Bethel Deliverance International Church

Guest (Male): Pentecostalism has turned God into our slave. And as long as we say the magic words, in the name of Jesus, he's supposed to jump and capitulate to everything we want. And that's why we approach a sovereign God with phrases such as, "Give me this car, give me this house, give me that, give me this, give me this, because your word says I can name it and claim it and blab it and grab it." And God said, "No."

If you understand my sovereignty, then you will recognize where you are is exactly what where I want you to be.

Bishop Eric A. Lambert, Jr.: Praise the Lord and welcome to the Climbing Higher broadcast. Today, we're going to speak to you about issues related to end-time events, Bible prophecy, and the coming of the Lord. Now, if you're like me and you're born again, we get excited when we talk about the coming of the Lord, because one day he's going to crack the sky, get us out of here, and take us to our heavenly home to be with him and our Heavenly Father forever. Isn't that going to be great?

But we must understand that Bible prophecy gives us guidelines and outlines of what to look for prior to the Lord's return. And so I preached a sermon entitled, "Are You Ready?" And I want everyone to think in terms of meeting the Lord, either at the judgment seat of Christ or at the great white throne judgment at the final time.

And so we want you to hear the word today. Spend some time thinking about the reality of leaving this world. Look, let's face it. You're going to leave this world one way or the other, either through rapture or through natural death. One way or the other, we leave this world. But eternity is sure, for the Word of God declares it is appointed unto man once to die, but after death comes judgment.

But thanks be to God, he has provided a way where we do not have to spend eternity in hell and then the lake of fire. And the way out of that sentence is to come to the Lord Jesus Christ, be washed in his blood, believe on him as he is the only way to get to God. So today, when you hear the message, don't get scared. There are some very, very difficult things for you to grasp. But I don't want you to get scared. God didn't give you the spirit of fear, but he does want to warn you about what's happening and what will happen in our world. God bless you. I'll be back to kind of help you through your times of trepidation. God bless you.

Guest (Male): When Elisha was telling the plans of the King of Syria to the King of Israel, they wanted to know how they knew what was going to happen. So they dispatched some soldiers to go catch Elisha. And they were up on a mountain, he and his adjutant, and they were surrounded by soldiers. And the young man became frustrated and he was afraid. And Elisha said, "There's more with us than there are with them." And the young man looked and said, "I don't see what you see." And the prophet prayed that God would open the eyes of the young man. That's my task.

Ephesians 4, Paul says that he gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers. Unfortunately, that passage has been used to establish ministerial order in church. That's not what it was used for. We're not to go into Ephesians 4 and extract the church office and then claim it. That's not what Paul was writing about.

It was a little more simplistic. If you follow the trend, follow the flow of his letter to the Ephesians. In Chapter 1, he talks about the identity of the Christian, how God saved us, and then he goes into seated us in heavenly places and made us one, tore down the middle wall of separation. All this good stuff.

And I don't know how you are exposed to the letter to the Ephesians, but for me in my world, I think Paul's most significant writing is the letter to the Romans. And on the heel of the letter to the Romans comes the epistle to the Ephesians. In that epistle, he talks in a very significant way about the formation and the maturation of the church to bring them to a functional position that he expresses in Chapters 1, 2, and 3.

There is an existential question that comes from Chapters 1, 2, and 3. And the question is, how? How do I live according to the doctrinal tenets of Chapters 1, 2, and 3? Paul, you've laid a magnificent spread out before me. You have convinced me that I am somebody in Christ. But how do I live this life? I am sure this question was going through the mind of the young Ephesian church. These people are not spiritual giants. In fact, many of them had not even heard of the indwelling spirit because they were baptized under John's baptism, which was simply put, it was for repentance.

And so Paul springs upon them this great teaching about identity in Christ and position in Christ, which is what Chapters 1, 2, and 3 are all about. Identity and position. What he leaves out in the first three chapters, he immediately jumps into in Chapter 4, which is how to work it out. How to work it out. And so the question that you and I or any believer would have when presented with such a smorgasbord of spiritual truths is, how do I work this out?

Very rarely did any of the disciples ask Jesus how. And he would give some truths that are almost impossible to keep without his help. Bless them that curse you. Had I been part of that group with my pragmatic mind, I would have said, how? How do I bless somebody that's trying to hurt me? I'm taught to hurt them before they hurt me. I have to remember my audience. But no one ever asks that. The closest time they ever came to even delving into that realm of questioning is when they said, teach us how to pray. We don't even know how to pray.

And so Paul, probably as the Holy Spirit empowers him and graces his mind, he says, "Now I've given them a tremendous amount of truth." Remember, he's under house arrest when he's writing this. That's why the letter is only six chapters long. It's very small because he's under house arrest and he doesn't have time to deal with all of the nuances that he does with the Roman letter. And so he's probably thinking, how can they do this? How can they live? Like you hear the term, "I'm seated in heavenly places." How many of you believe that you're seated in heavenly places? Do you know how to live there? And there's no shame in it. Two-thirds of biblical truth, we don't know how to do it.

And so Paul, now being illuminated by the Holy Spirit says, when you come to that position when questions override answers, and he gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers. And he did it to equip you for works of service. He didn't say equip you for church work. He said works of service. What does that mean? He equips you to do what Chapters 1, 2, and 3 teach you what you should know.

God never intended you to pick up the Bible, read it, and walk away in a quandary. "Oh my God, I'm seated in heavenly places." But Pentecostal people, we found a way around it. We just make you dance. Knowing that the dancing really helps to release endorphins in your brain along with a certain form of oxytocin. You produce oxytocin. It just doesn't make you high like the pills, but it does make you feel kind of good. And that's when you fall out. You think it's the power of God, but it's the release of those chemicals in your brain. Because Jesus prayed for a lot of people and they never fell out.

And all of a sudden, we falling out and we tell people it's the power of God. Well, then I submit to you that the people who went to hear Jackie Wilson sing were under the power when they fainted. No, there's a release of things, chemicals from your brain that impact your physiological responses. And so all we're doing is we're capitalizing on our body's natural functions. And we're determining the depth of anointing by how our body responds. "Oh, the man of God preached today." "How you know?" "Child, I'm telling you when he preached, [grunt, grunt, grunt]." Well, I do that too when I have sweet potato pie. [Grunt, grunt, grunt].

My niece came to church this morning and she brought a banana pudding. When she gave it to me, she said, "Here, Uncle Eric." I said, [grunt, grunt, grunt]. I felt the Holy Spirit. So Paul says, "Here's what God has done. He has given you gifted people to help you navigate this new place that you're finding yourself without the need for emotional response."

When I was completing my course of study in forensic psychology, not one time did I say, [grunt, grunt, grunt]. "Yes, I got it. Schizophrenia. Yes." And church people, it's synonymous. I never did that. So we learn principles from teachers placed in the body, not to pursue ministerial titles, but God identifies these people whose sole task is not to lord over you, but to train you.

Every part of you, every muscle, every muscle, every joint, your brain was designed by God to be retrained. Oh yes. Oh yes. Right now, you all probably have tight quads because you've been sitting. You didn't stretch them, and they're tightening up more. So when you walk, you walk with a little bit of a limp because your quads are saying, "We don't want to walk." But when you stretch it, you're retraining it.

You know, theoretically, you're supposed to stand against a wall, take your leg, fold it over your body so that your toes hit the wall above your head. Oh yes. That's how flexible God made you. Sixty, seventy years ago, people could do it. Why? Because they walked more. You've been sitting behind that car, sitting behind that desk, sitting in front of that TV. Your muscles are beginning to atrophy. They're weakening. They're shrinking. Just like our minds.

So here's the apostle. He said, "I'm going to give you the best doctrine that I can give you. I'm going to give you the best theology that I can give you." And he comes to Romans Chapter 12 and he says, "You have to retrain your mind. You have to retrain it from the streets to the Kingdom of God." Oh, you know street lingo. "I'm going to jack you up." What that mean? You know what that means. What's a 40? Come on, talk to me. Alcohol. It's coming from that side, the choir. Pay attention to who gives the answer. What's herb? It's also stuff you sprinkle on food and soups. But notice how she quickly said, "Weed."

Why? Because cultural understanding. Now you're a Christian and you're still thinking the same way. Paul said retrain your mind. Unfortunately, the King James translates it "renew the mind" and it forces us to think that he's saying the mind has to be renewed through a physiological process. No. He says retrain it. Just like you had to retrain your thinking when you became 21 and moved out of your parents' house. You started saying things like, "I can't afford it." "Come on, we going to so-and-so." "Not me, I got bills to pay."

You started retraining your mind and your body when you had a job that required you to leave your house at eight o'clock in the morning. And you said, "I can't stay up as late as I used to." Why? Because I have different responsibilities. You retrained your entire system. Well, now that you're a Christian, are you retraining your mind? And if you retrain your mind, your speech will follow. Because words are thoughts with clothes on.

We're spiritually overfed, but in the course of our thinking, we're malnourished. We still think like sinners. Every one of the young people here who are in college can all tell you that that first year was hell. Not so much because of the training in school, but it's the mindset that's different. The teachers don't hold you by the hand and say, "I'll meet you at seven o'clock in the morning and help you through it." They just throw you a course of study and say, "All right, you got to read 47 chapters and have this paper written, and I want 450 pages." They don't call you up and say, "Did you do it?"

Well, that's the problem with Pentecostalism. Pentecostalism has turned God into our slave. And as long as we say the magic words, in the name of Jesus, he's supposed to jump and capitulate to everything we want. And that's why we approach a sovereign God with phrases such as, "Give me this car, give me this house, give me that, give me this, give me this, because your word says I can name it and claim it and blab it and grab it." And God said, "No."

If you understand my sovereignty, then you will recognize where you are is exactly what where I want you to be. Sometimes you are in a dangerous place, but I put you there to teach you a lesson. How long you stay is determined by how you think about it. If you spend all of your time trying to get out, I'm just going to make you stay longer. But if you lay down and say, "Not my will, but your will be done," you won't be in there as long.

And so now, brothers and sisters, we are confronted, confronted by the theological and eschatological reality of Jesus coming back. And as I've been saying to you over the past four or five weeks, we are not ready for his return. You think you're ready just because you're saved. That's like saying, "I'm ready to be a mother just because I now have eggs," or "I'm ready to be a father because I now produce sperm." Just because you're physiologically capable of doing it doesn't mean you're emotionally or mentally capable of being it.

Any man can be a daddy, but not all men can be fathers. Anybody can come to Christ, but it takes a special person to be a Christian. And we are not ready. According to the Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians Chapter 4, Jesus is coming back. His first coming was quiet, subdued, innocuous, ubiquitous. It is stuck in clandestine revelation. A star, a single star in a sky that's filled with millions and billions of stars. A single star shines and it leads the wise men to our Savior. [Hushing] Jesus is born in Bethlehem.

[Hushing] Mary is having the baby that will save the world. [Hushing] The shepherds are standing in the field and they're watching over their sheep. And to them and them alone comes the angelic announcement. Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill towards men. For unto you is born in the city of David, a savior, which is Christ the Lord. One angel told Mary about her son, Gabriel. One angel. One angel spoke to the shepherds to tell them that he was here. That was the end of the angelic announcements.

There's one more task that they have and that is to scream it when he comes the second time. He came like the CIA the first time. [Hushing] Jesus is here. [Hushing] He's here. But when he comes back the second time, Paul said with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God. Why? My first coming wasn't to bother everybody. It was for certain people. But my second coming is so everybody will know who I am.

And all of you who say I'm just a prophet, all of you who say I'm just a man, all of you who say he's nothing significant, in a few short days, you will be reminded of his greatness. And you will echo the words of the Apostle Paul. There is only one name given among men whereby people must be saved, and that is the name of Jesus.

He's coming back. His second coming is so incredible. His first coming was simplistic. God in flesh. They couldn't receive it, they couldn't understand it, they couldn't deal with it. So he tried to prove it to them, not doctrinally, miraculously. Turn water into wine. Wow. Brandy. Courvoisier. Because the people at the reception said this is the best wine and you waited till we were drunk on the rotgut and you bring out the Courvoisier. See, that tells you that when Jesus shows up, even if you're at the end of your existence, he will make your end better than your beginning. And so you don't have to worry and say, "Oh, I missed this and I missed that." No, you haven't missed anything. For when God gets a hold of you, the second part of your life will be better than the first.

Bishop Eric A. Lambert, Jr.: For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we, which are alive and remain, shall be caught up to meet with them in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Paul says I should comfort you with those words to let you know if you're born again, you're going to meet the Lord in the air. Even if you die a physical death right now and they bury you in the ground, according to the Word of God, you will come up out of the ground to meet the Lord in the air and be joined with all the believers who are still alive.

Now, my brothers and sisters and my friends, I want you to understand this is a very serious topic. For Jesus says tribulation will come upon the world and he said it will be so great that unless those days are shortened, no humans would be left alive. I want to spare you that anxiety. I want to spare you from that hellish experience and encourage you to turn to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Regardless of your denomination, your race, your creed, whatever's keeping you back, strip yourself of all of those excuses and put your hands up and say, "Lord God, forgive me for my sins and save me from unrighteousness. Save me from hell and wash me in the blood of Jesus." If you say that prayer and talk to God from the depth of your heart, you will be ready to stand before him.

And so I want to encourage you. I know some of the things you heard today might have caused you a little moment of concern. But I want you to understand that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, and he wants you to come to him. Think of it. He loved us enough to send a substitute, knowing that we could never produce the holiness and the righteousness that he requires. He sent Jesus to do it for us. He will always take care of you. Jesus will always watch over you and he will save you if you turn to him. So God bless you, and I want you to climb out of the depths of despair and climb higher to the Lord and you will find he is there with open arms saying, "Come to me all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." God bless you.

Guest (Male): There are times in life when the pull of this culture wears us down and leaves us feeling defeated. But the Bible says we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us. In his new book, The Christian in the Culture 2: Walking in Victory, Bishop Eric A. Lambert, Jr. reminds us of tools in the Word of God that the Christian must use to maintain a life of victory.

Walking in Victory offers fresh insight about living for Jesus, with a focus on walking in the spirit and in the fruit thereof. Learn how to maintain your identity and purpose as a believer by ordering Walking in Victory. The Christian in the Culture 2: Walking in Victory is available at ericlambertministries.org and wherever books are sold.

Bishop Eric A. Lambert, Jr. is committed to influencing our culture with Christ. In his book, The Christian in the Culture, Bishop Lambert explores practical ways to avoid becoming ensnared by the trends of today's culture. Order your copy of The Christian in the Culture and achieve daily victorious living. Visit ericlambertministries.org to purchase the book and discover more resources that will enrich your Christian walk.

Thank you for tuning in to Climbing Higher with Bishop Eric A. Lambert, Jr. of Wyncote, Pennsylvania. We pray that you are encouraged to grow in your faith as you listen to today's message. If you enjoyed today's program, feel free to order the entire message by calling 800-550-3284 and request the item number and sermon shown on the screen.

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