Hold to Your Promise
by Joan Ewing
Louisiana District camp meeting
Kind: teaching
Scripture: Psalm 105:19

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/joan-ewing--hold-to-your-promise
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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Thank you so very much. When I lost my shoe coming from the ball, I was always glad that he put out a search for the one that had worn the shoe and it was me. I never was sorry that this was my prince. Yeah, we disagree sometimes. We used to. We are really on a high plane now. We never do that anymore. But when we did, it was so fun making up. And when he was speaking about what do you see and say what you see even though you don't see it, that makes sense to me. That makes good sense to me.

My grandmother Donahghue was lying on her deathbed and her kids were all around my mother and sister O'Brien, two of her kids and A&M, that's just O'Brien. She said, "Mother, what about E?" EB was the one of the four children that was not in the church and had never been. And Mana Hughes said, "Don't worry about E." It ain't him. You know, she just got real frantic. She said, "But mother, he never goes to church. One time a year, he comes with me to Starks on Easter Sunday and that's it. He never comes." She said, "M, I already know about E. Don't worry about E. I want to go home." And she did. Where is EB today? He's in the church.

What I want to talk to you about for just a few minutes is this. I am making a big assumption today seeing that you are ministers and ministers wives or whatever in some capacity you minister in the kingdom. So I am assuming that you are people of prayer. And when I assume that you are people of prayer, I am also making an assumption that it's some time in your life that God has made to you one on-one a personal promise that you have tucked it away in here. And maybe you shared it and maybe you didn't share it. Maybe it was too sweet and too good to share. Maybe it was too unbelievable to share. But you've got it here and you tucked it away and you're holding it. Now, for those of you that have never received one, I want to explain to you that this promise is not a pacifier that you stick in your mouth when you wish you could go to sleep at night, but you really don't trust God. So, you don't know exactly what to do. So, you say, "Oh, yeah. I got a promise." Well, no. It isn't a lollipop to get the bitter taste of frustration and mistrust out of your life. It's not just a little security blanket that you wrap up in and you just hope the whole world will go away because oh I know there was a promise but dear God I don't know because when you receive a promise from God what has

happened to you is you have begun a journey. I won't take time for the reading and of course most of you know that I don't read and write anymore but it is in the book of Psalms 105 and I think maybe the 19th verse something like that he was talking about Joseph who was in a prison and you know the whole story of Joseph but the the scripture in the American standard it's a little bit clearer. It just simply says until the word of God was fulfilled, the word of God tried him.

So, are we saying that when we receive a promise from God that it's here, it's now, it's right this second, and tomorrow I'll hold it? Maybe not. Because 10 times out of nine, if you were promised health, you probably will experience the most excruciating pain that you've ever felt. If you've been promised life, you may stare death straight in the face. If you have been promised the salvation of your loved ones, you may have to walk to the gates of hell and reach in and snatch them out. But you've got to remember the gates won't stop you. Never. So don't think it's a promise today and a fulfillment tomorrow. If that promise was given to you to try you, then by the end of this interim period, which we call the in between time of the promise and the fulfillment, you will see mountains higher than you ever dreamed that they could be. not knowing how in the world you will ever reach the summit. You will walk into valleys that are deeper than you could ever dream that God Almighty could scoop out in this earth. You will walk through storms that your wildest imagination never dreamed that winds could blow like that. But of all the things that you must clutch tightly to you, it's that promise that the promisegiver who cannot lie, who wouldn't if he could and couldn't if he would. He gave it to you and it's yours and it's going to come to pass.

Who are all those people crossing over into Canaan? And how what what right do they have to go over there? Well, that's Abraham's kid. All of them. Oh, yeah. Ah, yeah. That's the old man that got the promise. Yeah, boy. I wish that would have been me, man. I don't never get special stuff like that. Do you really? Now, too old for it to even be true. Your spouse is laughing at you and anybody else that heard the story would think you were a fool. Do you really want to walk up, Mariah? Did you know the ram was coming up on the other side, but he didn't know it? Do you really want to walk that road? Sands of the sea and the stars of heaven. It sounds so dramatic, but try walking in eight boots and see how much fun it was.

Did it work? Yes, it worked. But what I'm saying is, can you understand the in between time? The boy comes out. I don't know if he was, I don't know, maybe he didn't use wisdom. I don't know. He had this pretty coat on. He came out and he said, "Boy, I had some dreams." Well, he stirred up a bunch of jealousy among his brothers, and I'm not going to that story. You know all that stuff better than I do. And it's like, well, are you going to bow or not? Not because this was just the beginning of something. But there's a trip to be made in a pit, on a caravan, to a house, in a strange land. You're going to be lied on. You're going to be put in jail. And when somebody goes out that you've shown a favor and you say, "Would you remember me?" They're going to forget you. But you have to understand that when the word of God had tested him enough, that's just a word, enough when it was finished, then he becomes the one that he had dreamed about. How many years before that? Now, if he had walked from the field with his brothers to the throne in Egypt, I don't know what he would have reached for when those brothers who hated him so viciously came before him. But he had been tempered and he had been melted and he had been crushed. And instead of reaching for the sword, he reached for

the grain sack. And he said, "I'll teach you." I know they try to deify Mary, but dear God, would you have wanted that role? Try making somebody believe you're going to have a baby. And you I mean, they don't buy that. Nobody buys it. But what Mary knew, she pondered it in her heart. She lived through the snide remarks and she lived through the giggles and the pointing of the girls down at the well. And she lived through all of the neighbors talking about her mom and daddy and how they didn't raise a good girl. And she walked through all of this. And it had seemed so long and he was just a boy playing out in the yard. Yeah, right. You had a big boy, didn't you? Yeah. He's out there throwing rocks with the rest of the kids. Big deal. Yeah, that's good. And God said, "Wait a minute. You know what? I I want to do something for you, Mary. Come here. This is not the real thing, but I got a little window here, and I'm going to let you peek through this window, and it's just something just to give you just a little bit. I know you believe it, but this will just kind of help you go on for a little bit. He said, "Now look through this window. What do you see in there?" She says, "Oh, that's my kid in there." And he's talking to the lawyers. And the Oh my Lord. He's asking, "Listen at that. Listen at that. He's not just another kid out throwing rocks. This is this special one that was told to me about before it was ever conceived in my womb. and it gave her the strength to walk on until they finally arrived at the marriage in Kaa. Would you have wanted to wait 30 years and nine months to be vindicated?

All depends. It just all depends on how much your promise means to you. Let's anoint this boy. You're going to be a king. Okay, let's take these sheep clothes off. They stink pretty bad. You got new robes? Oh, no. No, no, no, honey. Not now. Go back right where you were. Oh, God. How many times has that happened to you that God showed you something and you knew he did that was going to happen in your ministry and then he said, "Okay, go back to your 25." No, that's not what you said. You said I could. I know, but there's a Goliath and there's a bear and there's a lion and then you've got to kind of run from Saul and and you got to go through some more tempering and then one day you can swap out these clothes and you can put on your crown and you will be the king.

I give to you the keys to the king of Peter. Whatever you loose here, I'll loose there. And if you find it here, I'll bind it there. And that was fun to have the keys. 11 more wishing they had them, but he had them. And then all of a sudden, there was the trial. There was the fire. And there was the wrong place at the wrong time. And there was the weakness. And then there was the I don't know him. No, I don't. No, I don't. and the cursing and the swearing. And then there was Jesus coming out. And then there was Peter crumbling butterfly. Oh God, where's my keys? Oh God, I've dropped the keys. I know I have. I misunderstood things in the garden and I tried to take it in my own hands. I I can't negotiate things like hills and crosses and nails and spears. All I can think about is kingdoms and thrones and power. I don't understand this. Have I lost the key? And in remorse, he lived out a few more days. And then one day somebody runs down to where he is and said he's not in the grave anymore and he sent me down here to tell you disciples and Peter that he'll meet you in Galilee. Could you repeat that again? Yeah. You Peter, he said my name. He said your name. Oh Lord, there's my key.

I've still got it. Oh, thank you. It wasn't just a myth. And there they sit and they said, "It's coming. It's power. It'll be here any minute. What time is it, Matt? We've been here about an hour." Well, it's not here yet. Well, he said he was going to return in the comfort room. I know, but it's 6:00 p.m. and he's not here yet. And that's just How long we been here, Thomas? About four days. But I doubt we'll be here much longer. I don't know how many went into the room. I have no idea how many entered. All I know was that those that could take a promise and ride it through to the 10 days or the seven or whatever your theology is, whoever they were only total to 120. But that's the ones that the cloven tongues like as a fire sat upon each of them and they began to speak and and the whole rest of the whole thing because they had whatever it took to take that promise to hold it, to believe it, and to ride through to the finish. For all of those that walked out of the room and said, "Boys, I just think somebody misunderstood something." Well, that's too bad. Byebye. Hate that. It's over for you. But for those that waited. And when they stood at the bottom of that little hill and that angel said, "I don't know why you're looking up here. He's coming back." You think sometimes he's not. Don't even entertain the thought. He's coming any minute.

And we've always believed that even when it wasn't just a minute, but it might really truly just be a minute now. Now you know I know that sometimes and in your hand I remember that with however many children they have four or five. Do you understand? Steering we'd have been lost. And she broke down and started sobbing. She said but look at us. We're still all together and we're still all here and we're still winning souls for the gospel. That's the kind of business that you're in. Does this mean that because you were so chosen that you will escape pain? Quite the contrary. It means you'll feel more than anybody else will.

I remember when we were in our old church, but it was new then and we had this promise of revival and whatever. And we did see it come. We did see it. It came and in that church we had to put out chairs. We we dared not even invite anybody during revival because we had nowhere to put them. But before that came, let me tell you what else came. We just started our bus ministry and one Sunday morning there was a couple in the church. Both of them were Sunday school teachers. They were in a pre- meeting with the superintendent in the back. And they had a little girl about she wasn't quite two years old. She walked through two locked supposed to be doors up a flight of steps in the dark and at 10:00 sharp there was a scream from the baptistry and [name redacted] was dead. Not in a baptistry Joan. Oh yeah yeah yeah. the thing that's to bring life. Yeah. And there was a congregation. It was Easter Sunday. The building was full of people. And they looked on while they gathered a drowned child from our baptistry. We had several nurses and we called whoever we were supposed to call. But my husband said in that interim time right there before they came to take that child away when they were working with it and trying to resuscitate it, which they never did, he said, "I never really knew what the devil's laugh sounded like." But he walked into that little narrow hallway back there and he cackled and he laughed at me and he said, "Ah, Merl Yuri, I'll splatter your name on the newspapers that it won't be like for good stuff. I'll make you the laughing stock in the scorn of Lake Charles." Did he? No. No, he didn't.

But can you imagine how that feels when everything, you've been there, haven't you, is hinging on something and you just hope to God a hinge doesn't break. I remember when we had outgrown that building just it was too much. And we were looking for property. When we finally found it, it was on the interstate almost 10 acres. And um we were able to secure it. And I don't have time to go into any stories. I'm just skipping across because you're theologians. You fill in blanks and I understand that. And at the same time that we purchased the money, I mean purchased the got the money to purchase the property. My husband lost his voice. Pastors don't preach real well when they can't speak. I don't know if you've ever noticed that or not, but most of them have to have a voice. For six months, we didn't hear our pastor speak. Then he got a blood clot and then he got cancer and then he got kidney stones and then his father died and all of this happened in less than a year. It got to where when we drove over the overpass and I could look over there and see that property, I would turn my head. It was years before I told Mar that I did that, but I wouldn't look at it. I did not even want to see anything that cost that much. I didn't want to look at it. Well, we made it, built the church, and on the day that we had the march from the old church to the new one, it was only about three or four blocks, but it was a great distance as far as visibility is concerned. And we marched in and I looked around and the bottom floor was almost totally packed. And you know how tired you are when you get finished with the building program. And I said, "Oh, dear God, we built too small. We built three times the capacity of the other one just in the sanctuary and now we can't Oh, Lord, we're going to have to You know how you'll just think those things?"

That little dream was short-lived because as funds were going when we built, we would have had the church paid for in five years, maybe less. But at that same instant, as sometimes things kind of chronicle together there, the whole bottom fell out. Lake Charles was totally dependent upon oil. And when the bottom fell out there, it fell out from under Lake Charles. The morale of the city was so low, they started making bumper stickers. Last one out of Lake Charles. Turn out the lights. The secretary and I took down the church phone book. I'm not telling you a myth. This is true. This happened to us. We took down the church phone book. And this is only at one counting. We did it again. At one counting we counted, head count 300 people who were no longer with us, who had marched down with us. They weren't there. I said, Tessy, I said, that'd make a good church for somebody. 300. She said, 'I know that they had walked away. The note was over $14,000 a month.

Where was that promise now? What did you say? What was it you said, God? I I'd never leave you nor forsake you. Oh, you're here. Okay, you're here. Okay. I will supply all your needs. according to You're still rich, aren't you? Okay. Okay. I'll What was that other stuff you said? Tell me everything you ever said because if you ever said it, I need to be reminded of it right now. And we lived through that for years. Years. We never missed a note. I can't explain this to you. I have no explanation that's logical. You wouldn't believe it if I told you. But we never missed one note. We heard it on the grape vine. Well, I think this must have been the grape vine. It wasn't the real Pentecostal vine. It was just a little vine that Eastwood had declared bankruptcy. I never knew about it. Now, maybe they did, but they didn't tell me and they didn't tell the pastor, so we didn't know. So, we just kept on forking out the money every month. We didn't know any better.

Well, I'm happy to tell you that he does keep his word. And in September of this year, which is two years earlier than what we had made the loan to pay it off, we'll burn the mortgage on that building. And besides that, we have bought up every piece of property in that triangle except two little one little old house here and a little glass company here. And they are just about getting ready to let us have that glass company. and we will own the entire triangle on Interstate 10 and 171 and Aaloosa Street. Is it any of our doings? Well, not really, except that we never let go of what he handed us.

and when it gets the darkest and when you don't know when lights coming on if you'll tenaciously hold that promise. I don't care what he told you. He wouldn't have said it if he couldn't have done it. I know this much. This I know. So hold it and in time and on time, the exact time, he's coming with your answer. I promise you that. Hallelujah.