Bethel Deliverance International Church

Guest (Male): What does it mean to know God, love him, and pursue his heart? Amid all the noise and confusion in our daily lives, nothing is more important than seeking the heart of God and understanding his purpose for us. This week, let's take a moment to hear from Bishop Eric Lambert as he shares the inspiration behind his new book, which he now sees as the capstone of his ministry: Chasing the Heart of God.

This intimate discussion will inspire you to love and pursue God wholeheartedly. Be blessed as you listen.

Bishop Eric A. Lambert, Jr.: But you must remember that everything given to us on the earth is modeled after our relationship with him. So we should ache for God. Our hearts should beat in sync with him. We should feel what he feels. When his heart is broken about injustice, our hearts should be broken.

When someone is being cast out by society, we, the church, should step in and share with them the love of God. It is difficult for God to find people to feel what he feels. Only God-chasers will feel what he feels. I think we mask the move of God with our jubilant praise, our demonstrative worship, and in actuality, we're really covering up the fact that we don't feel what God feels. So we figure we'll just throw everybody off with all the noise.

Thirst for God. David, oh lord, David, David, David. David is a classic study in a psychological misfit given the valuable title of a man after God's own heart, chosen by God as a 16-year-old child. And yet he turned out to be one of the most problematic people God could have ever sanctified.

When you look at the history of it, David was just as bad as Saul: disobeyed, did the wrong things, killed people. The only difference between David and Saul is Psalm 51. He went back and said I'm sorry. It's good for a child to know their parent will always forgive them. I can sit here tonight and tell you I got many beatings as a child, and as soon as the beating was over, I had much first aid.

Get over here, boy, let me fix that. No, no, I wanted everybody to know you beat me. And that's how it is with God. His anger is but for a moment, but his mercy endures forever. God-chasers know that. We're not pharisaical; we're lovers. Chapter eight says set your heart upward. Again, these are things you have to do. You have to turn your heart towards him and set it upward.

Read the Psalms. The Psalms are the best roadmap to chasing after the heart of God, filled with personal revelations of a relationship. And so you and I are now tasked with this responsibility: to show the world what it means to be a God-chaser. Are we willing to strip ourselves of titles, church responsibilities, and be servants?

Here the Master and Creator of the universe, on the day before his betrayal and death, stoops down to wash the feet of his disciples, including Judas. Now you know there's not a one of us in here going to wash the feet of somebody who's going to try to hurt us. If anything, if we do bow down to their feet, we're going to cut a toe off.

And here Jesus is, and then he says that's why I said this last Sunday. Christianity is really not classified as a religion, but for our purposes, we'll say religion. Christianity is the hardest of all the religions because it requires something we don't want to do: take up our cross and follow me.

In fact, Jesus demands. He said if you will be my disciple, you have to deny yourself and follow me. And I'm here to tell you that self-denial is the most difficult of Christian disciplines. And I know what I'm talking about because I'm sitting here tonight because of self-denial. If God had allowed me to be what I wanted to be, I wouldn't be a pastor.

But you have to deny yourself to serve him. So that's pretty much the heart of my writing, and I pray that you will enjoy what you read and be challenged by it enough to make the changes to push your life into a new dimension. The publisher contacted me and said that the audio version of the book is completed, but they'll let me know when it goes out.

It'll probably go to Amazon and Outskirts Press. But we had to go through this long arduous process of hiring an actor to read the whole thing. But they did tell me it's done, so as soon as I know when it's available, you can get it and be able to play it in your car or whatever you want to do. Because I was told by a very dear friend to make sure I had it in audio because they don't like reading books.

Stephanie gave me a bunch of questions. I don't know why she did that to me, but Stephanie does that kind of stuff. It says: what does chasing the heart of God look like in your life personally? Now, the person who wrote this question, are you speaking third person or are you asking what it looks like in my life personally?

Guest (Female): They were asking in your life.

Bishop Eric A. Lambert, Jr.: My life? Oh, that's none of your business. Now you all know that when I do ask Pastor Lambert, I say you can ask anything you want but my personal business. But since you came out tonight, I'll give you just a little Reader's Digest version. For me, it means canceling out what I want and being what he wants me to be.

It is developing a relationship that is really connected to God. I don't have a way to describe it verbally. I don't have anything that I can use to tell it to you. It's just what comes out of me. He's an enigma, and maybe it's the mystery of him that draws me to him because I'm the way I am. I'm pragmatic and things need to resonate with me, and I just can't accept words. I just want to get to know him.

Paul says this to the church at Philippi. He says I want to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering, on the heels of all the good things that he has accomplished. He says nobody converted me to Judaism. He said I was born a Jew, of the tribe of Benjamin, of the stock of Judah. He said I'm a Pharisee, and history tells us he was a member of the Sanhedrin Council. That's the upper echelon of Pharisaical discipline.

And he said but I'm throwing it all away so I can know him. Now you know Jesus must be somebody special that you're willing to throw away all of your religious affiliations so you can get to know him. And so for me, it just means absenting myself from anything that would cause me not to know him, to spend time with him, to sit there.

I have a chair right by a window, and it has an eastern exposure, and there's some trees right outside. But right between the branches of the tree, there's an opening that allows me to look right up into heaven. And I sit there and I get lost in just talking to God. And what I've found is the longer I walk with him, the less he talks to me.

Now he can talk to me about you all day long. I always get answers for the church. I get answers for everybody else. But when I go, he's like no, you don't need an answer. All you need to do is just sit with me. Sit with me. And it works.

What should prayer look and sound like because we're all different and pray differently? Well, you got to come to Wednesday night. I'm talking about prayer on Wednesday night. Do you believe you can catch God? And if yes, what does that look like? Do I believe you can catch God? Sure I believe you can catch him, or I wouldn't have written this book.

But they ask what does it look like? You might not want to know because when you catch God, you change. People that you've hated, you don't hate anymore. People that you walk around with a grudge, you give it up. When you catch God, you become what he is. So you chase him until you change.

When I'm chasing the heart of God and keep stumbling, what should I do? Keep getting up. My mama used to say as long as there's life, there's hope. If God don't kill you, keep getting up. I always tell Christians we have such an illusion of Christianity, particularly in the Pentecostal faith. At least the Catholics build in something to help you when you mess up. You can say five Hail Marys and two Our Fathers. They let you know you're going to mess up; here's the way out.

But when you become a Pentecostal Christian, you're going to hell. And the only way you can avoid it is get down to that altar. God forbid you commit a sin and there's no altar around; you're in trouble because that's how we've painted it. But God forgives us. And so when you fall and you stumble—in fact, I often tell people there is a stumbling stage of Christianity. There's a stage when you just keep falling.

You just keep falling because the sin is more pleasurable than the holiness. And so you keep falling, but keep falling forward. If you're going to fall, fall into his arms. Just tell him, Father, I messed up. Now don't lie to him: God, I ain't never doing this again. Tell him the truth: Lord, if I get a chance, I'm doing it again because I'm weak.

That song 'Bread of Heaven,' you Pentecostals know: 'Bread of heaven, feed me until I want no more. I am weak but thou art mighty.' Tell him I'm weak. I know you word of faith people say you ain't confessing you're weak. Okay, well, do whatever works for you.

What is the total number of books you have written and what will be your next book? I don't know and I don't know. I don't know how many books I've written. I never keep record because once you start doing that, you become arrogant. Then it becomes part of your resume. I write them as he gives them to me. And what will my next one be about? How to hit the lotto. Now that one I want 10%.

How can I get over the fear of sharing my relationship with God? Just keep sharing. Go out with Marquita and the team. When I first started going out, I couldn't tell anybody about Jesus. I just went. And we were on the corner. My first time going out was on the corner of Germantown and Lehigh. And those gang boys stood across the street watching us. I had my Bible in my left hand and my right hand was ready to go.

I didn't know how to tell people about Jesus. I just went. Some things you catch and some things you learn. So if you're afraid, keep going till you're not afraid anymore. Nobody's asking you to be the apostle Paul, just go out and tell them Jesus saves. And if they say what do you mean? Say come to church.

That's what I did. I witnessed to a young lady, we were at 17th and Venango, and I witnessed to a young lady one time on a Sunday. And I couldn't tell her anymore about Jesus, and so I said come on. And we wound up getting a ride going down to the church, and I walked her right down to Pastor Smith and said she wants to accept the Lord. I don't know if she did or didn't, but she did.

I didn't know what else to do. I had not been taught the Word of God. All I knew was bring people in. So don't make excuses. You don't have to be a theological giant, just say you need to be saved. Just tell people you're going to hell and you need to be saved. And you don't have to be preachy with it; you're going to hell. Well, how do I stop going to hell? Well, come to church. Come hear Jesus. Well, why can't you tell me? Come go with me. So don't worry about it.

How can you talk about delighting yourself in the Lord and how? Same way you delight yourself in anything else. Make yourself happy. That's what you do. I make a sandwich in my house and my dog smells what I'm making; he jumps. Disney will walk with me from one room to the next, jumping. He makes himself happy because he sees I have food. So make yourself happy in the Lord. Jump, rejoice, leap for joy. Don't make things deep; just have fun.

How do you practice the presence of God? Praise. That's as simple as it can be. The more you praise him, the more he fills up your area. Does God's will and plan change for our lives? That's a great question. Should answer that on Wednesday. God's will for your life doesn't change. God's plan for your life doesn't change.

But the implementation of the plan may have detours because of your unwillingness to submit. So he may want you to be here and you're over here, and he wants you to be here but you go there. And so his plan is still that you be here, but you've made it longer because you're over there. God's plan was for the children of Israel to go into the Promised Land. It was not his plan for them to wander around for 40 years.

But what he did was dealt with them where their choices took them. That wasn't what he wanted, but he says okay fine, that's what you want to do, I'll work with you there. But eventually they got into the land.

How did you come up with the title? Well, I told you. And then it says: how long does it take you to write a book? I usually write a chapter a day. I write it fluently. My publishing company assigned me two editors. Always I get two editors because they say, Reverend Lambert, you write like you talk and you can't do that.

So I just write, and I do a chapter a day. I just write and then I send it to my publishing company. Then they polish it and send it back. And then when they send it back, I Pentecostalize it because they're not Pentecostals. So they'll send it back and then I send it back to them, and then they try to take it Pentecostalized and then they make it universal so that I don't offend people.

Because I can be very dogmatic. There are some things I don't back off of, like, a pound of bacon a day is good for you. I don't back off of that. So there are things that they have to smooth out. And then we reach a happy middle.

The only one they did not change a great deal was my novel, Jesus is Coming Soon. And the reason they did that, they said, was because we wanted to have that flavor of the novel so people can kind of get lost in the story. But the other books they tend to hold me a little bit. But I work very well with the publisher's editing team. And the Lord has blessed me with a good team of people to do that.

How did I come up with the title? Well, that's my heart. How does God give you specific instructions for specific situations specifically? And how do I know it's God directing me? Try it. Two things. Number one, if there's no violation in the Word, try it. Many of us are afraid to make mistakes. If there's no violation of the Word, if it's not costing you an enormous amount of money, try it.

And if it doesn't work out, you know it wasn't God. Limit collateral damage. Don't tell a whole lot of people. Keep it to yourself and maybe the closest friends who will still love you when you make a mistake. But try things. We get so locked into word of faith dogma. Oh, the Lord told me do something, but I got to wait and get confirmation. Why? If there's no prohibition from the Word of God, try.

What are some things you do to get to the place you are right now as pastor-leader? What advice do you have for those who aspire to be there? What is the connection between being a disciple and a God-chaser? None. It's the same. But nobody would buy the book if I said be a disciple because you all think you are. But you don't chase God.

The disciples that Jesus had, and I'm speaking of the original 12, left everything. Peter reminded him of it. Peter said we left everything to follow you. Jesus said chill, boy, don't get upset. He said not one of you that has left anything for the kingdom will suffer loss. Now, when you read about the 70 that came later, there's no indication they left anything. I think they were bivocational preachers. They kept doing what they were doing. But the 12 were full-time.

So everybody can't be full-time because it costs a lot. And you can't mix God with your personal desires. Now, this question here: what are some of the things that I do to get to the right place where I am right now? Obey. And obedience doesn't mean when the Lord said to me—there were two reasons why I joined the Marine Corps. Two. One I will never tell you. The second one was because God called me for ministry.

And when I heard the call, I said no and I joined the Corps. That was the second reason. So there were two that were pulling at me. I was looking to get out for personal reasons, but then when this call came, that was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. So those were the two reasons I left. I did what God wanted me to do because I didn't have a choice.

So I'm 50% in my reason for joining the Corps. I obeyed and came back to the ministry. But the other reason that I left, it haunts me till this day. But God got obedience out of it. I think that the level of anointing you walk in is completely connected to the level of sacrifice you make. You give God a little bit, you get a little bit in return. You give him all of you, you get all of him.

So you have to determine how far you want to go. But this is the caveat, the thing you have to be aware of. I'm at a place right now where I'm like Paul: I'll throw it all away just to get to know him. If he came to me and said, Eric, you want to give up Bethel and walk closer to me? Yeah. But it takes time to get to that place.

Guest (Male): You've been enjoying an open conversation with Bishop Lambert as he shares the inspiration behind his new book, Chasing the Heart of God. You can add this meaningful work to your collection and start your journey toward a spiritually fulfilling relationship with the Lord today. Visit EricLambertMinistries.org to purchase your copy at a special price, or check out other online bookstores like Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

If this broadcast has been a blessing to you and you'd like to support the media ministry of Bethel Deliverance International Church, please visit BethelDeliverance.org to find the giving link and select the media option for your contribution. Your prayers and support mean so much. To mail in a seed of support or get in touch with Bishop Lambert, please write to: Bethel Deliverance International Church, care of Media Ministry, 2901 West Cheltenham Avenue, in Wyncote, Pennsylvania 19095. You can also connect with us at info@betheldeliverance.org.

Thank you for joining us today. Until next time, keep climbing higher in the Word of God.

Bethel Deliverance International Church's One Flesh Marriage Enrichment Ministry invites you to the Relationship Reset Conference happening on Friday, March 27th, and Saturday, March 28th. This special event is designed for married and engaged couples, as well as singles who want to prepare for healthy, biblical marriages.

We'll cover a variety of topics, including biblical relationships, gender roles and God's design, marriage and money, singleness and marriage preparation, and strengthening marriages. Everyone is welcome to join us. The registration fee is $20 for individuals and $40 for couples. Visit BethelDeliverance.org for more information or call 215-885-2585. Thank you.