Waiting on the Father’s Promise

i hope you guys have had a good week i

hope you've been blessed this

week um God is good all the time the

only thing that when he's not is because

we're not

and uh so let's pray heavenly Father we

just thank you and praise you for today

we thank you for your word

we ask that you make this word

ministered to not only us but to anyone

that hears this word today lord in the

congregation whether they're here or

joining us by live stream or watch it

later on god we just ask that you meet

every need according to your riches and

glory in Jesus name we pray amen

so the last thing Jesus told his

disciples before he commissioned them

was for them to stay in Jerusalem and

wait for the father's promise and and I

want to kind of unpack Acts chapter 1

there's a lot of stuff in here

um it says be in verse four it says and

being assembled together with them

commanded them that they should not

depart from

Jerusalem but wait for the promise of

the father which saith he ye have heard

of me for truly baptized with water but

you baptized but ye shall be baptized

with the holy ghost not many days

since and then his disciples do

something that we all do they started

questioning him about what's the

priority of

things because they asked him when they

therefore were come together they asked

him saying Lord will thou at this time

restore again the kingdom to

Israel and Jesus has to redirect them

and get their focus back on on the

purpose and he says "It is not for you

to know the times or the seasons which

the Father hath put in his own

power but you shall receive power after

that the Holy Ghost has come upon you

and you shall be witnesses unto me both

in Jerusalem and in all Judea and into

Samaria and unto the uttermost part of

the earth." The reason he gave the Holy

Spirit was for one purpose to give you

boldness to witness that's what it's for

it's also it's through the Holy Spirit

that he performs miracles and he touches

people's lives and he changes people's

lives but the purpose of the spirit

being given was to give you

boldness to be able to witness that's

what it's

for and when he had spoken these things

while they beheld he was taken up and a

cloud received him out of their sight

and while they looked steadfastly toward

heaven as he went up behold two men

stood by them in white

apparel which also said "Ye men of

Galilee why stand you gazing up into

heavens this same Jesus which is taken

up from you into

heaven shall so come in like manner as

you have seen him go into heaven?" Now I

want to bring something out here at this

time there's 40 days since the

resurrection

there's 500 believers

here but by the time we get to Acts 2:1

there's only 120

left there's only 10 days between the

ascension and

Pentecost because Pentecost means 50 50

days it takes place 50 days after the

Passover they took place 50 days after

the resurrection jesus was talking to

his disciples this is on day

40 40 days 500 people have continued to

tear the witness but in 10

days 10 days they went from 500 to

120 and Jesus had told him directly go

wait in Jerusalem until you're receive

power through the Holy Spirit

how many times have you seen

people premature

birth they start out good they're going

down the road the way they're supposed

to they're supposed to be waiting on the

promise of the father but God's not

moving fast enough for them and they get

they get

discouraged and they quit

can you think of people you know that

used to go to

church that

quit they said "It was too hard i

couldn't

wait i needed it

now." And they

quit just short of what God was about to

do and it's always that way look at look

at that 500 people for 40 days with

Jesus and in 10 days they went from 500

to

120 well what happened to those 380

people in 10 days that caused them to

walk

away we always think about You ever made

this statement oh I'll never I I would

never do

that i would never do that i would never

do that and then the next thing you know

you did

it why because you're

human because at some

point the

temptation overtook

you james

says "Submit unto God resist the devil

and he'll flee from

you." He isn't going to flee from you

until you actually submit unto God and

resist him because he's not afraid of

you he's afraid of

God when he looks at you if he can't see

God's armor that has encased you he's

not

afraid but Jesus said "I gave you all

power over all the powers of the enemy."

Well how did he give you that power by

giving you the Holy Spirit when you

receive the Holy Spirit he empowers you

he makes you

bold to witness

him i was sharing this morning about

praying for this couple two years two

years they've been trying to have a baby

every time the wife got pregnant she

miscarried every single

time and there's nothing but sadness and

disappointment because they desperately

want a

baby i prayed for her she she had a

positive pregnancy test she's excited

she goes to the doctor they can't find a

heartbeat they can't find anything they

just And she's just

devastated she calls me on the phone

crying i said "It's okay." She goes I

said "It's okay trust me." So I prayed

for her

again she went to the

doctor the fetus is forming has a

heartbeat everything's positive and the

doctor told her "All the things you were

experiencing all these miscarriages you

had before it's not

there you should be able to carry this

baby full term." That's the God I

serve is that the God you

serve and when somebody calls you on the

phone and says "I need you to pray."

Are you confident that when you

pray that God's going to do exactly what

you

prayed because if you're not you got to

examine

yourself how many of you can tell me

when the last time Mary is mentioned in

the

Bible acts

1:14 and listen to what it says and this

is

important and these all continued with

one accord in prayer and supplication

with the

women and Mary the mother of Jesus and

with his brethren and it's really

important we've talked about this we've

said it we say it on a regular basis

but when the body of

Christ is not in one accord when they're

not in

agreement it's the only thing in this

world that can stop God from

moving god gave us a free

will when he created us he gives us a

free will when we're when he's forming

us in our mother's womb and everybody

who's living and breathing had to come

from a woman okay not not a man who

thinks he's a woman but from a real

one

okay bottom

line we have to line our will up with

God's

will we have to be

willing and this is the hard part to

submit to

him it happens that way if you need to

pray for people and you want to feel the

Holy Spirit begin to move through you to

touch that other

person you have to submit yourself to

God or he can't move through you

because you have a filter in place that

he designed is called your

mind and for him to reach somebody with

the message he has to get through that

filter

and when we come together as a church if

we're of one mind and one accord and one

accord we can reach more people than you

could possibly imagine but have you ever

yolked together well you ever seen a dog

sled they put them in a line on purpose

cuz each one is is tied to the one in

front of it to keep them from going 15

different directions

but if you put all those dogs on the

front of that dog sled and each one's on

an individual leash and you say mush

you're not going

anywhere because the dogs are all going

in different

directions

churches reach the

lost when everybody's in harness pulling

in the same

direction and you can't do

that if you don't have a clear vision

and Jesus gave him the vision go wait in

Jerusalem don't leave Jerusalem

until I give you the Holy

Spirit and give you power over all the

powers of the enemy because that's when

you're going to receive it 10 days 10

days and they went from 500 to

120 380 people lost their patience

and if you've been in this as long as I

have or

longer there's always a wait

time god will speak to you that he's

going to do

something there's always a wait time

he spoke to

Abraham when Abraham is 75 says "I'm

going to make you the father of many

nations through thy seed." Speaking

of

Isaac it was 25

years before he received

Isaac and he was a hundred years old

god is long-suffering and he's patient

and when he gives you assignments to do

and when he lays things out in front of

you it takes time because you're

fighting things in the spirit

realm that require spirit

beings to take command of

them think about

Daniel he prayed how long did it take

Gabriel to get the answer to

him over three weeks and what did he

tell him the battle was so great that I

had to call upon Michael to make to get

here to give you the

answer do you think the devil doesn't

fight you that way do you think the

devil doesn't know that if you actually

wait long enough to get the answer

you're going to have victory over him

and everything he's trying to do but to

get to that

place you have to stay faithful you have

to hold on to the horns of the altar you

have to tell God "I'm hanging on and I'm

not letting

go." You don't You don't get over these

things in that way

but God won't force it on

you just like he didn't force it on

those 380 that weren't there on the day

of Pentecost and you know what God did

he took these 120 that stayed faithful

peter gets up and preaches one message

after the 120 spoke in tongues to the 17

different people from 17 different

nations and 3,000 people got saved

and they got

baptized and they got filled with the

Holy

Spirit god's hand is not

shortened god is able to accomplish any

of those

things and it's what his will

is i shared with you guys before and it

says "What is the will of God in

everything give thanks for this is the

will of God in Christ Jesus concerning

you that's God's

will but it also says in Romans the

gifts and call of God are without

repentance so each and every one of you

every time you look in the mirror you

need to tell yourself I'm called of God

because you are and it doesn't matter

whether you're 8 years old or

92 you're called of God and you need to

remind yourself of that

how many of you liked Samson you like

stories he overcome all these things he

killed thousand men with the jawbone of

an

ass guess what he was an utter failure

because he had to go out and shake

himself to see if the anointing had left

him because he he liked loose

women and he couldn't resist them and he

finally gets to the end of his life when

he's already been

blinded and lost everything he

has and he turns and he he says to God

in prayer "God grant me this one final

time your

strength that I may bring down your

enemies." And what does he do he pulls

down Deeon's temple on top of the

Philistines that had blinded him and

died don't be

Samson be

Samuel when God cried out called out to

him and he says

"Samuel what was Samuel's

response here am I

Lord because that's what you're supposed

to respond here am I

Lord the 120 they stayed

faithful and God used them in a way that

has never been seen

before but his hand is not short he

wants that to happen again he wants

people going out and reaching people and

compelling them to come in he said that

he invited the guests and they didn't

come so he sent his servants out into

the highways and byways to compel those

that were there to come in and they

brought in these people off the

streets that weren't the invited guests

to the

party and they came into

this celebration with the

king and that's who we are supposed to

be without

fail i' I've shared with this with you

there are no big eyes and little 's in

the sight of God every God esteems every

man the same if an 8-year-old child is

willing to

go he'll use

them if a 92y old woman is willing to go

God will use them and he'll use anybody

in between that's willing to go what he

needs is somebody be to be willing to

go and the only person that can decide

that for you is

you am I going to do what God called me

to

do am I going to go where God called me

to

go am I going to look

for the ones that other people have left

behind

he never made it

hard but he made it where you have to

make a

choice you have to choose i can't choose

for you you can't choose for me i can't

choose for any single

person only you can choose for you

we live in a world that's lost and dying

and going to hell the things that people

do right now

you when I was 20 you didn't see this

stuff okay and I live I I led the dog's

life when I was 20 and I I'm ashamed of

the things I did but I'm not ashamed to

admit it because it's a testimony of how

much and how quick that God can change

your life which he did but at the same

time the things you see today are are

mind-boggling to say the

least but the message hasn't

changed and that message is Jesus came

he died on the cross he rose from the

dead and ascended back into heaven to do

one thing and one thing only

to bring salvation to

mankind he says John 3:16 says "For God

so loved the world that he gave his only

begotten son that whosoever should

believe in him should not perish but

have everlasting life." It's God's will

that nobody

perishes and he depends on broken messed

up

people to get the job

done you looking for the perfect

church let me warn you one thing don't

go there because when you get there it's

no longer

perfect it's full of messed up people

it's full of broken people it's full of

people that need Jesus because only

he can heal you and make you

right not

me nobody

else we all came to Jesus with the same

problem we were broken we all came to

Jesus with the same problem we had sin

in our life we all came to Jesus with

the same need we needed salvation

and he was

there to provide

it now we we we can throw this one way

we can throw it another way but don't

throw the baby out with the

bathwater it all comes down to one

thing you needed Jesus and so did

I and there's a whole world full of

people out there that do too and the

same thing that got you saved the same

thing that got Jesus into you is the

same thing that's going to get Jesus

into somebody else when you tell him

about

him when you tell

him what God did in your life see Billy

Graham's

testimony you telling Billy Graham's

testimony isn't going to get people

saved it might inspire them it might

soften their heart but when you witness

to somebody specifically what God did

for

you for

you that means something to somebody

when somebody asks you a question do you

believe God heals people have you ever

been healed cuz you'll be around that

you're going to hear that

question you say "Well yeah because I

received it." Well you believe that God

wants to wants to honor and bless his

people yes I do because I received

it do you believe that God wants to save

everybody well yes I do because I'm

living

proof i didn't fall by the

wayside god's seed didn't land on ground

and it didn't land in rocky soil it

landed on fertile land and it's

producing a crop

when brother Tim was talking about that

mustard seed everybody gets the same

amount of faith when they get saved what

they do with it and how they cultivate

it is what makes the

difference and there's only one way to

cultivate

it and that's spending time in prayer

and praise and praying in the spirit

because it's praying in the spirit that

builds up your most holy faith that's

pouring water on the seed to make it

grow and you have to learn how to do

that it just doesn't happen like

that you do have to learn how to do

it but it's necessary

it's necessary to be able to pray and

yield your will to God's will because

when you do that you'll actually hear

from

him and be able to go do

something and that's why it was so

important when Jesus told him to wait

for the father's promise why because he

wanted to give them not only that power

for boldness to go out and witness but

also to give them the

strength for the journey because he knew

it was going to be hard have you ever

read Fox's book of martyrs it lists how

all the apostles

died and some of them they died pretty

bad peter Peter and Andrew were

both crucified upside down

on X-shaped crosses paul was beheaded

thomas was speared through the heart in

India and it goes on and on and on john

is the only one that died from old age

and they boiled him in oil before they

sent him to the island of

Patmos

those that went before us paved the way

for us because Jesus said "If they if

they hate me they'll hate you if they

persecute me they'll persecute you if

they kill me they'll kill

you." But he told you also at the same

time to have a cheerful heart about it

because you were going to spend eternity

with him

he said "He that loses his life for my

sake shall save it but he that saves his

life shall lose it." Don't compromise

what God has given

you make

sure that whatever calling he's placed

in your

life you're willing to

do because you're the only one that can

do it

nobody else can do the ministry God's

called you to do but

you because he created you as an

individual and unique that can reach a

unique set of people and so I want to

encourage you guys next

Sunday is

Pentecost and it does mean 50 days it is

the Jewish festival of the wheat harvest

but you know what it is more than

anything else it is the birthday of the

church and when we celebrate s Pentecost

we're celebrating God establishing his

church so I'm going ask you guys all to

stand that are able to stand you have

something to give out sister Leon before

we pray that have Kalia and I come up

sure