Bishop Dale C. Bronner preaching

I was privileged to be able to sit in a crowded sanctuary filled with visitors from other churches to listen to a sermon preached by Bishop Dale C. Bronner. It was exhilarating to be in the house of the Lord and be filled with His presence through the entire sermon.

The sermon surrounds around the idea of "made for more" and it orbits around the hard truth that Jesus had passed down to us through His Word.

What I truly appreciate of Bishop Bronner's preaching was that it was nailed to the point and easy to understand. Everything was said in layman terms and very relatable to our modern world around us.

1. We should gaze at the Promise and glance at the problems. The difference between gaze and glance is that gaze is to look intently whilst the latter is just a quick look.

In Jeremiah 29:11, Jesus declared "for I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future". This is God's promise to us. God has plans for us even though we may not have any plans for ourselves.

Bishop Bronner shared another perspective about problems that wasn't what I was expecting.

"The size of your problem predicts the size of your future."

The old testament in the Bible demonstrates how many male infants were killed under the age of 2. Moses was one of the males who miraculously managed to get pass the killings and lived on. The context of the bible shows how scared the enemies were of the future of the males. They feared who Moses was meant to become and the big things he was going to achieve in the future. Infants cannot do any harm at all yet the adults felt threatened because they knew who they would evolved into in the near future. They were threatened by their future. So the takeaway from this story was that if you are currently facing many problems, it meant that God has something really big and good in store for you.

The thief will only steal from someone if he knew that the person had valuable belongings. The reason why you are constantly facing trials, it's because you have something great in you that you may not even realize yet and they are trying to divert your attention to these instead of that beautiful future God has planned for you.

2. Faith is knowing the problem but looking at God.

In Psalm 57:1-2, David wrote these whilst trying to run from King Saul:

Have mercy on me, my God, have mercy on me,

for in you I take refuge.

I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings

until the disaster has passed.

I cry out to God Most High,

to God, who vindicates me.

Let's not make a "problem" into a fact of life. Fact of life cannot be solved. However, problems are not facts and therefore can be solved. Our God is a great problem solver and when we come to Him in prayers first when we are faced with big problems in our life, we do not need to be afraid because God knows how to bring us through storms. We just need to have the faith in Him that He is still in control.

What is your Goliath?

Everything you can see is temporal, which meant that it is subjected to change.

Devil wants to steal your joy by showing you the problem instead of the promise.

3. Every gift you have is a fruit to "feed others".

Bishop Bronner used a simple metaphor that we can all relate to - An orange tree doesn't eat its own fruit.

God saved us so that we can live in community.

It's childish to only think about "me". You are designed for new levels.

Rising to a new level is not so much about power or position but having a different perspective.

When we have a different perspective, we then have the desire for more. Having the appetite for more is vital in our spiritual walk with God.

Our hunger drives it. Our craving to serve others will increase. What delights you will impact what you desire.

Psalm 37:4

Take delight in the Lord,

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Revelations 4:1

After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”

4. To love - seeing the bad but saying the good to others.

When Bishop Bronner comes across a drug dealer, he sees the bad (dealing drugs and selling to others is considered bad) and he says the good (I can see an entrepreneur in you, you are just in the wrong place). I like that he is very humorous when preaching.

It's easy to want to receive affirmations from the external sources. We can sometimes be our own enemy. Bishop Bronner shared with us this quote, "If you can conquer the enemy within, you can conquer the outside." When we work, we work from affirmation that is from our Mighty God - The Creator who knows exactly what we need and when we need it.

1 John 3:2

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

5. Spiritual Warfare

Whenever you are chasing after God, the devil sends somebody or something to chase after you.

In the Bible, David was actively seeking God and at the same time he was being chased down by King Saul.

When God grants you favor, favor puts you in a fight. This can be further elaborated as we look into Joseph's life trials. He was his father's favorite son and this favor that he has caused the other brothers to become overwhelmed by the jealousy they felt towards him. It turned really toxic such that the brothers sold Joseph away to Egypt into slavery. Yet at the end of the story, we saw how God's plans for Joseph has never changed even when he was sent to become a slave in Egypt.

Isaiah 54:17

No weapon formed against you shall prosper. You will silence every voice raised up to accuse you. These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the LORD; their vindication will come from me.

*Vindication : action of clearing someone of blame or suspicion.

Ephesians 3:20-21

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,

to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Generations: have not been born yet.

Disciple generations to come. To have the inner conviction that this is not just about you.

6. Another learning point that I have derived from the sermon was this quote:

"To keep from returning to your past, you must create a picture of a better future."

Do you know what is the biggest room in this world?

It is the room for improvement.

When the Israelites went into the wilderness with God, God made sure that they had just enough food for the day. As they went into the Promised Land, God blessed them with overfilling food. There was abundance.

A book that I will recommend is Victory over the darkness by Neil T. Anderson.

It has sold more than one million. The book talks a little bit more about spiritual warfare and how the power of your identity in Christ can overcome all these darkness.

(I will be doing a book review after I have finished reading the whole book for the second time.)

7. The more you know, the more you grow.

Knowledge is power.

The righteous is delivered through knowledge.

Proverbs 11:9

With their words, the godless destroy their friends, but knowledge will rescue the righteous.

Bishop Bronner said, "Making money is an action, Saving money is a behavior and Growing money is knowledge.

We go out to work to make money. Keeping money is having the discipline to save up the money we earned. We are blessed by what we keep. When we have the knowledge about investments, that is when our money will start to grow. Passive income becomes possible when you know how to invest your savings. "Let the money work for you."

8. When He finishes, you begin.

It is finished. Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins so that we can live. We are already saved and He has positioned us to win. He was laying the foundations of the world. When He is finished, it meant that we are not.

God is pouring winds to bring you favor. God is up to something, you are not finished. Adversities is normal in life, so are problems. We either choose to suffer to improve or we can choose to suffer for not wanting to improve ourselves. It is a constant conscious decision we have to make everyday.

God has got the plan in mind for you. You have not met the people he has arranged for you to meet. He has got more for you.

9. Difficult problems force us to look to God and depend on Him.

He will lead every human being into difficult situation, person, restriction and limitation.

Psalm 42:1-2

As the deer longs for streams of water,

so I long for you, O God.

2 I thirst for God, the living God.

When can I go and stand before him?

I could vividly remember those days I just cried my lungs out to Him in prayers when faced with so many crisis in life. He listened gently and turned things around.

To date I am still struggling. In the matter of fact, I was just crying as I peered through my calendar and looking at my bank account. The trials are really not that easy and it's so easy to fall into the lies of Devil. Many times he will divert my attention to my problems and circumstances. It's stressful indeed but when I look back at all the miracles He has created, I can't help but to keep having faith that all is going to be okay. So I took a leap of faith and went ahead to want to be reconnected with Jesus whom I have already publicly declared to be my only God.

Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father,

Make me a blessing. Use me in all that I can. Use me with all that I have. Bless me so that I can bless others.

Our God is capable of making us a blessing to others. He will bless us enough to meet our basic needs and surplus for us to have more than enough to bless others too. We shall not live in lack but in abundance.

The meaning of life is to discover your gifts. The purpose of life is to serve it to others.