Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Today is a good day for a miracle.
[00:00:07] It's actually what I'm calling the message today. If you are taking notes, I want you to write that down. Today is a good day for a miracle. I want you to tell your neighbor that. Come on, tell him. Today's a good day for a miracle.
[00:00:21] That's right. Would you stand as we honor the reading of God's word?
[00:00:25] I'm going to pick up where I left off last week.
[00:00:29] We shared out of Psalm 27, David begins to exhort a few conditions of the heart.
[00:00:37] And we want to look at that today.
[00:00:42] Powerful passage. You can look at the heart verses here. In fact, I'm going to read it on the screen with you guys here. So the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord, I like this. He's the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked come against me, came against me to eat up my flesh, my enemies, my foes, they stumbled and they fell. Though an army may encamp against me, my heart will not fear. My heart will not fear. My heart will not fear. Hallelujah. The war may rise against me. In this I'll be confident. One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek. That I may go to church, I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. I want to behold the beauty of the Lord. I want to pray. I want to talk with the Lord. I want to inquire in his temple.
[00:01:39] For in the time of trouble, he will hide me in his pavilion, the secret place of his tabernacle. He shall hide me, shall set me high upon a rock. My head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me. Therefore I will bring, I will offer sacrifices of joy in his tabernacle. Those were literal offerings that were offered with trumpets and celebration. I'm going to bring offerings and I'm going to sing to the Lord. Yes, I will sing. Yes, I will sing praises to the Lord. Verse 7. Here. O Lord, when I cry with my voice, have mercy upon me and answer me me. When you said, seek my face, oh, I like this too.
[00:02:22] My heart said, your face. Lord, I will seek. I heard your invitation. I will seek you. Do not hide your face from me. Do not turn your servant away in anger. You have been my help. Do not leave me. Do not forsake me, oh God, of my salvation.
[00:02:39] When my father and my mother forsake me, the Lord will take care of me and teach me your way. O Lord, lead me in a smooth path because of my enemies. Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries. False witnesses, if risen against me as such, breathe out violence.
[00:02:58] I would have lost heart unless I believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. I would have lost heart.
[00:03:11] I believe I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord.
[00:03:17] Be of good courage.
[00:03:19] He will strengthen your heart.
[00:03:23] Wait, I say, on the Lord. Trinity Church. This is God's word.
[00:03:29] Believe it to be true. You may be seated.
[00:03:34] So last Sunday we posed the question we asked repeatedly, how's your heart?
[00:03:43] How's your heart this week?
[00:03:45] Hopefully better than last Sunday. If your heart was bad, if you got a great heart, my heart's strong. Hallelujah. Then pray for Lee. You're still in that place. We dealt with a number of things out of the text last week.
[00:03:57] David talked about the fearful heart of whom shall I fear? And he names armies, wicked, flesh eating enemies. I don't know what that is, but it sounds intense. I wonder if that'll make it in house of David. That'd be awesome. Surrounded by enemies, wars. But David found a solution. One thing I desire that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. Meaning my heart is overwhelmed with fear. I'm going to get around the people of God.
[00:04:36] I'm going to pray, I'm going to go to church, I'm going to worship the fearful heart.
[00:04:43] Found the one thing and this is what I would encourage you. I don't know if you came in today and you have this battle of fear. You've got accusations, you've got wars, you've got things that concern you. You have slanders, you have haters, you have demonic powers. Maybe you feel like war is being waged around you.
[00:05:03] You've come to the right place today.
[00:05:06] You have come to the house of God and the Lord is here. And there are people of faith who would love to and are willing to stand with you.
[00:05:17] The second heart we dealt with is the seeking heart.
[00:05:20] I love Psalm 27:8, especially out of the new living translation. It says, my heart has heard you say, he's talking now to the Lord. My heart has heard you say, lord, come and talk with me.
[00:05:37] And my heart responds. Notice this was a heart response.
[00:05:41] My heart responds, lord, I'm coming and I want you to know you're here today. And I don't know if you've been walking for the Lord for quite some time. But maybe you're going through a dry season, you haven't encountered the Lord. Maybe you've had difficulty in your life.
[00:05:58] Maybe you're here and I don't even know how to pray. I don't even know how to begin this Jesus walk thing. I want you to know the invitation is the same to each and every person. Within the sound of my voice. The Lord is saying, come to me.
[00:06:13] Come and talk to me and our heart, everyone. Doesn't matter if if you've got stains in your life, doesn't matter if you've got sin in your life, doesn't matter if you've got a broken or a fearful heart. The invitation stands for each and every one of us. Lord, I'm coming. I've heard your invitation. You're tugging at my heart and my heart is responding. I'm saying, lord, I'm coming.
[00:06:36] I'm with you now.
[00:06:39] I want to deal with a statement that David makes in verse 13 today.
[00:06:46] He says, I would have lost heart unless I believed. Everybody say, believe I would have lost heart.
[00:06:58] But I believe I would see the goodness of God in the land of the living.
[00:07:06] You know, I believe that today is a good day for a miracle.
[00:07:12] I believe today is a good day for the goodness of God to be released and expressed over your life. I don't know where you're standing today, but you're here and you may have a vision for something that, that you believe God has spoken to you. Maybe you had a prophetic word or maybe the God planted an idea in your heart. Maybe there was a verse of scripture that spoke to you at one time and you grabbed hold of it and you believe that God had a good blessing, that he had a miracle, something that he desired to release in your life.
[00:07:47] But you spent seasons wondering, God, when is that season and when is my breakthrough? You spoke to me this business idea, I believe it's going to generate millions of dollars, but I haven't seen the breakthrough yet. And I'm still struggling to believe for this God. You gave me this ministry idea, but I don't seem to have traction in it yet. Where are you, God, in this situation?
[00:08:09] Lord, you spoke to me that you were going to give me a godly spouse, but I haven't yet seen that. I haven't met them yet. And God, I'm wondering, am I supposed to be single my entire life? My desire is to be married, Lord, I want to have children or I'm believing for resource or I Need a healing in my body or I've got this torment in my mind. I've got chains of bondage or a curse on my life. And I. Well, I don't know what it is. But you're believing for some expression, some promise of God, and you've not yet seen it.
[00:08:41] I've come to tell you I believe today is a good day for a miracle.
[00:08:46] Today's a good day for a breakthrough.
[00:08:49] We're going to learn from King David. He knew something about the goodness of God. I want you to write this down. If you're taking notes. Number one. The goodness of God comes to those who believe.
[00:09:00] This is our starting place. We must begin to believe God. You said this, Lord, this is your desire. God, I trust in your word, your scripture. Maybe you heard the preacher say something one time. I'm just going to take him at his word, God. If he says that out of the word of God, I believe. That's for me.
[00:09:19] God's put something in your heart. The goodness of God comes to those who believe.
[00:09:27] Proverbs, you'll understand.
[00:09:29] David wrote the psalm that we just read.
[00:09:34] He said, I would have lost heart, but I believed.
[00:09:39] I believed for the goodness of God. I almost lost heart, but I believed.
[00:09:44] His son Solomon made a similar statement. You may probably know this by heart, but Solomon said in Proverbs 13:12 that hope deferred. This is another condition of the heart. Hope deferred, Hope delayed hope, Hope deferred.
[00:10:01] Dreams that drag on and on are not fulfilled, makes your heart sick.
[00:10:08] Another translation says, when hope's dreams drag on and on, the delay can be depressing.
[00:10:16] I don't know if you've got any dreams like that.
[00:10:20] God, you gave me this dream, you gave me this word, you gave me this vision.
[00:10:25] And I believe and I believe and I believe.
[00:10:31] But years have gone by and I've responded to the altar and I went to the training and I took a step of faith.
[00:10:41] But I'm still in this window of believing and I have not seen the breakthrough.
[00:10:47] And if you stay in that place for long enough, and I would imagine everybody can relate to this in some way, shape or form, that we have these things that if we lose hope or we lose vision or we lose faith, we can become sick in heart, we can become depressed, or we can lose heart altogether.
[00:11:12] And I believe this is not where God desires to leave us.
[00:11:15] Because you look at the other thing that he says.
[00:11:18] He said in verse 12, Hope deferred makes the heart sick.
[00:11:22] But when the desire comes, it is a Tree of life.
[00:11:34] Have you ever had a dream that's been fulfilled?
[00:11:38] Have you ever had a moment? I was asking one of our newlyweds, just in between the service. He got married, I think, three weeks ago.
[00:11:45] How's married life?
[00:11:47] And he's like, she still loves me.
[00:11:51] I'm like, that's the dream right there.
[00:11:54] And it's a wonderful. It's a dream fulfilled.
[00:11:58] He's living in a place of bliss. This is something that God has given him the desire of his heart. And you know what I love about this idea? It's not that, you know, the tree bears or. It's not just that, you know, a seed bears fruit. It's not like flower that blossoms and then the winter comes and it dies and it never grows back.
[00:12:20] What do they call those flowers?
[00:12:25] Annuals, whatever. I don't know. No, annuals are the ones that grow back anyway.
[00:12:31] But there's a difference when it comes to trees.
[00:12:35] Once a tree takes root and begins to grow and produce fruit, friend, it doesn't just produce fruit one time and it's over.
[00:12:45] I was talking with a friend who has a pear tree. He brought me a bag of pears. And he's like, the land's been dry. It's not been raining much up until this week, praise God. But he's like, the land's been dry, but my pear tree is still bearing fruit. And he brought me a whole bag of delicious pears. And he's talking about, my wife's gonna make some pear butter. I don't know what that is, but it sounds heavenly. Hallelujah. But trees, even in dry atmospheres, continue to bear fruit. And what does this have to do with anything he is saying? When a dream is fulfilled, it's like a tree of life. And here's what I want to encourage you to continue to contend for that dream, for that vision, for that miracle. Because, friend, breakthrough is not just a moment that you visit. It's a place that you can live from once you step into breakthrough. It's not like God healed Bartimaeus and Bartimaeus went back to his blindness.
[00:13:48] It's not like God saved someone like Peter, redeemed these people, brought them out of their sin, and next thing you know, they're just. They're far from God and unredeemed. No. He touches them, they have their moment of breakthrough. God does something powerful in their lives. Mary Magdalene, seven demons come out of her. She never went back to her place of bondage. She received her breakthrough, and it became a place that she Lived in.
[00:14:14] You'll never see somebody you're believing for a financial breakthrough. I love. I love Pastor Matt and Jen's testimony.
[00:14:22] They're talking about, I've got this vision for jubilee, and I've got a vision for a better job. And so they give by faith.
[00:14:32] You know, Jen is still living in that 35% salary increase.
[00:14:39] She's living in the place of a fulfilled dream.
[00:14:43] She doesn't have to go back next week and live at a lower level. No. God put a vision in her heart. She took a step of faith, and now she gets to live from that place of blessing.
[00:14:54] You're contending for a ministry. You're contending for a healing. You're contending for salvation, friend. Once you break into something, you can live from that place.
[00:15:05] So I don't want you to think my life and the Christian walk is going to be continual waiting for a place of breakthrough. No, there are moments where you step into that dream and you never have to go back.
[00:15:19] Look at the two people that we're talking about today, David and Solomon.
[00:15:24] David is anointed. The word of the Lord comes. I'm going to make you a king. I'm going to make you a ruler. I'm going to put an anointing on your life.
[00:15:33] And you watch. Yes, there were seasons of waiting. There's a giant that needs to come down. But once David learned how to topple giants, you know, you read about at least five other giants that him and his boys learned to topple as well.
[00:15:46] He never had to go back to, I wonder if I can take a giant. No. Once he broke through in that realm, he knew that he had faith for that, and others were able to walk in that path as well.
[00:15:57] He brought people alongside him.
[00:16:00] There were a handful at first. There were outcasts and rejects. But God begins to raise up mighty 300 who will fight by his side, loyal to the death. If you're living in a cave, we're in the cave with you. If you're in the palace, we're in the palace with you. And we're gonna go where you're gonna go. God trusted him with that.
[00:16:17] And you'll watch how God, one breakthrough after another. Next thing, it's an army, and then it's a city, and then it's a nation. God trusted him with one measure of breakthrough to the next measure of breakthrough to the next measure of breakthroug. He never had to go back.
[00:16:34] Solomon had his own journey.
[00:16:38] Prophecy comes to him. He had some things to navigate, brother. Wanted to usurp his throne, take what was rightfully his.
[00:16:47] And he had to navigate those things. And he's installed. He's now stepping into the kingdom. Moment of breakthrough.
[00:16:54] He's honoring God, gives a ridiculous offering.
[00:16:59] Then God visits him in the night, says, what do you want?
[00:17:02] He says, lord, I need wisdom to lead this people that you've trusted me with.
[00:17:09] God responds to him. You could have asked for wealth, could have asked for long life. You could have asked for influence. But because you asked for an honorable, a humble thing, I'm going to give you that. And I'm going to give you everything that you didn't even ask for. I'm going to give you wealth, I'm gonna give you influence, I'm gonna give you ideas. I mean, it was wild the way that the Lord blessed him. That was a moment of breakthrough. And it's not like he was wise one day and then went back to a place of just normal operation. He had his breakthrough, and he lived from that place of breakthrough. He had wealth, and he continued to build that wealth through the entire rest of his life. He had peace from all of his enemies, and he had that for his entire life.
[00:17:51] My point is this.
[00:17:53] When you break through, you can live in that place of breakthrough. And that's what I want us to believe for.
[00:17:59] I'm sick of meeting Christians who you ever. You see the evolution chart, you look like the third guy over on the evolution chart.
[00:18:15] Always some crisis. I don't believe in evolution, by the way, but I'm just saying, some of you look like that.
[00:18:26] But I'm always in need.
[00:18:31] I'm always broken.
[00:18:33] I'm always in crisis. Friend, I understand. We all have those moments, but you don't have to stay there. Today's a day for breakthrough. Today's a day for a miracle. You can step into new territory and you can live from that place. I don't know about you, but I'm not going from crisis to crisis, from valley to valley, from battle to battle. I'm moving from faith to faith, from glory to glory, increase to increase.
[00:18:59] Come on. Greater encounters, greater miracles.
[00:19:04] Tell your neighbor today's a good day for a miracle.
[00:19:09] I will see the goodness of God.
[00:19:12] Now you'll notice something. This is the second idea.
[00:19:16] I feel full of faith.
[00:19:18] God's gonna do something great today.
[00:19:22] David said, I believe I will see the goodness of God. I would have lost heart, but I believe that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
[00:19:35] In the land of the living. If you're taking notes. I want you to write this down. Believing reaches for a miracle today.
[00:19:45] Believing will reach for a miracle today. You'll notice these points really build on each other. The goodness of the Lord will come to those who believe.
[00:19:56] Believing will reach for it, will contend for it, will it will believe for a miracle Today.
[00:20:05] I want you to. I want you to lock in and believe with me that today, today is the day for a miracle. Today is the day for a healing. Today is the day where everything changes. Today is the day that God's moving me to new realms of faith.
[00:20:23] You know, I feel this almost every time that I pray for somebody.
[00:20:30] They come for healing.
[00:20:32] I don't know if you've ever prayed this way, but the temptation is to pray with faith, quote a scripture.
[00:20:41] But the temptation for me is always to walk away the moment that I've released the prayer.
[00:20:49] But something happens when you take that additional step of faith, when you release faith, when you pray, you release scripture, whatever God puts on your heart. And then you say, what do you say, Tommy?
[00:21:04] Test it out.
[00:21:06] Try and do something you couldn't do before.
[00:21:09] Just that little ask right there will stretch your faith. And what it does is it puts a demand. You can pray a general prayer of healing, walk away. And just like, you know, well, it's up to you now, God, but the moment you say, try to do something, try to move it, try to do something that would have hurt you a moment ago, try and move that shoulder, try and move that neck, or take off your glasses and let's see what's just happened. All of a sudden it puts a demand on the anointing that says, I'm not just praying for a general one day. If you want to sometime, God, it says, right now, God, I want to see you move. Right now I'm believing for a breakthrough. Right now. I'm contending for a miracle right now, right now.
[00:22:01] Reminded this applies in so many areas.
[00:22:05] DL Moody.
[00:22:07] DL Moody was a pastor in Chicago and great salvation preacher, Great preacher of the gospel. You look him up today, you'll most likely see him not called Pastor or D.L. moody, but you'll see him called Evangelist. D.L. moody was a great soul winner, but the burden for souls came in a moment. He was preaching on a Sunday morning, great salvation message.
[00:22:33] But in his logic, he's like, you know, this is a serious decision when somebody commits their life to Christ.
[00:22:39] And so I don't want you to just do this, you know, just, you know, half hearted. I want you to seriously think about. Because if you really go all in with Jesus, man. It's going to change your life.
[00:22:51] You're going to have to change your habits. You might change your friend circles. It may change the place that you work or the place that you live. If you surrender your life to God, that means you're Lord and I'm doing anything you ask me to do.
[00:23:04] And so he preached this message and he knew that there was an urgency to it. And so he concludes his message not with an altar call, but by saying, I want to give you some time to think about this because it's a serious decision.
[00:23:19] So I'm going to dismiss the service. I'm going to give you time to think about it.
[00:23:24] And one week from today, if you're still serious about God, I'm going to give you the opportunity to respond to the altars and surrender your life to the Lord.
[00:23:35] Dismisses the service.
[00:23:38] That week, the great Chicago fire breaks out.
[00:23:43] Hundreds from his congregation perish in that fire.
[00:23:50] Something struck his heart.
[00:23:52] The reason today he's known as a great evangelist is because he said, I would rather lose my right hand than ever give people the opportunity to think about it.
[00:24:06] Today, the day of salvation.
[00:24:10] Today is the moment. There's an urgency. Believing grabs hold of a miracle. Today I'm not gonna stop and think about it. I'm not gonna wait. And is this my no. Today is the day for breakthrough. Today's a good day for a miracle.
[00:24:30] Never forget. This moment was in a tent revival.
[00:24:35] It was coming to the end of a service and I gave a salvation altar call.
[00:24:40] People responded. It was a great moment.
[00:24:43] And I get up, I'm a guest.
[00:24:45] There's like five churches that have all come together for this community wide tent revival.
[00:24:51] And I know I'm the crazy Pentecostal. There's Methodist, Baptist, there's Lutheran there. Everybody Catholic was even there. So I know that I'm the crazy guy. I know it was a stretch even for me to give this salvation call and have people step out and respond that way.
[00:25:06] Just like the fourth night, I was the last guy that they let preach.
[00:25:11] And so I give the altar call. People responding after we pray for everybody, dismiss people to go back to their seats.
[00:25:18] And the Holy Spirit speaks to me so clearly, Give another altar call.
[00:25:24] Okay, what for?
[00:25:28] Give a salvation altar call.
[00:25:31] And I'm like, God, I don't know if you were paying attention.
[00:25:37] I just gave a salvation altar call. And a lot of people responded, give a salvation altar call. And I couldn't get away. I don't know if you've ever had that thing where Holy Spirit is, just do this, do it. And you just can't get away from it. This was one of those moments.
[00:25:53] So I did. I'm like, I've never done this before. I've never done this since.
[00:25:57] But I said, I just feel the Lord that he. There's somebody else here today that God wants to save. That somebody else needs forgiveness. Somebody needs to surrender their life to Jesus.
[00:26:10] Never forget I said that. Nobody responded. I pressed it a little more. Nobody responded. And after several awkward minutes, finally one young man stepped out from his seat, walked down. His name was Zach Ervin.
[00:26:25] He walked down to that altar.
[00:26:28] I mean, powerful moment. Tears. Surrender to the Lord, hit his knees, is a wonderful moment. The reason I even say his name is you search Zach Erwin today.
[00:26:38] It wasn't two weeks after that date that I was doing his funeral.
[00:26:42] He died the next day.
[00:26:45] And there was an urgency in the heart of God. I don't know. I don't know how the Lord knew or what, you know, what, but he knew. He knew what Zach's life was going to look like. And he knew this was the moment. There are windows in God. There are moments in God. Now, I could have said, you know, somebody else is going to preach another day, or I just did that. But there are moments in God today.
[00:27:06] Today is the day of salvation.
[00:27:09] Today.
[00:27:11] Today's a good day for a miracle, friend.
[00:27:13] Come on, tell somebody. It's a good day for a miracle.
[00:27:18] Jesus.
[00:27:20] Jesus was constantly doing this.
[00:27:23] In John, chapter 11, this is okay. I feel like I'm just telling stories today. But in John 11, Jesus receives word that his friend Lazarus has died.
[00:27:41] He's walking to the city. He was walking to the tomb, rather to raise him from the dead. And he knows that he's going to do this on the road. Mary comes to him, Martha comes to him, and he tells them flat out, I'm going to raise him up.
[00:27:58] Mary's response was, lord, I know that at the end of time, all the dead will rise.
[00:28:10] She had faith for what God was going to do one day.
[00:28:13] But Jesus looks and he does. You know what he says? He says, one day I'm going to be the resurrection power. No, he doesn't say that. He looks her in the eyes and he says, I am the resurrection and the life. And if you will believe me today, if you will believe me, you're going to see the glory of God.
[00:28:35] It wasn't a matter of minutes before Lazarus, her brothers, walking out of the tomb, resurrected from the dead.
[00:28:43] A today miracle. Jesus was saying, I know you got faith for one day, but I'm telling you, today is the day for a miracle.
[00:28:52] Today is the moment that I desire to move. I could go on and on. There's an example in Matthew 19.
[00:29:01] There's a whole debate going on over giving and generosity. There's a rich young ruler has a confrontation with Jesus. Jesus rebukes him. Money is his God. And so he walks away and the disciples begin to question him. So, well, are we allowed to have money? Jesus, we left everything to follow you.
[00:29:17] Jesus says something powerful. I think we've got this verse.
[00:29:21] He says, everyone. He's telling his disciples, all his followers, everyone who's left houses or brothers or sisters, father, mother, wife, children, land. I know you guys left everything to follow me. Some of you left your families behind, some of you soldier houses. Some of you left everything. You sold it all to follow me. If you did that for my name's sake, you shall receive a hundredfold and receive eternal life.
[00:29:50] You'll notice that he highlights two things he's not just talking about. When you die and go to heaven, yes, there's eternal life. Yes, there's an eternal blessing. Yes, Jesus is going to prepare a place for you. You got a mansion in heaven and your driveway is going to be paved in gold. Hallelujah.
[00:30:07] But your giving isn't just for one day, the sacrifice you make, the things that you give up, the people you left behind in order to follow Jesus friend circles that you left behind, the spouse that wanted to stay in drug addiction instead of following Jesus. And you chose Jesus.
[00:30:29] He sees it all and he says, I'm going to give you not just eternal blessing, but I'm going to reward you a hundredfold. And if there was any confusion as to what he's talking about, the gospel of Mark makes it very clear.
[00:30:44] Mark 10:30 says, you left family home, you left all these things for my sake.
[00:30:49] You shall receive now, in this time and in eternal. In eternity. You shall receive eternal life. You shall receive today a hundredfold friend.
[00:31:05] How depressing would it be if Jen and Matt McKay give their offering and they see no breakthrough?
[00:31:14] But brother, there's a blessing for you waiting in heaven.
[00:31:19] That's not how Jesus operates, friend. There's a blessing there, don't get me wrong.
[00:31:25] And there's a hundredfold blessing today if you would believe for it. This is why you operate. I heard a pastor talking one time about, he said, I'm go travel believing for offerings to come in. And so he said, I'm going to practice anticipatory tithing.
[00:31:45] I'm like, what the heck is that? Anticipatory tithing?
[00:31:49] He says, this is what I'm believing is going to come in through these churches. He was going out, he's preaching, and he was going to bring it all back for a building fund.
[00:31:58] He's like, this is what I'm believing the Lord's gonna give me through these churches I go and minister at. And so he tithed on what he was believing to come in. You know, he goes, preaches, I think, three weeks in a row, different places, and God gave him to the dollar exactly what he had tithed by faith.
[00:32:18] That's awesome. That's a faith step. That's an action piece. You can say, oh, I believe God's gonna bless me one day. You can quote scriptures all day long, but faith requires action steps. I'm going to give and I'm going to take a step of faith, and I'm going to be generous and I'm going to believe that God is going to bless me in this lifetime.
[00:32:40] Makes you wonder if he wished that he would have given more in that anticipatory tithe. I wonder if Jen wishes that she would have given more than the 35% increase that she received, but God probably put that number in her heart. But are you trekking with me today?
[00:32:56] Today's a good day for a miracle.
[00:32:59] Now, some of you might be scratching your head and thinking now, Pastor Jacob, okay. Today, however, what do you do with all these guys in the Bible who had to wait for their breakthrough?
[00:33:14] Didn't David have his season? Didn't John have his season in the wilderness? Didn't all these guys have preparation? Absolutely, they did. But let me show you something out of one of my favorite verses in all of the Bible. Habakkuk, chapter two. I just like it because it's fun to say Habakkuk.
[00:33:32] You want to say it?
[00:33:34] Habakkuk. The Lord answered me and said, write the vision.
[00:33:39] Make it plain on tablets. He's got a vision. He's believing for God to do something that he may run. Who reads it? The vision is for an appointed time. God's got a clock.
[00:33:50] God's got a calendar. But watch this. But at the end, it will speak. It will not lie. Now watch this. This is going to help somebody. Though it tarries.
[00:34:02] Anybody know what that old English word means?
[00:34:05] Wait?
[00:34:07] Though it waits, though it delays, wait for it. Though it waits, Wait.
[00:34:16] Because it will surely come. It will not tarry.
[00:34:22] Now wait a Second, though it tarries, though it waits, wait for won't wait.
[00:34:32] This is confusing to anybody else. Here's what I need you to understand.
[00:34:36] I believe that the posture you and I are to take is a posture that God, there's no delay in you.
[00:34:43] And I'm going to believe today for my breakthrough. I'm going to believe today for my miracle. I'm going to believe today is the day you're going to speak to me. I'm believing today is the day my prodigal is coming home.
[00:34:56] And if it delays, I trust your timing. There's things, my friend, that I'm stepping into right now in this season that I had the Lord speak to me when I was a student at Christ for the nations 21 years ago.
[00:35:14] And I thought those things were gonna happen the next day.
[00:35:18] Anybody with me?
[00:35:20] And yes, I have, in times, grown sick of praying for some of those things.
[00:35:27] I have become depressed in the waiting overtime. My heart has become sick in the delays and the delays in the years that go on.
[00:35:39] There's prophecies that I've just put on the shelf and said, I don't know if that guy missed it. I don't know if I heard wrong.
[00:35:46] But then there's these moments where vision comes back, where a hope will arise. I've had moments where a prophet will come to me, and all they say is, God already spoke to you. What's written in that gray journal that you put on your shelf?
[00:36:00] I'm serious. I had somebody come to me say that. And I had written something that I just presented to some of our leaders, like a month ago.
[00:36:10] God gave that to me my last semester in Bible school. And I knew that God was going to do it. I'm watching him do it today, 21 years later, but I understand today, the process that God had to take me in.
[00:36:23] I had some pride that needed knocked out of my life.
[00:36:27] I had some faith that needed to grow.
[00:36:30] I had some crushing that needed to come into my life.
[00:36:33] I had some relationships that I needed to build along the way.
[00:36:37] God had a promise, but he also had a process to get me to where he wanted me to be. And today, because I didn't give up on the vision, I'm now stepping into some of those things.
[00:36:49] So don't grow weary in waiting. Don't lose heart, don't stop praying, don't stop believing, because there's been delays. But I'm depressed, tired. I'm weary.
[00:37:02] Friend, you've come to the right place. Today God's gonna revive hope he's gonna release faith in your hearts today. We're gonna pray one for another in just a moment.
[00:37:12] I got one more idea. Can you trek with me for one more breakthrough? Number three.
[00:37:20] Breakthrough today comes through persistent prayer.
[00:37:26] Everybody say prayer.
[00:37:28] Breakthrough today will come through persistent prayer.
[00:37:36] The entire reason I decided to preach this message came out of something that I saw in the scripture in Genesis a little over a week ago. I'd never seen this before.
[00:37:49] How many of you have ever heard a sermon about Abraham? Father Abraham? You've heard somebody preach on Father Abraham. You've heard a podcast of teaching. Probably just about everybody. You've been in church for a month. You've probably heard someone talk about Abraham.
[00:38:04] How many of you ever heard a sermon about Jacob?
[00:38:08] Yeah, most everybody. We've all heard sermons about Jacob.
[00:38:12] Bad sermons about how he's a liar and all this. But anyway, that's a different ugly wife. Leah. I don't believe all that.
[00:38:26] I'm gonna preach a good Jacob sermon one day. I'm telling you, the liar with an ugly wife, that's not right.
[00:38:39] But you'll notice you don't hear many sermons about Isaac.
[00:38:45] In fact, the Bible doesn't talk a lot about him. But I think Isaac's a hero of the faith.
[00:38:49] It's not just the God of Abraham or the God of Jacob. It's the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And I think he's worth talking about. I mean, the only thing I've really ever heard people talk about Isaac is this whole occasion where he's the miracle child. Abraham brings him up to sacrifice. And, you know, and some people have rightly said that it's kind of a prophetic foreshadowing of the ministry of Jesus. He was a sacrifice.
[00:39:17] And by the way, one thing that people tend to miss, if you do the math, on the time that Sarah conceived, Isaac gave birth, the whole deal, you know, his coming of age and all of this. You can pretty accurately say that Isaac was around 30 years old when he was taken up on that mountain to be sacrificed.
[00:39:38] He's not a little boy, wasn't a child, wasn't 5, 6 years old, didn't know what was going on. He was a willful sacrifice, which to me makes him a perfect picture of Jesus and his willingness.
[00:39:52] It also provides for us just a wonderful reason why he should be acknowledged as a great hero of the faith as well.
[00:40:00] But I want to show you something else about the life of Isaac that maybe you've never seen.
[00:40:06] God comes to Abraham and speaks to him a Word Abram literally means father. Father, you're not just going to be a father, but you're going to be the father of a multitude of nations.
[00:40:20] I'm going to bless the entire world through you and your seed.
[00:40:24] And I'm going to do this through a miracle baby that your wife in her old age, she was 90 at the time. Your wife in her old age is going to conceive and give birth to.
[00:40:39] So this whole miracle is now resting on abram and Sarah.
[00:40:48] 20 years goes by.
[00:40:51] Abraham has lost heart and he, he does something out of the flesh. You know, Hope deferred for 20 years. Could you imagine you. God visits you powerfully, gives to you a word. I mean, this wasn't, this wasn't a visiting evangelist that came and gave him a word, as wonderful as that can be. No God, him with two angels in tow, show up and tell Abraham exactly what's going to happen.
[00:41:22] But in 20 years, he goes weary in believing.
[00:41:25] He becomes heart sick, he becomes depressed in the waiting, and he responds in the flesh, trying to force the miracle.
[00:41:37] He has a baby by a servant girl in his house, Hagar Ishmael.
[00:41:43] And if you follow the story and know the history that those descendants become a nation that become a thorn in the side of Israel for generations, a fleshly response, I'm gonna force this miracle my way. And it becomes a problem for a lot of people for a lot of years.
[00:42:07] If you ever read the story, you realize that Isaac walked almost the exact same path.
[00:42:14] Isaac is born to his father Abraham and his mother Sarah, just the way the Lord prophesied it would be. After 25 years, he grows up, he marries Rebecca, and now the very same trial has come into his household.
[00:42:32] He's carrying the mandate for generational blessing. He's carrying on his shoulders this prophetic word from the Lord himself.
[00:42:42] Now he is the one descendant through which this needs to be fulfilled. And if he and his wife don't have a baby boy, they're in trouble. And the vision ends with him.
[00:42:55] Twenty years goes by, the very same time frame that his father had walked in. By the way, let this be a lesson that you do not need to repeat the mistakes or the shortcomings of your family or those who have gone before you.
[00:43:09] Doesn't matter if you sat under a leader who fell. Doesn't matter if your father made a flesh or a sin decision.
[00:43:16] Doesn't matter if you grew up under a household of addiction or bondage. You don't need to walk that path.
[00:43:27] Isaac, 20 years contending for this comes to this valley of decision.
[00:43:33] He watched his parents struggle because of a fleshly response to God. Ordained delays.
[00:43:40] Isaac is walking the very same path as his father. But the Bible says something so powerful in Isaac's 20th year with his wife.
[00:43:52] Genesis 25:21, this is his moment to respond.
[00:43:57] The Bible says Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife.
[00:44:05] She was barren.
[00:44:08] And the Lord granted his prayer.
[00:44:11] And Rebecca, his wife, conceived.
[00:44:16] He didn't respond in the flesh. He didn't curse God. He didn't turn to sin.
[00:44:23] He got before the Lord and he prayed to the Lord for his wife.
[00:44:33] He prayed, I believe, for 20 years, contending this is going to be our moment.
[00:44:43] This promise is going to be fulfilled. The vision, the miracle that you promised my family is going to come through me and my wife.
[00:44:53] He prayed for his wife.
[00:44:58] He prayed for her breakthrough.
[00:45:02] And she got it.
[00:45:08] Other translations I love it says that he pleaded with the Lord for his wife.
[00:45:17] You think he ever lost heart after 20 years of trying?
[00:45:22] 20 years getting sick. I'm sure he did.
[00:45:27] But he hit his knees and he said, God, you gave me a vision, Lord, there's a generational promise that's come to me and my household.
[00:45:39] Lord, this was your idea. This wasn't my idea, Lord, your word has said I didn't come up with this.
[00:45:48] Lord, you put this desire in my heart and in my wife's heart. This wasn't me.
[00:45:53] This was you.
[00:45:55] So, God, I cry out for my wife.
[00:45:59] I cry out for that child you desire to flow through her body. God, I cry out for a miracle. I cry out for the breakthrough. I'm pleading with you, God, would you intervene? Would you touch her? Would you open her womb? Would you breathe life into her? I'm pleading with you, God.
[00:46:22] He prayed for his wife, and the Lord heard his prayer.
[00:46:31] You may be here today.
[00:46:33] You've lost heart.
[00:46:36] You've grown sick in the delays, wondering, God, where are you? Where's the vision?
[00:46:43] I prayed for this healing for a long time.
[00:46:47] I believe, for this idea. For 20 years I've contended over this. God, when is my son going to be healed?
[00:46:55] God, when are you going to take this depression off of my mind?
[00:47:00] Lord, I believe maybe you've grown sick in believing.
[00:47:08] I believe there are some Isaacs in the room today.
[00:47:13] You may not know how to pray for yourself, but there are some men and women of God who say, I'll pray for you.
[00:47:23] I'll pray for you.
[00:47:25] I'll believe for your miracle.
[00:47:28] I'll believe for your breakthrough. And there's moments last verse and then we're going to pray. Worship team if you come this is a verse that we prayed on and we had as a theme for most this entire year. Romans 15:13 I would have lost heart unless I believed hope deferred. Delay after delay makes the heart sick, depressed.
[00:47:58] Romans 15:13 says, May the God of hope The God of hope.
[00:48:03] The God of hope. You know who's here today?
[00:48:05] The God of hope.
[00:48:08] May he fill you with joy.
[00:48:13] How you smiling? You're still sick. How are you smiling? You haven't received your breakthrough. How are you smiling? You didn't get the pay raise. How are you still smiling?
[00:48:23] You're still broken. How are you still smiling? The situation is still lost.
[00:48:28] He will fill you with all joy and peace, believing that you may abound in hope. You're overflowing in hope. How?
[00:48:41] By the power of the Holy Spirit. I don't have strength. I don't have faith. I'm at my end. My heart has gone sick. I am weary. But the God of hope can visit us and touch us and fill us with joy and hope until you're up abounding in hope. By the power of the Holy Spirit.
[00:49:07] Oh hallelujah.
