through our God-given free will, we name a lot more than animals, we name every condition, every problem, and it becomes its nature to us – good, or bad.
When you are in Atlanta, Georgia, never miss the opportunity to visit the Ebenezer Baptist Church on Auburn Street. Over sixty years ago, a young co-minister in his thirties, by the name of Martin Luther King, Jr., ministered there. Stand up on the stage where he stood.
Stand in the pulpit of this very small church. Ask the administrator, “What was the change? What was it from this one small room that told you that you could change the world?”
She will tell you, “I guess the turning point was when we realized we could do it. At that point, I guess we gave ourselves the power, and then God empowered us.”
The thing we try to do in this church is to lay possibilities on you, not guilt trips. We try to lay God’s message on you so you can lift above where you are in this life.
If there was ever a church against a wall, it was the Ebenezer Baptist Church in the early 60s. But they believed. And that belief brought forth a God empowered life, the same life that is in the little flower. And they were able to change the walls around them.
You, too, are able to change anything former walls that have confined you. Any condition outside of you does not have life – unless you give it life. You give it life by the way you name it. Think about the various areas of your life. What names have you given them, or the conditions they create?
There’s a wonderful story about Michelangelo. He was in a field one day and stumbled on a huge block of marble that had been lying there for about forty years. It was almost hidden in the old pottery and furniture. It has been hacked and chipped away by some other sculptor and then was thrown away as worthless.
Michelangelo found some men to help him move it. While they were moving it, they teased him. They said, “This is a worthless piece of marble. It’s heavy. We don’t want to move it.”
Michelangelo said, “Even though it was rejected by another, I see something great in this piece of marble. I see an angel.”
They continued to laugh. But that piece of marble brought forth the famous peace called “David” which is prized by all of Italy.
“By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible” Heb 11:3
The word of God is not just on the printed page, it is also the still small voice that inspires you, up lifts you, brings you to a higher state of living.
I wonder what would happen with some of your problems – if someone else took over the management of them. They would either fail, or they would succeed. And if they were to succeed, they would have to see an “angel” in your problem ahead of time.
Someone gave a man who traveled a great deal a marvelous book that he would take with him when he traveled. It lists the best places to eat in America. He looked in this book under Atlanta, Georgia, and found that on Tarrel Mill Road in Marietta, Georgia, was Big Ed’s Pit Barbecue, one of the best places to eat in America. He went there, and it was not easy to find. His daughter said, “Dad, there’s no one in the parking lot.” And there was no one inside. It looked like no one had been inside of Big Ed’s for some time.
He went in there holding his book like you would hold a Bible. He went up to the counter, opened his book and ordered just the way it told him to order. Big Ed came out. The man said, “Do you realize you are one of the best places to eat in America?”
Big Ed laughed.
The traveler said, “You’re right here in this book.”
Big Ed said, “What are you talking about?” He didn’t know he was listed in that book.
The traveler said, “I imagine that place wouldn’t have been open for much longer. It looked like Big Ed had lost his zeal. There wasn’t any life or enthusiasm in the place. But while we were eating, everyone in the place was reading this book to see what was written about Big Ed’s.”
He left Big Ed’s Pit Barbecue seeing a changed restaurant. He bet that place would become one of the biggest successes in Atlanta because they saw themselves differently. They now know, without a doubt, that they are one of the best restaurants in America.
When he was leaving, they were shouting to each other about how they were going to change the sign outside, how they were going to have the books for sale inside, how they were going to have the reprint enlarged upon one wall.
You know that’s not going to change the business. What changed the business was their attitude. What changed the business was the way they imagined it to be.
“You will decree a thing and it will be established for you and light will shine on your ways” Job 22:28
“Words satisfy the mind as much as fruit does the stomach; good talk is as gratifying as a good harvest.
Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit-you choose” Proverbs 18:20-22 (Message Bible)
The Bible says that you have the power to name everything in life. When you name something in your life, you are also identifying its nature. It is using your God-given power to decree the nature of a thing.
If you name anything in your life a failure, I guarantee your God-given power will be wasted as you create a failure. If you name anything a success, God will work through you to bring it to pass. Whatever you pray for will come to pass in your life. We have to be careful; we have to constantly check ourselves. How are we imagining our life, and conditions to be?
We don’t realize it, but we fall into the human mind patterns of lack and limitation automatically. We have to name God-given good in every area. Sometimes you’re up against a wall, you don’t know how to call it good, and it takes every bit of faith inside of you, but know that God will never let you down. God will come through you and create that which you are naming and praying for.
On this day, I invite you to name God good in every area of your life and every area will be filled to overflowing with God’s blessing. I invite you to affirm positively with your prayers.
I have a Ziggy cartoon by Tom Wilson that I want to share with you. Ziggy is talking to a priest. He says to the priest, “If your cup runneth over, maybe you should consider getting a bigger cup.” Maybe that’s true.
Rev. Norman Vincent Peale (Author of the Power of Positive Thinking) believed that almighty God freely bestows the good things in this world in proportion to a person’s mental readiness to receive. An individual coming to the Divine storehouse with a teaspoon thinking lack will receive only a teaspoon full. Another more positive and believing person coming forward confidently with a gallon container will receive a gallon of life’s blessings. We can receive only that which we expect according to our faith.
I urge you to make your inner voice a force for success and happiness. I invite you to substitute accurate, positive thoughts for false messages of fear. The walls of life are within the mind, that constructs, or tears down self-imposed walls.
Arnold Bennet has said, “Your mind is a sacred enclosure into which nothing harmful can ever enter except by your permission.” Consciousness inside of you is awareness. You have consciousness in this room right now. You have a feeling of the chair underneath you. You have a sense of the temperature in the room. You have a sense of what is going on. You are picking it up with all your senses. Consciousness is the sum total of your awareness.
We have to go beyond yesterday. We have to know without a doubt that we can go beyond and rise again into something higher.
When you have an idea, where does it come from? Does it come from your own mind? If you are a writer sitting at a desk with no idea of what to write, and all of a sudden you are filled with ideas, where do they come from? They come from God. That’s not a separate, far-off God. That is a God who is there with you, by your side, working through you, empowering you.
God can be relied on. That God will never let you down. Those ideas will flow whether you are writing a letter to a friend or trying to come up with an idea to change your life. Those ideas will manifest. Those ideas will empower you.
There is fourth dimensional Power with you. It will come through you as you name and pray for something to be. What level are we going to the storehouse of God with? A teaspoon? A gallon? Or is it so good that we need a bigger cup? I say to you that it is so good that you’d better get a bigger cup. You’d better fill yourself up because God is the great giver of gifts and the gifts are Divine ideas. We have to consent to God’s good and know that these Divine ideas will come. The inspiration and help of God never stops flowing through you even when you’re not receptive to it.
Do not give too close study to yourself or your present condition. To dwell in mind upon your seeming limitations only prolongs their stay and makes your progress slow.
That is usually what we do. We sit there and took at our problems and study them. We could become a Ph. D. in our problems. When you take out the garbage, don’t go through the garbage. That can be a dirty, messy job. It will cause you to smell, and you’ll have to cleanse yourself. You don’t look at every egg shell. You don’t look at the trash you threw away last week.
A child loses sight of everything but his increase in size. The boy sees himself as the larger boy, even as a man. It is the childlike mind that finds the kingdom.
This is true. I know a little boy who is just five years old, but he thinks he’s 38. Because he thinks this way, he grows and he becomes the man.
There is no problem you face today that is going to hinder you. No problem can stop you because God’s power is greater. God is bigger than your problems! The bottom line is – God can’t be stopped, unless in your free-will you name it stopped.
Act as though you were alive, and glad to be alive, and you will gain a new realization of life and an increase in life itself. You need an increase in life, an enthusiasm for life, an aliveness in life in the moment. You need to rise above human thinking of lack and limitation, and you can only do it through God’s help.
Pray for more God-Life to go through you and into your situation. It will always be good. It’s never anything less. When God is working with you, it is always good. And, it’s always been much better than you could even imagine.
To do this, let us look to the beginning of the Bible to the six steps of creation.
The first step of creation: Let there be light. Let there be light in your own mind. You are in the darkness of the problem. You’ve had the courage to take out the garbage, but you are still feeling empty. You feel like you don’t have enough life to go on. You don’t know where the motivation is going to come from. You say LET THERE BE LIGHT and you consent to the illumination of God working in you. That is first and foremost in every problem.
The second step of creation: A firmament, or a foundation, must be established. A firm place in the mind must be established. This is done through prayer affirmation, through positive naming. Yes, you’re going to create something through faith. You’re going to re-create. You’re going to regenerate. You’re going to have a whole new experience.
The third step of creation: The forming of faith substance into tangibility. Let the dry land appear. We tend to imagine with our human mind everything outside ourselves in a three-dimensional world. Here we are talking about the spiritual fourth dimension. We are talking about bringing from the fourth dimension through you a creation in the third dimension. No matter what religion you are, you have faith that something is going to happen, and you hold to that. God is working, and everywhere present, bringing your prayers into manifestation. Your prayers are drawn with the speed. And it can’t be stopped unless you decide to stop it. You have that belief and the dry land appears; it is something that you can step on, hold on to, and see.
The fourth step of creation: Pray. Why do you pray? You don’t pray to change God. Are you begging and beseeching God to change? No. You’re praying to change yourself. You’re praying to develop a habit of positive thought. You pray as Jesus Christ says to, you pray constantly. You create a pipeline through yourself that can never be blocked. It can shatter the walls of the problems in your life. Nothing can stand up to God.
The fifth step of creation: See what you need as already manifest, how else will it come? If you don’t come with the fifty-gallon container ready to hold it, it has no place to go. Are you praying for a new car? Better have room in the garage!
The sixth step of creation: If you have your inheritance, you must not omit the sixth day – realization. What does this mean? It means you must have the spiritual consciousness of it. Never pray for something you’re not willing to become spiritually. You must be willing to become the true child of God yourself. Otherwise what you are praying for will slip through your fingers. You will not have the consciousness to hold it.
Do you give a million dollars to a young boy to go to the ice cream store? No. Because he doesn’t have the consciousness for it. God will fill your bucket no matter how big it is, but you’d better have a spiritual consciousness for the big bucket, or you won’t be able to hold it all. You, yourself, will stop it. You, yourself, will tip it. So the sixth is to become that which you seek to be.
In Ecclesiastes 7:1 the Bible says “A good name is better than precious ointment.” May people see the example you set and live their lives inspired by your nature.
My friends, nothing can stop God. Nothing can stop God’s help through you. I invite you to do a survey of your life this week, naming everything AS good, loving everything and changing your life through the power of God’s help.
In John 14:4 Jesus says to you, “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
Ask for anything in the full positive expectant nature, with un-doubting faith of Jesus – and it will be done!
I decree it – in Jesus Christ’s name … Amen
God Bless You!
PRAYER / MEDITATION_____________________________
This time we have in prayer is sacred. Something is going to happen that is beyond mere human consciousness. We’re going to agree and consent to God’s good. There is a higher working here than just the human mind. There is an action of the Divine. The Truth we pray is the Truth of God for you individually.
Rest in the silence of prayer …
During this prayer time you will be quickened by the love of Christ. You will be able to look over your life and bless every experience with God’s love that brings forth good. You will know that the Spirit of the Lord is with you. Your God-given good is assured.
Rest in the silence of prayer …
This moment you are able to dissolve in your mind, and in the minds of all others, any idea that your God-given good can he withheld from you. There is nothing outside of you, person, thing or event, that can keep from you that which the God has for you now.
As your mind expands to God good, vast improvement comes quickly in every phase of your life. Every day, and in every way, through God’s ever present help, things are getting better for you individually. You are entering the best period of your life. The attracting power of God’s love fills your life with satisfying good. As this comes, you are poised, patient and positive. You know that God pours God’s good out upon you.
Your mind is thinking exclusively about God’s possibilities. You know that as you let go of worn out things in your mind, worn out habits and worn out thoughts, there is a new vibrant thinking coming through you, a thinking that pulsates with life, a thinking which is from God’s Mind. You accept that thought now for your life, and for every condition you face in life.
Rest in the silence of prayer …
God blesses you with love and peace. You are assured of help in every need. There is a continuous flow of God’s helpful ideas into your human mind. There is a continuous flow of good in your life. God’s Divine ideas come through your human mind and you become an irresistible magnet for wondrous experiences and ever-expanding good.
Good is drawn to you and you are a good receiver. You are receiving God’s good now in every area of your life. You are receiving all the abundance God has for you now. God, in God’s love, pours out God’s abundant good upon you. Your life and your world show forth perfect order now.
Revelations 21:5 says, “Behold, I make all things new.” With new zeal and enthusiasm, you accept God’s promise of good in your life. In Proverbs 28:20 our Bible says, “A faithful human will abound with blessings.” Now you are abounding with God-given blessings.
NOW you are receiving all the good of the Christ.
Rest in the silence of prayer …
You are one with the bounty of Christ. Old walls are torn down, and good flows into your life. You are a spiritual heir to God’s ever-present supply. You are blessed.
In the name of Jesus Christ, you are able, and ready for the future. You are abundantly prospered.
This, NOW, is a turning point of your life because it is the turning point inside of your mind. You are able to fully trust God’s power. Instead of looking to appearances, you are able to trust in the power of God in your life. God’s good is continually made manifest. God is good. God supplies you now with unlimited opportunities for every need. You are prospered.
In a moment, you are going to rest in the silence. In a moment, you will feel the infilling that is a quiet reassurance that God is at work. In the silence of prayer … ACCEPT
The Christ Light assures you of constant good. The Christ light assures you that your needs are supplied. The Christ Spirit is at work in you and in the circumstances of your life to bring continuous blessing and overflowing good. You have direct access to the rich ideas of God. Your spiritual life is connected and your outer life is filled with plenty.
In the name, in the character and in the intelligence of Jesus Christ, you call forth God’s help. You call forth an ever-expanding help. You decree that you are forever changed by this prayer. You will never live your life in lack or limitation. You name every area of my life as vital, alive and good.
Thank you, God … In Jesus Christ’s name … Amen.
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