Lessons from the Barren
by Dillon Morgan
August 14, 2024 · Eastwind Pentecostal Church
Kind: teaching
Scripture: Luke 1:5-14, Genesis 1:28, Matthew 21:19, 2 Kings 2:19, Genesis 11:30, Genesis 25:21, Judges 13:2-3, 1 Samuel 1:5, 1 Samuel 3:19, Matthew 11:11, Nehemiah 6:16, 1 Samuel 1:12, Luke 18:1

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/dillon-morgan--lessons-from-the-barren
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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Let's get into the word of the Lord here tonight. Turn with me to the book of Luke, chapter one. We will begin reading at verse number five, verses five through 14. Book of Luke, chapter one, verses five through 14. I do feel like God's got something to speak to somebody here tonight. Maybe you're in a season and you just feel like it's an impossibility and you don't quite know how you're gonna get through it. I feel like God's got something to say here for you tonight. Luke, chapter one, verse number five. The Bible says there was in the days of Herod, king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, the course of ABI. And his wife was of the daughters of Aaron and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless.

And they had no child because that Elizabeth was barren and they both were now well stricken in years. I'm gonna stop there and we're just gonna talk a little bit tonight about lessons from the barren. We're gonna look through scripture and search throughout those that were barren all throughout the scripture and see what we can learn from those that had the curse of barrenness. But in spite of the impossibility, you will find all throughout scripture, those that were barren, found something within them that they could believe that in spite of their circumstance, God could work something out and they could be fruitful on the other side. Anybody desire him for God to move in this place tonight? Amen. Why don't you lift your hands one more time before you're seated? Let's lift our voices and just ask that God would speak to us. Thank you, Jesus.

Lord, I love you. I thank you for your word. Pray God that you would use me tonight for your glory. Give me clarity of thought, God. Allow me to speak as you want me to speak. Lord, let the gifts of the spirit flow in this house, God, we don't have time to waste one service. Knowing me from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. In Jesus' name we pray. In Jesus' name we pray. Let everybody say amen. Amen. Turn to your neighbor before you're seated and say, you look better than I do. That was your opportunity to compliment your wife there, husbands. Amen. Very first commandment we receive from the Lord is found in Genesis 1.28. The Bible says, and God bless them and God said unto them be fruitful and multiply, replenish the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea

of the fowl of the air and over everything that moveth upon the earth. You see that the Lord straight from the get-go has a love for fruitfulness. One day he was walking in Matthew chapter 21 in verse number 19. And when he sees a fig tree in the way and he came to it and found that there was nothing there on but leaves only. He said unto it, let no fruit grow on the henceforth forever and presently the fig tree withered away. God has a fascination with fruitfulness. He wants us to be a fruitful people. We read even in 2 Kings chapter two in verse number 19, the Bible says, and the men of the city said unto Elisha, behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant as my Lord seeth, but the water is not and the ground is barren.

When they got ready to describe the lack of fruit in this city, they said it is a barren place. According to the prayer book commentary, barrenness was a fearsome reproach among Jewish women and to be delivered from this curse was the occasion of the most extravagant of joy. It was even the law in the Old Testament that if your wife was barren that you could marry another so that you could have children. We see the very first occasion of barrenness found in Genesis 11 and 30. The Bible says, but Sarah I was born or barren and she had no child. This barrenness lasted for so long that when God finally got ready to heal her of her barrenness, the Bible says she literally laughed at God. And yet in this barrenness you find that Isaac was produced because we know that would be from that young man,

the beginning of the lineage of Jesus Christ. Then her son Isaac has a wife and she too is barren. We see in Genesis 25 and 21 the Bible says that Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife because she was barren and the Lord was entreated of him and Rebecca his wife conceived. We see from this barren womb comes Jacob and he saw the continuation of the lineage of Jesus. Jacob the one that would produce the 12 tribes that would or the 12 sons that would become the 12 tribes of Israel. We even see in the book of Judges found in Judges 13 verses two through three and there was a certain man of Zorah of the family of the Danites whose name was Manoa and his wife was also barren and she bear not in the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman and said unto her,

behold now thou art barren and bearest not but thou shalt conceive and bear a son. The son that would be born to this woman would be by the man by the name of Samson the strongest man to ever be in the Bible. You find in first Samuel one in five Hannah Hannah's barrenness was unique because the Bible says according to the scripture that she was barren because the Lord had shut up her womb. However, because of her prayer and supplication you and I understand that she produces the son by the name of Samuel. It was said of Samuel in first Samuel three in 19 and Samuel grew and the Lord was with him and he did not let any of his words fall to the ground. This son would also be the one that would anoint David the king after God's own heart. Even in our text here tonight we see that

Zacharias and Elizabeth the priest that would be in the presence of God burning incense. His wife too was barren and the Bible makes it very clear that they were past the age of conception they were old. However, from this barren womb we see that John the Baptist is born. The one that Jesus would say in Matthew 11 and 11 verily I say unto you among them that are born of the women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist. Think with me for just a moment as we breeze through everybody that I have given you examples of of you find Isaac the beginning of the lineage of Jesus the promised son of Abraham. Jacob the continuation of the lineage of Jesus the one who would produce the sons that would become the 12 tribes of Israel. Samson the strongest man in the Bible

the one that with the jaw bone of a donkey would kill Philistines the man that would take hold of pillars and with a great anointing and active strength he would literally pull down the foundation of a home. Samuel the prophet whose words never hit the ground this great prophet John the Baptist the one as we've already said that Jesus would say is the greatest the one the heraldor of the kingdom is coming Jesus's kingdom was on the way and it was John the Baptist a son of a barren womb this man would stand as a product of barrenness all of these great men were men that were born from barrenness what made the barren so powerful what made the barren produce such a profound prophetic and powerful people I believe that when you want to understand what made the barren so powerful that you have to turn to the book of Nehemiah chapter six

and verse number 16 you find that when they begin to assess how this wall was built that they end this by saying this work could only have been wrought of God I believe that that is the answer to why the barren produce such powerful sons because it's from a place of impossibility it's from a place where women would be in such great joy that at the hope of the possibility of going beyond their barrenness that it was from this place of impossibility that God said I'm gonna bring a promise I'm gonna bring something out of your impossibility and from that was produced the powerful and the prophetic the Bible says that when you look at this text with Nehemiah that they were cast down in their own eyes the new living translation says it this way they were frightened and humiliated at the work that was done

and when they looked at that wall being built they said only God could do this and when they realized that it was a work done by God it caused frightness and humiliation in the eyes of their enemy I believe that when you and I have an impossibility something that seems as though to me and you that there is no hope in the natural that's when God says you're set up for me to do my greatest work yet I realize that we are here tonight and we see a list of prayer requests we see many different needs all over this building you've come with your need you've come with your struggle you've come with your personal impossibility and maybe you have written off the fact that in the natural it just can't be done but I want you to know that in the supernatural tonight God can do something profound and powerful

from a place of impossibility we begin to look at the barren and I wanna take a few points here that I believe that we can learn some lessons from these barren people that will teach us how God can also move on our impossibility the first thing that I notice about the barren is that they are desperate they are desperate the Bible says that Isaac entreated the Lord that word entreated in one translation literally means he put himself in a posture of intercession he prayed with intensity he sought the Lord with fervor he said I realize that what I'm praying for is impossible with man but with God with God all things are possible and so through this posture of desperation he would not quit praying he would not quit seeking he would not quit pressing until God did what he needed God to do and I believe that if you put yourself

in a posture of desperation and you keep coming back and you keep pressing and you keep saying I will not quit in spite of the impossibility in spite of what things around me are saying in spite of what the world is saying I will not stop until God moves on my behalf Amen God cannot ignore a desperate cry God cannot ignore a spirit of desperation I love the story found in Luke chapter 18 that as Jesus was leaving or coming nigh under Jericho that out of nowhere he hears this cry coming from a man this cry saying Jesus have mercy on me thou son of David it was a cry from a man that was in this condition he couldn't move he was here you know him as blind Bartimaeus and he's here and he's hungry and he's passionate that God is gonna do something on his behalf

and while he's put in a position of impossibility he did not let the impossibility stop him from letting out a cry of desperation that said I realize I've probably tried everything he's probably done anything and everything he could do to have his miracle but in spite of the impossibility it did not stop him from raising his voice when he knew Jesus was near they tried to tell him you've gotta calm down you've gotta be quiet but let me tell you something when you're desperate it doesn't matter who tries to quiet you down it doesn't matter who's trying to say you better relax do you not realize that it's Wednesday night do you not realize that we're here for a Bible study friend I feel like on a Wednesday night that there can be a cry of desperation that somebody says I'm not leaving here until I get my miracle

he pressed and he pressed and he cried out unto the Lord and he would not let people telling him you've gotta be quiet you've gotta calm down stop him from getting his miracle when you're desperate it doesn't matter who's around you it doesn't matter what the circumstance is it doesn't matter what's going on in your life there's gonna be a sound that rises up out of you that says I'm more hungry than I am worried about what you think of me I'm more desperate I am more careless in this moment I'm here to get a miracle I'm here for God to do something on my behalf is anybody here desperate for God to do something in your life hallelujah come on let's lift our hands in worship right now hallelujah Jesus hallelujah Jesus praise God I find that the barren are people that are desperate

and they really don't care what you think about them they really don't care they're so hungry for God to touch them they're so hungry for God to move upon their behalf they just don't care who's around them they don't care what's going on they've got a desire and they're not gonna leave or quit until God meets that desire sometimes I believe God leaves us in our situations long enough until we get into a posture of desperation sometimes God just want to see are you willing to get desperate for what you need I'm willing to get desperate for my miracle the second thing that I note about the barren not only are they desperate but they're also persistent they're persistent the Bible says in 1 Samuel 1 and 12 that as Hannah began to seek the Lord for the end of her barrenness the Bible says something

as she continued praying before the Lord there was something within her that said I'm not getting up until this is done she had a persistency about her I know you've came to the front and you've had somebody anoint your head with oil before but I wonder if you're persistent enough to come to the front and have somebody anoint your head with oil again come on I know you've asked God to heal you before but I wonder if you're so hungry that you will become so persistent that it doesn't matter if it didn't happen before come on I know you heard the preacher pray the prayer of faith and said if you need a miracle it's gonna happen and maybe it didn't happen that time but I wonder if there's a persistency within you that says every time that altar is open come on every time that altar is open

but I'm pressing in because there's a persistency within me that says I'm not gonna stop until I get my miracle I'm not gonna stop until I get my deliverance I'm not gonna stop until I get my breakthrough the barren are persistent I found something peculiar today it's kind of been in my spirit all day that I've been studying and just reading the book of Esther and I love the story of the book of Esther it's so beautiful how God weaves through the book of Esther you see his hand moving all the way through it but one of the things that I found so unique and beautiful is that God never speaks one time in the entire book of Esther you never find the voice of God one time you never find God speaking to her uncle Mordecai you never find anything you know what you find in the book of Esther

you find people being faithful in spite of their circumstance you know what you find you find a man that says I realize that they're coming to kill my people but in spite of that I'm gonna be persistent and he didn't stop praying he didn't stop fasting and he didn't stop believing God never spoke he never heard thus says the word of the Lord he just understood that these principles work in the kingdom of God I'm gonna pray I'm gonna fast and if God never speaks I'm just gonna believe he's gonna hold fast to his word there's something about somebody that's willing to be persistent that causes God to work on your behalf Amen you see that the barren are persistent I love the story of the unjust judge you see it in Luke chapter 18 verse number one and he spake a parable unto them

to this end that men ought always men ought always to pray and not faint the parable that he's trying to teach us is you should keep praying the parable that he's about to show us he's saying this parable this parabolic teaching that I'm about to bring to you is to show you you better keep praying don't faint think about what he's saying don't quit even though your prayer may not have been answered the first time keep praying even though it may not have happened when you wanted it to happen keep praying even though it may not have happened how you wanted it to happen keep praying keep believing he says that men ought always to pray and not faint saying there was in this city a judge which feared not God neither regarded man and there was a widow in that city and she came unto him saying avenge me

of mine adversary and he would not for a while but afterward he said within himself though I fear not God nor regard man yet because the widow trouble with me I will avenge her less by her continual coming she weary me weary me if an unjust judge can get weary with a petition that just keeps showing up brother verbal being he was a great evangelist and if you've never read his book on prayer I suggest that you read it it's a wonderful book in that book of prayer he teaches a type of prayer that's called a memorial prayer it's a prayer where you keep building up a memorial and tell it's time for it to come to pass friend you gotta understand that sometimes just because God doesn't answer you the first time he's just wanting to see are you willing to build that memorial

and you keep coming and you keep praying and you keep praying come on that's what made the Baron so powerful Hannah continued to pray she said I'm not getting off of this altar until something happens in my life this is a lesson we have to learn from the Baron the Baron have this idea that I realize my condition it's not easy I realize that my condition it's not pleasant I realize that my condition is impossible so this is what I'm gonna do I'm gonna keep praying I'm gonna keep believing I'm gonna keep fasting you've got to get a tenacity within you I know it didn't happen when you thought it was gonna happen I know it didn't happen the way you thought it was gonna happen but if you just keep praying if you just keep fasting if you keep being faithful to the principles

of the word of God I'm telling you it shall come to pass before you know it God's gonna do the work on your behalf I keep going back to that book of Esther because even though God didn't speak you can't help but see the hand of God moving he sets up a queen right in the midst of all of this who happens to be a Jew and how God he orchestrates the whole thing why because somebody was faithful to the principles of the kingdom when you're faithful to the principles of the kingdom when you're faithful to the word of God he cannot help but move on your behalf it may not happen how you think it's gonna happen but if you look at the end of the story you'll say man look how God worked it out on my behalf look how God just wove his way right in the middle

of my mess and made a way where there was no way something that we must learn from the Baron is that they are a persistent people we've got to become persistent in this hour with our prayer with our petition we've got to be faithful in this hour to the things of God and to the principles of God because when you're faithful God's gonna work it out on your behalf God's gonna work it out on your behalf the third lesson that I learned from the Baron is that the Baron are praisers and they are worshipers we read in Luke chapter one first number nine when we begin to see the process of which Zacharias and his wife's bareness was healed the Bible says according to the custom of the priest's office it was his lot to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord

and the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense this was a rare moment for the high priest to get to burn incense and when he walked in there and he got to burn incense this incense is a type of worship it's a sweet savor unto the Lord when he was in there giving off a type of worship God moves upon him and heals his wife of bareness you've got to think about that when he put himself in a posture of worship God couldn't help but heal the impossibility even when you don't feel like worshiping now I know that we have a misconception of what worship is in our opinion worship is when we just come and we lift our hands that's more praise but I want to focus on worship before I focus on praise for just a minute

Abraham showed us what worship was when he said I and the lad we're gonna go yonder to worship worship is a sacrifice worship is something that's really something that begins to be like groanings and it's to lay before the Lord and give it all that you have it's when you lay down and those groanings which cannot be uttered and I can remember just a few days ago I was in a service in St. Louis and I was preaching and I said man I remember back in the day when services would get so heavy and the power of God would get to fallen and I would hear the women in the church and the men in the church they didn't pray anything they had such a burden and such a spirit of worship came over them where all you could hear was oh it was those deep groanings that would come from within

they couldn't pray pretty hey they couldn't let anything out it was just an oh it was that groaning down from within anybody know what I'm talking about? You ever been put in a posture where you couldn't pray your pretty prayer you couldn't even muster up the strength to get out a word anymore all you could say was oh and those groanings begin to rise up I believe that that is that sweet incense of worship when that begins to come from a deep place from within when you begin to lift your hands and those groanings and they just begin to say oh God and it comes down that's a posture of worship when it comes from a place of depth out of your soul you say I'm not satisfied with where I'm at and I'm not gonna stop praying until something deep rises up from within me

my my you ought to lift your hands and let a worship come out of you right now oh hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah come on let there be a depth from within you right now oh hallelujah oh hallelujah oh hallelujah hallelujah my my it was his lot to burn incense and while he was burning that incense he put himself in that posture of worship ooh he couldn't help but get a miracle he couldn't help but hear from God the second thing that we see that baron are not also or third thing is that baron are not also worshipers but they're also praisers Isaiah put it this way in Isaiah 54 he said sing O baron that thou didst not bear break forth into singing and cry aloud that thou didst not travail with child for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife sayeth the Lord

enlarge the place of thy tent and let them stretch forth thy curtains of habitations spare not lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left and thy seed shall inherit the gentiles and thou shalt make the desolate cities to be inhabited the baron people are praisers I know we have been in a series with pastor and I even saw that brother Woodward as only he can just jumped right in the middle of a series and just wowed everybody but I find it very interesting that even though they were baron Isaiah prophetically writes sing anyhow praise anyhow prepare anyhow I don't want to get ahead of myself but baron people prepare for the promise even when the promise isn't there you know how you prepare for your promise your praise I realize it's not yet

but I'm going to praise him as though it is already you feel that I realize it hasn't I know you haven't got your miracle I know you haven't got your breakthrough I know you haven't got your deliverance I know you haven't got it yet but you know what I'm going to praise him like it's already happened come on you feel that sing oh baron come on you ought to take a little bit of time right now and just prepare with praise for what God wants to do in your life hallelujah my my my come on praise him would you just take 30 seconds and praise the Lord something's moving right now my my baron are praisers why am I praising the miracle hasn't happened yet you're praising ahead of the miracle why am I praising I haven't got the financial breakthrough that I've been waiting on

you're praising ahead of that breakthrough my children haven't come back to the Lord like I thought they would you're praising ahead of their return come on that prodigal his father was always prepared for his son to come back you ought to prepare everyday like your miracle is already even though it may not be yet you ought to prepare come on he said lengthen strengthen you better get ready I know it's not yet but if you'll start singing and praising like it is already you got to get ahead of the miracle my my my baron are praisers they're not afraid to praise ahead of what God's going to do because praise is what precedes the promise come on David got ahead of the Ark of the Covenant when it was coming home he said I'm not going to let praise be behind glory I'm going to get my praise out ahead of glory

and when he got ahead of it he went six paces and he would stop he went as far as humanity could take him come on six is the number of man he went as far as humanity could take him and he said before glory can go any further I've got to get out of the flesh and I got to get in the spirit here just for a moment and I'm going to have to praise hey and he praised and worship and sacrificed all the way to the city and when he got to the city he said you know what he said I'm going to take off my kingly robe you know what praise does praise brings equality worship brings equality nobody's better than anybody else when you're in the presence of glory when the glory of God comes it's not preacher in saint come on

it's not you versus me it's all of us and we're all just doing one thing that's why when you get up in heaven what does it say it says that the elders cast down their crowns there's only one wearing a crown in heaven friend and it's the king of kings I'm going to take my crown off I'm not worried about anything else I just want to get it there's victory in this house right now there's joy in this house right now my my my we can't ever be like David's wife daughter of Saul elevated up in her tower looking down upon a praiser come on you don't know what I've been through you don't know what I'm praising for you don't know what I'm worshiping for don't look down on my praise you don't know what type of hell I've been through this week you don't know the forces

I had to fight to get to church on a Wednesday night you better believe I'm praising God you better believe I'm worshiping in spite of what my week looks like in spite of what's gone on in my life come on let's worship him right now the anointing of the Lord is in this house the spirit of the Lord I know it's Wednesday night but I think we ought to just pause right here and magnify the Lord I'm preaching to somebody that's in an impossible situation I'm trying to preach to somebody that feels like there's no hope where you're at right now you ought to get ahead of glory you ought to get ahead of it right now say I'm going to praise before there's fruitfulness I'm going to praise before it happens in spite of my circumstance in spite of what I'm going through hallelujah

man I know it's Wednesday night but it feels like Sunday night in this house right now come on do what you feel in the Holy Ghost right now I'm done the Holy Ghost is disrupting this service the power of the Lord is messing this service up come on do what you feel in the Holy Ghost I think there's miracles in this house atayalaba yaya randolo bohosata you need a miracle you ought to praise God right now you need a breakthrough you ought to praise God right now he's ministering in this house atayalaba ikandoro satayaha yaya randolo bohosata come on that's it in spite of the impossibility I'm going to praise in spite of the circumstance I'm going to praise in spite of what it looks like I'm going to praise I tell you what I feel in the Holy Ghost right now somebody ought to link up with somebody

you ought to have a praise partner right now you ought to join up come on young lady grab with another young lady come on sir grab another hand of another man in this house let's praise together come on let's worship together dance together come on jump with them that jump rejoice with them that rejoice come on that's it praise together just for a little while come on the Holy Ghost is doing something on this Wednesday night ikandoro bohosata yaya randolo bohosata I speak to every can we put the prayer request back on the screen come on keep praising right now the gifts of the spirit are flowing in this house I want you to begin to call the name of these names on the list right now the miraculous power of the Holy Ghost is moving come on I speak a miracle to every name I speak a miracle

to every name I speak a miracle to every name ikandolo bohosata yaya randolo bohosata that's it speak strength into your neighbor's body speak joy into your neighbor's body yaya randolo bohosata come on students I know you're about to go back to school I plead the blood of Jesus over you I plead the blood of Jesus over your mind when you go back on to that college campus I plead the blood of Jesus over your mind ikandoro bohosata yaya randolo bohosata