Bethel Deliverance International Church

Bishop Eric A. Lambert, Jr.: When we walk in, it doesn't matter who's up there leading worship. I'm going to worship. I'm going to stand next to my brother and my sister. I don't want to hear they got a bad spirit. Doesn't matter if they got a bad spirit. I got the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit ought to drive them out. Because two can chase a thousand—one can chase a thousand and two can chase ten thousand.

So if I'm full of the Spirit of God, I don't care how many witches are around me or how many warlocks are around me. The Spirit of God in me is going to drive them out. I ain't running from no devil. He runs from me.

We live in a world where everything is in competition for your trust. Now the new god—you know the name of the new god? AI. Some of you are students. You used to read. You see, your teacher says, "Write me a five-page paper on the church at Ephesus." You go to AI and type in "write a five-page paper on the church of Ephesus and use three scriptures," and it'll write it for you. You have Siri now. "Siri, what time is it?"

I like to play with Siri. I like to mess her up. I say, "Siri, do you love me?" "I don't have enough information for that." I asked Siri, "Siri, who is Jesus?" They directed me to Wikipedia. Siri doesn't know everything, but we're convinced that everything in the world can be handled by the internet. Facebook. You believe more of what's on Facebook and the internet than what comes out of this book. Why? You're not sure Jesus is Lord anymore.

If the internet tells you that the distance of the Earth from the sun is a certain number, you'll believe that. But you're not an astrologer. You're not. But you believe what the internet told you. But you won't believe the word of God because it's spirit. It's not normal. It's not natural. It's spirit. And the Colossians were coming to this reality. Maybe all that we heard about Jesus is no longer valid.

Every major doctrine of the Bible is being challenged by people in the world. Everywhere you look, everything about the word of God is being weakened. You don't have to live the way you used to live. Now, I realize our apostolic fathers were a bit strict. Don't go to the movies, don't cut your hair, women don't wear pants. Once you get married, you're stuck in it forever. You can't get divorced. You can't get remarried.

I realize that they were very strict, but you must understand they were operating with humans. And when you operate with humans, you have to do what you need to do to keep them in line. Those of you that are baby boomers born between '46 and '66, your parents kept you in line by fear. "If you don't do what I say, I'm going to knock you into kingdom come."

Your father would say, "I'll listen, boy. I'll take you out and make another one just like you. Don't make me no never mind." They ruled you by fear. This generation today, there's no fear. There's no fear. Little Johnny goes out and steals from the grocery store, brings it home, and his parents share it with him. They come in the house with the bike that they've just jacked somebody up, and they go, "Oh, that's a nice bike," and they know it's not his.

But we were raised in that mindset, and that's how our early preachers taught us. They had us afraid of God. All the prophecies: "I'm going to cut you off, I'm going to destroy you, I'm going to bring you down." And it worked. It kept us in church. Pastor would call a prayer meeting, everybody would come. You were scared. If I didn't come... then he would do something that would just frighten everybody.

Made you live holy. He would stand up and call out sins. And I never understood this. He would stand up and call out sins. He didn't know if you did it. He would call out the sin, and you would walk down front. Forgetting that you had the right to be innocent until you're proven guilty, you just came in confessing, "Oh God, oh God, I did. I did. I did."

But because you had a healthy fear of God. There's no more fear of God before their eyes. Like the Colossians, we've given in to Gnosticism. So Paul writes about this in Romans. He says they don't fear God anymore. They're not thankful. They're unholy. Men working with men, women with women. And not only do they do these things, but they cheer them on now.

There's no fear of God anymore. Why? The Gnostics have come in and tried to convince us that you're too holy. You've got to have some fun. You've got to loosen up. Some looseness will send you to hell. And so Paul says, "I'm only writing to the saints, to the mature people." And when you continue in that first chapter... notice he says in verse 16... you sound old. Take your time. Don't ain't got a bit of sense.

Look at this. In chapter one, verse 15, it says, "The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation." That really is a 30-minute verse, but I have to get through it. But if you notice the train of thought, he's trying to put Jesus back on the high place. He is the image of the invisible...

God said, "You can't see me because I'm spirit. But I love you guys. I really do. And I want you to know me. I want to know what love is. I want you to know me. I want to feel what love is. I want you to show me." He says, "But I know you can't love a spirit because there's nothing tangible between you." Jesus said, "God is spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."

You're still working through that. I know you are because you can't fathom spirit. When most of us hear spirit, it's something spooky, and we make God that way. We've translated that term that God is spirit into something spooky. And that's why people who say they're led by the Spirit, they always act spooky.

"Well, how are you? Oh, praise the Lord. Hallelujah. He's calling me to Himself. Yes. Oh!" I could never understand why is it when the Holy Spirit hits you... it's almost like you get epilepsy after the Spirit hits you. I could never understand why our outward working is always spooky. These are the people who sit in church, and while the praise is going on, there's always a remnant of people who are so spiritual, they just sit there, close their eyes and rock.

Everybody else is praising God in unity, and we have a weak link. The chain has been broken because the "deep" person is sitting there. They're either saying, "You're not good enough to praise with," or "I'm better than you, so I'm going to create my own little praise chasm. I can't be praising God with y'all. Y'all ain't on my level. So I'm going to sit back here and I'm just going to praise Him for myself because God ain't leading me to praise Him now."

Now, that's the praise you have at home. But when you come in here, you have a scriptural mandate: "Oh, magnify the Lord with me, let us exalt His name together." So the inference from the scripture is that those who have been Gnosticized build their own little world, build their own little kingdom. I'm preaching from Colossians chapter one, and you're over in Genesis chapter 15. That's division. God wouldn't tell you to go to Genesis chapter... He was trying to get me to see something. He wants you to see something in Colossians 1:16. That's where He led me.

So what brings about the division? You create another God. God is not going to work through one person and then have everybody else go a different direction. That's called anarchy. And since God is not the author of confusion, who is? People. When people do their own thing, confusion is the result. God said to the people in the book of Genesis, "I want you all to spread out. There's too many of you here. Spread out." They said, "We ain't spreading out."

Got a hold of Nimrod. They said, "Nimrod, you're our leader. What should we do?" He said, "Let's build a temple. Let's build a tower that goes all the way up to heaven." This is the second time God's dwelling was being threatened. First it was Lucifer, now Nimrod picks up the mantle. "We're going to get together and we're going to build this tower, and it's going to reach the heavens."

And you know what was interesting? When God spoke, He said, "Let's go down right now, or else they will be successful." Knowing that they would die once they get out of our atmosphere, they will be successful in defying God. That's what He meant. He wasn't saying they would be successful in building that tower all the way up to heaven. They were going to die once they get out of our atmosphere. He says, "But they'll be successful in disobeying me." And what was the result? Confusion. All of a sudden, everybody spoke one language.

Now, watch this. Praise is the antithesis because we're in obedience. Let us all be of the same mind. When we walk in, it doesn't matter who's up there leading worship. I'm going to worship. I'm going to stand next to my brother and my sister. I don't want to hear they got a bad spirit. Doesn't matter if they got a bad spirit. I got the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit ought to drive them out.

Because two can chase a thousand—one can chase a thousand and two can chase ten thousand. So if I'm full of the Spirit of God, I don't care how many witches are around me or how many warlocks are around me. The Spirit of God in me is going to drive them out. I ain't running from no devil. He runs from me.

Jesus said in Luke's gospel, "When the Son of Man comes back, is He going to find faithfulness on the earth?" We perverted that verse by thinking He meant am I going to find people who believe me? No, that's not what the verse means. It means are you going to be convinced? When I come back, am I going to find people who are convinced that I'm the Christ?

And that amount of conviction will be identified by the way you live. If you are convinced that He's the Christ, then you will live accordingly. I was in the market, and the lady gave me too much change back. And I said, "Ma'am, you gave me too much." She said, "Oh, sir, thank you so much." She said, "I would have been responsible for that. You're so kind."

I said, "No, ma'am, I have a higher authority to answer to. I'm not going to have God angry with me over five dollars. Here, this is yours." When you are convinced that He's the Christ, it impacts your life and how you treat others. If you're a husband and you're convinced that Jesus is the Christ, your wife should rest in the love that you give to her. She should not have to work as hard as she used to when she was single.

She should be comforted. She should be loved, honored, and respected. You should compliment what she does. Send her roses just because. If it's violin she wants, let them play. Dedicate her favorite song and hold her closer all night long. Love her today five hundred ways. Because remember, a chair is still a chair even when there's no one sitting there.

Woman, wife, if you are convinced that Jesus is the Christ, you don't challenge your man. You submit to his godly leadership. This does not suggest that you don't give your opinion, but you don't dog him. He's a little loud over there. You take care of it. You best shut up for the rest of this service. She got her knee fixed.

And so my point is, Jesus said, "When I come back, how will my people live?" Are you convinced that He's the Christ, or are you still doubting it? Are you afraid to commit to the gospel's message? Or do you pick and choose from the word of God what you will obey? God didn't say submit to your husband if he's a good man. He said submit to your husband. "Well, you don't know who my husband is," but I know what God is.

God goes as far as to say the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the believing wife. Your husband can be a jerk, but as long as you're living for God, he's under your protection. Now, that don't mean you go home today and say, "If it wasn't for me, you'd be dead." It's true, but don't tell him that. If you are convinced that He is the Christ, then every area of your life should radiate with Christological terms, ideas, expressions, and patterns of behavior. Unless you've been Gnosticized, and the purpose of Gnosticism is to create doubt.

Now, as I close this, when you go over to the book of First, Second, and Third John, this was the church of Ephesus in its declining state. It started its decline under Timothy. And Timothy writes to Paul and tells him about all the stuff that's going on. And Paul said, "Don't let anybody despise your youth." He's really trying to encourage him. But as soon as Paul died, Timothy got out of Dodge.

Ephesus was up for grabs, and they continued to deteriorate. So someone had the presence of mind to say, "Let's reach out to the last living apostle, John, and maybe he can help us." And they said, "John, we have this problem. The Gnostics have come in, and we're not sure who Jesus is anymore. We're giving into all manner of spirits and doctrines of devils, and it's just not good anymore."

And when you read First John, he begins to explain to them what has happened. And at the end of the book, chapter five, he said, "These things I'm writing unto you, little children, which believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life." Think of the dynamic here. They were unsure, but he says, "I'm writing to you so you can be sure."

I am convinced from the top of my head to the sole of my feet that many of you in here today are no longer sure that God is who He is and Jesus is who He is, let alone the Holy Spirit. And the reason for that doubt, the reason for that uncertainty, is that the culture has sucked you into the vortex of unbelief. You're no longer sure because you've allowed the things in the world to come between you and God. You've staked your salvation on physical performance rather than spiritual truth.

Paul writes these truths out. Paul is the first one to come up with the theory of justification by faith. It cost him a lot, believe me. No one had ever heard of it before. Even the Jews tried to say that Abraham was justified by works. Paul said, "No, he was not. He was justified by faith." It is hard to believe that faith moves the heart of God.

Not your works. That's found over in Revelation chapter two. All of the great works they did at Ephesus, He said, "But you don't love me anymore." Can you imagine that? All the things you do for your husband, all the things you do for your wife, and they don't love you anymore. You're doing what you're doing out of service and duty, not for love.

God can't handle that. He can't handle that. He doesn't understand how we have slipped away. Paul Simon said "slip sliding away." Then in that song, he makes one statement that I always ponder. He said, "The nearer your destination, the more you slip slide away." We are coming to the end of the world. Who in their right mind would slide away from God?

Things are horrible now, and they're going to get worse. And you're sliding away. You should be reading your Bible voraciously. You should have gotten past one chapter a day to one book a minute. The state of this world, the political picture, the wars and the rumors of wars, everything that Jesus said would happen is happening, and you're slip sliding away.

Why? Because you're not certain anymore. It's not going the way the word-of-faith preachers told you. You gave your tithes and you're still broke. You took a special offering and you're still broke. So you slip away. "Lord, this ain't working for me. I'm going back to what I know. I'm going back to running numbers and selling crack on the corner." No. Don't be horrified. It's true.

Children of God are leaving. Paul said there will be a falling away. Like the prodigal son, they came to God just to get what was in His hand. Now they're gone. Why? You're uncertain. You've lost the assurance. You ever live with someone for many years and say, "I don't know you anymore"? It happens. Well, what has caused you to drift apart?

I like chess. Chess was created by some ancient Oriental military people who used the game to train young officers, to teach them strategy that would work in a military setting. Now, the goal is to have your opponent capture your king. And the goal of the defender is to keep putting things between you and your king. That's what Satan does.

Your king is Jesus, and he keeps putting things between you and Jesus. Bishops, knights, pawns, rooks, and even queens. So you're no longer connected to your king. That young man that you had fallen in love with, he's taken Jesus's place in your life. He's the first one you call in the morning and the last one you talk to at night.

You don't even talk, you don't even say anything, you just listen to their voice. "Oh, just the fact that you're on the phone." But you never said that to Jesus. Oh, He comes and visits unless it rains, unless the weather is inclement. But Jesus said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Your challenge today is putting Him back on the throne of your heart.

Well, praise the Lord, everyone. Pastor Eric Lambert of Bethel Deliverance International Church. For some time now, the Lord has been encouraging my heart to reach out to those of you involved in pastoral ministry and try to share with you some insights on how to move your vision forward through shifting your vision.

Now, I know that you've been in ministry for a while and you're probably comfortable with the way things are going. In fact, you may even see that there's some folks that are joining your church. But to be honest with you, things might be a little stale. You're holding on to traditional outlooks and pulling things along that maybe you need to discard.

But the question arises: how do I do this? What should I look for in order to shift my vision, to look in a different direction as the Lord tells Abram? He said, "Now look up at the stars," and then he tells him to look at the seashore, and He says, "I'm going to give you a seed that's equivalent to the stars and the sand on the seashore."

It's important for you to realize that you need to shift your vision. But how to do it? Now, that's where the problem is. So I want to invite you to come and join us on May the 1st here at Bethel Deliverance International Church, where we can learn some of the principles of how to shift your vision to move your ministry beyond your wildest imagination.

Now, you can't just stay away and think things are going to happen by osmosis. It doesn't. The work of ministry requires participation, it requires renewed vision, and a level of energy that you may be finding you no longer have. Like Moses, who gets so frustrated that he hits the rock the second time, I believe he did so because he did not shift his vision from being a deliverer to being someone to enable the children of Israel to go into the Promised Land.

So now we're going to address subjects such as: What are the vision killers that keep your vision from being fruitful? What are the steps you can take to get congregational involvement? You know the goal is to get every member of your church buying into the vision. There's some things you need to do in order to make that happen.

So come and join us on Friday, May the 1st, and we are going to sit together and talk about shifting your vision, increasing what God has given to you, and then setting the church up for constant victory. I'm going to look forward to seeing you there. We start around 10:00, and it's going to be important for you to be there because I have a lot of information to share, and I can't wait to be in the presence of such anointed men and women of God to help you make your vision more real to the people. God bless you.

Guest (Male): Does God desire for His followers to be conformed to today's culture? Or are believers supposed to function, think, and be distinctively different? In his new book, *Cancel the Culture: Securing Our Identity as Christians*, Bishop Eric A. Lambert, Jr. provides guidance for the Christian trapped in a struggle for identity.

Each chapter of the book presents a challenge for the reader to cancel a specific ungodly influence of modern culture. As these influences are abandoned, the special purpose of God's calling for His children will become clearer. Journey toward rediscovering your identity as a child of God by ordering your copy of *Cancel the Culture*. Visit ericlambertministries.org to order the book and find more resources that will enhance your walk with Christ.

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.

*Climbing Higher* is a production of Bethel Deliverance International Church of Wyncote, Pennsylvania, located right outside of Philadelphia. If you'd like to fellowship with us, please visit our website at betheldeliverance.org or email us at info@betheldeliverance.org. You can also call our church directly at 215-885-2585.

To worship with us online, feel free to watch us live Sunday mornings at 7:30 AM and 11:00 AM on our YouTube channel @BDICMedia. On social media, follow us on Facebook and Instagram to stay current on our upcoming events and activities and to receive inspirational content from Bishop Lambert.

If you'd like to support our mission to share God's word around the world, feel free to make a donation to our media ministry by scanning here or by texting BDIC to 77977. To mail in a donation, send to Bethel Deliverance International Church, care of Media Outreach, 2901 West Cheltenham Avenue, Wyncote, Pennsylvania 19095.

We appreciate your support and your prayers. Tune in next time for another impactful time in the word of God with Bishop Eric A. Lambert, Jr. of Bethel Deliverance International Church, a place where miracles still happen.