STAGGER NOT!
Rom. 4:17-21
Abram; “exalted father”
Lived in the Ur of Chaldes, lived a godly life in an ungodly place.
One day the true and living God spoke to him and said…
Gen 12:1
“Get thee out of thy country and from thy fathers house, unto a land that I will shew thee”
Abram listened, and he obeyed.
Here he was, comfortable, at ease, things going god, no problems, no wants, ect…
But he prayed and he obeyed!
We need to do that again.
1. In America
2. In our cities
3. In our churches
4. In our families
5. As Christians
Tell God right now “Lord let it start in me!”
Abram was obedient.
Obedience brings
1. Miracles
2. Favor
3. Answered prayers
Abram moved out, he sojourned, wondered, in the land of promise.
Gen. 12:7 “.unto thy seed will I give this land”
Ill.- Small, sliver of land, less than 20 miles wide in some places, such a small place, yet the focal point of Biblical prophecy, belongs to Gods chosen people.
When Abram heard God he built an alter
Q- Do you have an alter?
Ill.- Father-in-law built one and keeps it in his house.
We need to rebuild the old time alters!
Too many churches have removed them, and relegated prayer to a back room.
Lets build again the alter where we first heard the Lord!
The third time God spoke to Abram.
Gen. 13:16 “..I will make thy seed as the dust of the Earth..”
Q- How here has God spoke to you and given you a promise?
We know it was God who spoke, yet often times we question Him. Not in unbelief, but because of a lake of knowledge.
We’ll ask God “How you gonna do that? I mean, look at my situation!”
Like Abram we’ll wonder
1. How
2. When
3. Where
4. Who
5. Why
We try and figure God out.
Ill.
1. Finantualy; get a loan, budget, credit cards
2. Physically; go to the doctor before the Great Physician
3. Lost Family; nag, drop hints
Abram thought that God was going to bring the seed through his servant Eliazar.
Then Sara talked him into thinking “God must mean that the seed would come through my handmaiden Hagar.”
That started a whole lotta mess!!
Church, don’t get ahead of God!
He may not come when you want Him. But He’ll be there right on time!
When you try to manipulate the hand of God, you’ll get in trouble every time.
Can I get a witness!?!
When you do, you will always produce an Ishmael. Something that will hinder the will of God for your life.
There are some Ishmaels here today that some people need to deal with.
1. Worry
2. Doubt
3. Fear
4. Past
Then God spoke to Abram the forth time and told him again that He would multiply his seed.
But God knew how Abram was. So He changed his name.
From Abram; exhaled father.
To Abraham; father of many nations.
God has changed some people’s names here today.
1. Drunkard to drunk on the Holy Ghost.
2. Thief to a tither.
3. Whoremonger to a Holy priesthood.
Q- Why did the Lord change his name?
Because God calls “..those things that be not, as though they were..”
Abraham looked at himself and thought…
1. “I’m too old, it’s too late in life for children.”
2. “My body too week, will not function…”
Some of you here today are saying…
1. “It’s too late for me to receive a miracle.”
2. “My body is too old to worship God like I used to.”
3. “My finances are too small to make a difference.”
4. “My family is too for gone into sin, no hope for revival.”
But God…
Somebody say “But God!”
But God calls those things that are not, how?
God says to you tonight…
1. “Your youth is renewed like the eagle.”
2. “Your body is healed by the stripes upon My Sons back.”
3. “I take pleaser in the prosperity of my people.”
4. “You have believed in Me, and your household will be saved.”
Learn to speak Gods Word over your situation.
Refuse to speak the negative.
Ill.- Tom Altman, young man at HHC, doctors said he had cancer in his eye and it was moving to the other eye, refused to accept defeat, believed God, doctors took an x-ray, said that it wasn’t there anymore.
Mk. 11:23 “…That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith.”
Rom.4:18 “ Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken..”
Hope keeps Gods Word alive in you, the Word He has spoken over you.
Hope keeps us hanging on, when the whole world crumbles around us.
Rom. 4:20 “..he staggered not..”
Abraham didn’t stagger, or fall into unbelief, doubt, fear, or frustration.
He staggered not at…
1. The Promise “..seed as the sand of the sea…stars of the sky…”
Q- Have you ever had God give you a promise, a dream, so awesome that you were afraid to tell anyone?
Ill.- Pick up the phone, dial all but last number, hang up and say, “They’ll think I’m crazy!”
God’s will for His people is for us to walk in, and posses our promise.
We’re not looking for the Promised Land, but a land of promises!
· Healing – Isa. 53:5 “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.”
· Deliverance- Ps. 50:15”…call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee…”
· Baptism in the Holy Ghost- Lk. 24:49 “…I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry…until ye be endued with power from on high…”
· Prosperity- Mal. 3:10,11 “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse…and prove Me now…if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”
· Revival- 2Chron. 7:14 “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins, and will heal their land.”
· Household Salvation- Acts 16:3 “..believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”
Q- How many here needs one of these promises today?
Raise your hands and praise Him! Not because the promise is manifested, but praise Him on credit! Worship Him right now, before you see your promise!
2. The Problem
“…considered not his own body dead, nor the deadness of Sarah’s womb…”
You will never receive from God if you stop looking to Him in faith, and start looking in fear.
We don’t deny facts. But we do not trust in facts, we believe in the Truth!
Ill.- May be sick, don’t deny sickness but confess our healing.
May have finance struggles, don’t deny it but confess our prosperity.
Ill.- Peter walked on the water till he took his eyes off of Jesus.
Keep your eyes on the prize!
The devil will come to steal the seed, Gods Word to you.
Ill.- Years in church, seen many walk in faith for a while, leave, why?
They let their problem become greater than their Provider!
3. The Process
Everything in life is a process.
God had spoken several years earlier to Abraham about the seed of promise, before Isaac was born.
Though Abraham didn’t stagger, he did stumble. He and Sahra tried to help Him out and produced the seed of the flesh, Ishmael.
Q- No one here has ever tried to help God out before I’m sure?
Some things we have thought would be our promise, have often turned out to be a thorn in our side, a skeleton in our closet that we hope no one ever sees.
Don’t get in a hurry church! Wait on Him!
“…they that wait upon the Lord, shall renew their…”
Process brings progress!
No testing/trials/tribulations, no progress.
Ill.-
· Israel, 40 years in wilderness, received the Promised Land.
· Jesus, trial/crucifixion, opened up salvation.
· Early church, suffered persecution/ Nero, Gospel spread to the world.
· Early Pentecostals, mocked/ridiculed, today is the fastest growing religion.
Our problem is we don’t want to wait on our harvest.
Ill.- Farmer planting seed on Monday, expecting a harvest on Tuesday, or not watering it, or harvesting before the grain is ready.
Church, God has sent me here to tell you to wait on Him. Be patient in the process, and the promise will come.
You may be delayed, but you will not be denied!
Alter:
Pastor Harrison- “A promise will never be more than a promise without a seed”
