Calvin M. Hooper - 8 Essentials for Following Jesus. How to Walk the Walk not Just Talk the Talk

Copyright 2011Calvin M. Hooper

All rights reserved. This book is protected by the copyright laws of the United States of America. This book may not be copied or reprinted for commercial gain or profit. The use of short quotations or occasional page copying for personal or group study is permitted and encouraged. Permission will be granted upon request. Unless otherwise identifed, Scripture quotations are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version. Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked AMP are taken from the Amplifed Bible, Copyright 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All emphasis within Scripture quotations is the authors own. Please note that Destiny Images publishing style capitalizes certain pronouns in Scripture that refer to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and may differ from some publishers styles. Take note that the name satan and related names are not capitalized. We choose not to acknowledge him, even to the point of violating grammatical rules.

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ISBN 13 TP: 978-0-7684-3779-9
ISBN 13 Ebook: 978-0-7684-8996-5

For Worldwide Distribution, Printed in the U.S.A.
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This book is dedicated to all of those godly soldiers of Christ who have expressed true Christian living before us, even though, to our embarrassment, we may not have been paying attention, and to those who wish to exhibit that kind of life now.

Thank You to God for the inspiration to write this book. It is my prayer that you be blessed and that your Christian walk will be stronger than ever.

Thank you to my beautiful, talented, and anointed wife, Valerie, who is truly a gift from God to me. I love you. Thank you for your encouragement, love, and support throughout the years. You are truly one of a kind. The Bible says he who finds a wife finds a good thing (see Prov. 18:22). You are certainly my good thing! Thanks for always being there.

Thank you to my wonderful children, Calvin II, Jeremy, Natasha, Daisha, and Vincent, for being involved in the ministry. It is such a blessing to see you used by God. I love you! Represent Christ in all you do!

Thank you to my parents, F. M. Hooper and Julia Hooper, as well as my father-in-law, Reuben Sims, and his wife, Jean, for their love and support.

Thank you to Bishop I. V. Hilliard, a man whose example of steadfast devotion to the things of God, love for the people of God, excellence in serving Him, and teaching the Word of God have impacted my ministry in a powerful way. Special thanks to Bishop Charles Wiley who laid the foundation for how I have lived my Christian life since giving my life to Christ many years ago. Special thanks also to Bishop Shelton Bady. Many lessons were learned from you that have impacted me in a very positive way. I appreciate all that I still glean from you. Thank God for you!

Finally, thank you to the greatest church members in the world, at the Household of Faith Christian Fellowship Church, for your prayers, love, and support. My wife and I are honored to serve you. We love you all!

Pastors Hoopers book entitled 8 Essentials for Following Jesus and subtitled Walk the Walk, Dont Just Talk the Talk is an insightful, engaging, and instructive discourse that shares the importance of living for God on a daily basis. Pastor Hooper draws from his personal experiences and uses sound biblical principles to convey how essential it is for Christians to live godly lives. The shepherds heart of Pastor Hooper is warmly felt as he encourages, admonishes, and teaches how and why Christians need to walk the walk.

This timely message that is being shared by Pastor Hooper is valuable information for new believers who have barely begun to crawl, as well as established and seasoned Christians who can always benefit from edifying words that provoke them to continue on in their walk. Pastors will be able to use this book as an excellent tool to train new members and also as a practical teaching source for Bible studies for all ages.

Wherever you are today in your walk with God, you will be strengthened, encouraged, and blessed as you read and implement the principles and walk the walk.

Pastor Geoffrey Stirrup

Dominion COGIC

San Antonio, TX

The purpose of this book is to provide you, the Christian, with some key essentials that will serve as the underpinning of a truly transformed, Christlike life. The Bible is clear on how we should live our lives. There are so many distractions, traps, roadblocks, and other things that can get in the way of living the Christian life. The key to overcoming these things is to know how to walk the walk.

I do want to make it very clear that this writing is not tied to any denomination whatsoever. There are many great denominational and nondenominational churches in our world, but this writing does not focus on our traditions or our similarities and differences. To be quite frank, we spend far too much time on that anyway and end up displaying attitudes that bring into question what we profess as Christians. This is emphatically a book written for the Christian, regardless of your denomination. This book is totally based on what the Bible has outlined for how we are to live our lives.

It is my prayer that once you read this book, your Christian life will perpetually go to higher levels in Christ.

It is my prayer that once you read this book, your Christian life will perpetually go to higher levels in Christ. I do not purport to have given an exhaustive presentation of how a Christians life should look, but if you apply these essentials, I believe that your life will reflect more of Christ. To God be the glory!

As I was contemplating the writing of this book, I considered the fact that, in our country, people have so many different ideas as to what a Christian really is. For example, some have the notion that a Christian is someone who goes to church. Although Christians should certainly go to church in accordance with Hebrews 10:25, that is not an exhaustive description of what a Christian is.

Some may say that a Christian is a person who does good deeds and doesnt treat anyone badly. When we read the Bible, we are certainly told that we should treat others the way we would want to be treated (