Live Blogging: T.D. Jakes to Speak at August 28th Service in Honor of Bishop Eddie Long's 24 Years of Leadership at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church

Pastor Gary Oliver tells congregation to believe God for material things, such as nicer house, expensive car and to go to the mall & try on red-soled Christian Louboutin shoes even though they can't afford it, that will be their's one day.

Pastor Gary Oliver at New Birth (Ainsworth Communication)

Live-blogging New Birth Missionary Baptist Church 08/21/11: Well, the service started with a long, drawn-out rendition and then the moderator came on and prayed, thanking God for Bishop Long and his wife Vanessa, for their 24 years of service to the church. Bishop T. D. Jakes will be the speaker next Sunday, August 28th. I'm sure that will be a packed house. It will be interesting to listen to his sermon. Elder Jacquitta Williams says a special service is planned for August 23rd and the guest speaker will be John Gray. They will be celebrating First Lady Vanessa Long. They are asking each woman to bring two cards, one for Mrs. Long and one for a friend.

Hip-Hop at New Birth (Ainsworth Communication)

Next up three rappers, saying "Rocking my chains, getting my praise on. We go hard for the Lord." Yeah, nothing like hip-hop in the house. "Tradition makes the word of God have no effect.""We want to praise your name. We go hard for the Lord." The moderator is asking people who watch the live stream to partner with New Birth and "sow into the First Family and the 24th pastoral anniversary.

Bishop Gary Oliver, pastor of the Tabernacle of Praise Church, will deliver sermon today. He said something "good is about to happen in here." Bishop Long is still in South Africa. He said he wants to honor "our great bishop and a great man of God, Bishop Eddie Long." He said it's one thing to preach it, it's another thing to live it. when you can go through the storms of life, "shake serpents off in the fire" and can still preach the word of God, you need to thank God for Bishop Long. He broke out in song, "Simply One Thing I Desire." He's singing "I see increase and it's all around me. Enlarge my territory. There's no limits in God." He said we honor Elder Vanessa, and he loves her deeply.

The text is taken from Genesis 13:16-17 -- After Lot had separated from Abraham, lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward, southward, eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give it to you and to your descendants forever. Nobody can take away from you and the only one who is stealing will have to bring it back seven times. He said I have a feeling I am in a room of people too expensive for the devil to mess with. He won't be able to cultivate seven times what he took from you.

"Everywhere I am looking and turning I am hearing so many people say there is a shift that is not coming, but we are in it. The shift that we are in, I felt in my spirit God saying it is going to be completed somewhere between October and the end of the year. Before 2012, if you are connected to what God is doing right now, something is going to radically shift in your life, your mind and your heart." He said the shift that God is working now is a good shift. "In order to catch this shift the people are going to have to change how they think. What type of ground are you? Stony, hardened, thorny or is it that good ground that hears the word." "It is up to me to determine what kind of soil I am." "I'm going to be in the middle of the shift. I am going to get everything that is mine."How will you respond? There's supposed to be, if it's good soil, some receptivity." The people are screaming and cheering like crazy. Typical cult-like behavior. "It is your season and I dare you to shout like you believe."

"If we are going to catch the shift, we have to change the way we think," Oliver said. He's talking about his dog Molly. He said she's little but she doesn't know it. She doesn't know she's supposed to be afraid of big dogs. All she knows is that she's in her house. Mr. Bailey had a bunch of guinea hens and he told him that he's glad to be his neighbor but they're going to have a problem because his dog will kill his guineas. Mr. Bailey said coyotes can't catch the guineas. She has been trapped by coyotes but has gotten free every time. He said his dog killed 14 guineas the first day of the bet. Shaking my head at this ridiculous story. He the dog doesn't know she isn't qualified to killed the guineas but she did. He said you have to let the devil know when he gets on your territory. He's talking "black" too.

Land flowing with milk and honey, with giants in the land. "Have you thought at what part of the four year journey they sent the spies in? Thirty-eight years. There's a promised land waiting on me. I'm tired about going around and around the mountain." "Everything you've been through, get ready, it's coming back," he said. "You really ain't lost nothing. You just gained seven times what you thought you lost." "How you see yourself is how your enemy sees.""Every problem in life isn't really about the problem or the issue."What Saul thought was his problem, lost donkeys, was God positioning him to appear before Samuel. What you've been going through isn't the problem. It's just a repositioning. A place to shout yes!" He called for "fresh anointing" on everything. Of course, the congregation is going wild. He said what you've been going through isn't about the problem, but getting you ready for a fresh release of the Lord and what He will do." You cannot help where you are in life but your present circumstances aren't who you are but who you were.

He said if you want to come out of debt to stop thinking about it. "What you think about, thank about, you bring about."He said debt shouldn't be your focus. Focus on prosperity because the debt is on a repayment schedule and will work itself out. "I see good things coming my way, favor falling on me every day," he told the congregation to recite. You need to drive through the neighborhood you want to live in and just see yourself in it. He said "go and try on some shoes you know you can't afford, but do it anyway. One day you can walk in with your red-soled Christian Louboutins. See yourself where you want to be. It doesn't cost nothing to try on," he said. Shout "I see it.""I see money coming easy, with no strain, no stress."

Oliver closed his sermon with a song, "Until it Works, Until it Turns Around, I'm Going to Praise." Catchy song. The congregation is jumping and dancing in the aisle and in front of the church. Some dropping money in the receptacles on the altar. He said "God told Abraham to get away from noise around you. People talking to you and telling you all kind of crazy trash. You've got to walk it out. Everything you put your foot on belongs to you. Take back everything God gave you." He said "what's you're going after is no longer oppressive to you. The only thing I have between me and God is my praise. Take no thought for tomorrow, everything belongs to you. Every promise already happened. It's already done. It's just waiting on you to get there. All your stuff is just waiting on you to get to the right place in your mind and in your feet." God won't give us some things is primarily because of the company you keep. You have to surround yourself with the right people. Write out a deposit check for money you are believing God for in the next 60 days and put it on the mirror in your room. Believe God for what you want.

All Gary Oliver stood in the pulpit and talked about are material things -- expensive horses, BMWs, Christian Louboutin shoes, watches and cars. Is this the best New Birth can do for the spiritual need of the congregation? This is why organized religion is steadily losing its steam in this country. It's all about the big houses, nice clothes and expensive cars. Why not ask God for the wisdom to deal with life's challenges as they come? Why ask God for a show horse? "God not only wants to give you fresh desires for your heart, but those things you have been desiring - better house, car, house, get ready for a blessing in your life. No limits, no boundary, I see increase all around me. Stretch forth, bring forth, release me, enlarge my territory," he shouted.