God's Promises
by Kevin Allen
August 3, 2025 · Centerpointe Apostolic Church (Murfreesboro, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Jeremiah 35, Jeremiah 35:19, Luke 1:50, Jeremiah 35:19, Luke 6:46, James 1:22, Deuteronomy 28:2, 1 Kings 18:21, 2 Kings 10:15-16, Jeremiah 35:1, Jeremiah 35:6-7, 1 Samuel 2:27-32, Judges 6

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/kevin-allen--god-s-promises
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

------------------------------------------------------------
We're going to go to Jeremiah 35. In my personal Bible reading I've been in the book of Jeremiah for probably the better part of a month. Jeremiah is a book that you have two options. You can either just go through it. And if you do, you didn't really gain anything. but if you really read Jeremiah, you have to slow down. It's one of those ones you you have to stop and you got to read a chapter and you have to think to yourself, "What's the prophet saying to me?" And part of the time you're reading Jeremiah and you're like, "Man, he went through a lot." Like he was just trying to be obedient to God. He was following after the exact wording that God laid out for him and he went and told and did exactly what God asked him to do and then he ends up in a pit, stuck in the mud. And there's a part of you that's like, "Man, I don't know if like living for God can be tough." Well, amen. Living for God can be tough. I don't know how you read the word of God and think it's all going to be sunshine and roses. The difference is he wasn't in the pit by himself. He was still talking to God while he was there. But there's this story there in Jeremiah that stands out to me. It's a little different and I've talked about it before, but as I was processing all that took place last Sunday. What an amazing service we had last Sunday. It was wonderful. As I was processing that and just thinking about those moments like the when you go to North American Youth Congress as either a staff or young person that was there. Those tend to be life-changing conferences you go to. And when you go to those life-changing conferences or you're in a life-changing church service like what we had last Sunday, you know, it's easy to walk out and man, you feel like I can just storm hell with a water pistol and go after it because man, you've just been so impacted. But then Monday comes. All and Tuesday comes and the norm of life settles back in. And I want to talk about a little bit about that norm of life. My title of my message today, and I hope I can tie it all together, is called God's promises. I want to talk about those God's promises in the norm of everyday life. Jeremiah 35 and 19. One verse. Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me forever. And then Luke 1 verse 50 says, "And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation." Everybody say generation generation. This is not a new thought today, but when I get into Jeremiah, I feel like this particular passage has just spoke volumes to me and it's several times in my life. It's made me rethink my life and what it is that I'm doing. The Bible's a book full of promises. Have you noticed that? Are you thankful for the promises that are in the book of God? Book of the word the word word of God? I I'm thankful for those in my life. I'm thankful especially not just for me, but as my wife and I we started having children. I have three daughters. I would think back not only with the promises that I had for myself, but there's promises that are in the word of God for my family as well. And I like those. I like to claim those promises. You know, there you read through the Bible and you see that there's promises there that are made to priests and to prophets. There are promises that were made to entire nations and the kings and promises to certain sects of people, but I believe that the promise that I just read to you here today in Jeremiah may be one of the greatest promises of God in my opinion. I'll read it to you again. Jeremiah 35 and 19. I'm going to read it to you in the King James and I'm going to read it to you then in the New Living just for a little bit more of today's language. But grab a hold of what it says. Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Jonadab, the son of Rechab, shall not lack a man to stand before me forever. Reading from the New Living, it says, "Therefore, this is what the Lord of heaven's army, the God of Israel, says, 'Jonadab, son of Rechab, will always have descendants who serve me.' What a powerful promise that is given in the word of God that there will always be a descendant that is going to serve me. That his people will be there that that there will be a lineage in a in a promise that would pass on. I'm thinking to myself, how wonderful it would be if we all grabbed a hold of that promise today. That God, I want to grab a hold of a promise not just for myself, but for my family. Anybody want to grab a family promise today? Now, I think if we were just a denominational church, that'd be okay, but we're an apostolic church. I'm going to ask y'all again. Anybody want to grab a hold of that family promise today? Yeah. Anybody got somebody in your family that's lost and away from God? Anybody got a backslider in your family? Anybody got someone who's broken down, a relationship, a marriage is busted? Does anybody want to grab a hold of this promise that says there will always be somebody from my family who's going to serve God? I WANT TO GRAB A HOLD OF THE PROMISE THAT'S IN THE WORD OF GOD TODAY AND SAY, "DEVIL, you're a liar. YOU'RE A LIAR. YOU'RE A LIAR. My God is faithful and he is true, and I'm going to grab a hold of the promise that's IN THE BOOK TODAY AND SAY, 'Maybe it's for nobody else, BUT IT'S FOR THE ALLEN HOUSEHOLD.'" Isn't it for your household? Isn't it for your family? Anybody got faith enough to say, "Hey, I'm going to stand on THE WORD OF GOD THAT MY FAMILY'S NOT GOING TO BE LOST." WOO. There you are. I thought I lost you from last Sunday. You showed back up. I stand here today in an apostolic church standing deep in a pile of promises that are made to the church. You and I, we may not be kings. We may not be priests, but Center point, let me tell you something today. You need to reach out and take a hold of the promises of God because we are His church. We are His church. It's not the building. The building's where the church meets. We are the church, and He's made promises to His church. I wish somebody today with purpose in their mind to grab a hold of God's promise and just wrap yourself up in that promise and take it home with you today. Don't let it just be something that goes on in the service, but determine that I'm going to take that promise with me when I walk out these doors today. I'm not going to listen to the enemy, and I'm not going to be negative when I go outside. I'm not going to give in to depression and anxiety. Instead, I'm going to say, "This is the word of God, and the word of God is true, and the word of God is for me. It's not just for other people. It's not just for famous people or certain last things, but the word of GOD IS FOR WHOSOEVER WILL. WHOSOEVER WILL." And I wonder, do I have any whosoever wills in the room today? Men in the room, we are to be the priest of our home. We are to work in unity with our wives to lead our families and to guide them into deeper walks with God. Ladies, we're to love and nurture our families, support our husbands, and teach and instructing our children in the way of God and the truth that's been given to us. I cannot think of a better promise in the Bible than the one I just read to you today that your children and your children's children will serve the Lord. That there will always be somebody in my family that's going to stand before God. What a powerful promise that is. Now, here's where I'm at today, okay? I mentioned it a while ago. It's one thing when we come out of a of a powerful service like last week or powerful conference or one of those big moments we go to camp meeting or we go to youth camps or something like that and where we where we're just overwhelmed in that particular service with the power and the presence of God, but the problem is we don't live at camp meeting. Right? We don't live at youth congress. We don't live at youth camp. Thank God we don't live at youth camp. We don't live there. We live in the everyday. We live in our house and your house and wherever it is your bed's at, that's where we live. And what we have to do is we have to determine that there there's going to be highs and lows in our spiritual walk, but I can't let that be the determining factor whether or not my mind's made up to live for God. At some point I just have to settle some things in my life. There is a greater promise than wealth and health and prosperity. And I wonder if there's a mom or dad here today that wants to grab a hold of promise that their kids are going to serve the Lord forever. Maybe there's a young man or young woman that's not even married yet. You haven't had kids yet that you want to grab a hold of this promise that one day in the future my kids are going to work worship and serve the Lord. I wonder if there's a blended family today that claims this promise that we may be broken and busted when we got together, but hey, I'm claiming the promise of God for my life. Hey, there's a lot of circumstances in our world today, but that does not negate nor change the promise that is in the word of God. So, whatever your circumstances are, whatever your situation is, it doesn't matter. Just grab A HOLD OF WHAT GOD HAS FOR YOU. AMEN. NOW, there's some things in this world that bother me. Can I be transparent today? I'm going to be a transparent whether you want to or not. That's just me. If you've been here for a while, you know I am who I am. I'm not Popeye. I'll have to say I am what I am. Modern Christianity bothers me. Modern Christianity has a way of allowing societal norms to somehow seep in. And they become norms inside the house of God. And it bothers me. It bothers me, but especially when we begin to allow those things to cause us to drift away from what God's word instructs and ask for you and I to do. It bothers me when that happens. It bothers me that in the world in which we're living in there's a that's come about that has and this and it's not just a single generation, it's the generations that are living today. When I say generation in this context, I mean the generations that are alive, the generations that are in the room right now. There's this sense because the of our culture today of entitlement that has sipped is seeped into our lives. It's seeped into our homes, it's seeped into our churches, it's seeped into our everyday thinking and rationale. And I'll be honest with you, it happens to all of us. Because as a culture we have embraced it and it's become a part of our everyday life. We're surrounded by it, we're bombarded by it. This entitlement that is there is just do me, I should have that. It is it should happen to me. It's not fair if I don't get that. We got to be careful of how that affects how we view and read and digest the word of God. And what I the reason I say that is we got to be careful because what happens is when it's when it's breaks into our lives, it causes us to desire benefits without relationship or commitment. Everybody wants a blessing. Everybody wants a blessing, but not everybody wants to be blesser. We love the promises of God, peace and provision and healing and hope, but we want them without the price of surrender and obedience and faithfulness. Too many want the crown without the cross. They want the reward without the relationship and it doesn't work that way in God's economy. Now, this is not a rewards based system for salvation. I'm not talking about that. You can't buy salvation. You can't earn salvation. Jesus Christ did that for you and me. He took care of it. He paid the price. So, it's not about earning salvation. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about a relationship. I'm talking about having a relationship. I'm going to tell you the relationship costs you something. Salvation doesn't cost you anything. You're confusing me, Pastor Kevin. It doesn't cost you anything to accept what he did at Calvary. It's just accepting it, what he paid the price for the sin that you and I had gotten ourselves into. with. You and I couldn't pay the price. He was able to do it. He was the sinless one. He was the only perfect one that ever lived, and he went and died on Calvary's cross so that you and I would have hope in this life of a life eternal with him. Salvation doesn't cost you anything, but a relationship with him will. He said, he being Jesus, red-letter words in your Bible, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." What was he saying? If you want to come after me, salvation, what I did was free. But if you want the relationship, it's going to cost you your life. I gave my life first. And if you want to have a life with me, it's going to cost you your life. You have to lay down your life. You have to kill your life in order to have a life with me. Now, I know that's not going to be popular preaching, and that probably gets me a lot of negative comments, but there's no way that you read the word of God in its entirety. In its entirety. There's no way you read the word of God in its entirety and you can't come away with any other conclusion but it's going to cost you your life to follow him. Is that our problem today? You know, Jesus talked about them and Paul, excuse me, Paul addressed them and talked about the Pharisees having the key of knowledge. Scripture. Well, go look at this new year word search later on the key of knowledge. It's in your Bible. He talked about the fact that they knew, they had the key the whole time. What did they have? They had the word of God the whole time, but they misunderstood through their interpretation and additions to and their feelings about. I'm just I'm just going to be transparent with you. God doesn't really care a whole lot about your feelings in his word and God and what he's established. He doesn't really care whether or not you like it. He's God. He tends to act like that. He gets to be the one who sets out the precedent. He's the one who sets the mandates. He's the one who says, "Look, look, this is what I will do, and this is what I want you to do." Well, then you say to yourself, "Well, who are you to demand anything from me?" Well, last time I checked, he's God. And everything belong to him. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Now, in case you didn't know, he called you fool. Interpret that however you want. Some of you already got offended. I didn't say you were fat. I didn't say you were fluffy. I said you were fool. That's what God called you. When I look at what goes on, God isn't running a drive-thru for spiritual benefits. He has called us into a covenant relationship with him, where we don't just receive, but we also respond. This isn't Burger King, where you have it your way. THIS IS GOD'S ECONOMY AND GOD'S KINGDOM, and he's the king, and he's on the throne, and he's the one that sets down what it is that he desired for you and I to have. Now, it comes with all kind of kingdom benefits, but those benefits are BASED ON MY RESPONSE TO WHAT HE ASKED me to do. THE PROMISES OF GOD ARE IF-THEN PROMISES. If my people, which are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then if you will do that, then I will hear. Ooh. See, here's the problem is we got a lot of people who have who have spiritual memorization in part, not in whole. They got a whole lot of things that they've studied out because I like what it says right there in Romans. Well, I like the book of Romans, too. But I also like Corinthians, and Galatians, and Ephesians, and Philippians, and Colossians. You know, I really I like brother James. He gets in my grill. I can't just take the piece. I have to take the whole. If I chop it up, it's all for naught. But if I get down in it and I make sure I fully understand and comprehend, there's a whole lot of people that will that will pull out and form doctrines and dogma off of certain special things. And let me tell you, some of the holiness movement apostolic churches have done a big disservice by buying into that as well. Let's just be transparent and honest. There's a whole lot of Pentecostal apostolic churches that have not done us any favors. There's a whole lot of preachers carrying UPC cards in their pockets that have not done us a lot of favors because they've went outside of the context of the word of God and drifted off into their feelings and their emotions. I'm going to tell you you got to keep yourself in check. This is about having a relationship with the one who wrote the book and we're going to be judged by the book. What does the word say? What does the word have to say about? What is it that he's asking of me? I need to have a covenant relationship with him. I want to have a relationship where I receive but my reception is also dependent upon how I respond. Jesus said in Luke 6:46, "But why do you call me Lord, Lord and not do the things which I say?" I'm telling you to do these things and you say you don't see it that way or you don't agree with it? But the word says it. How are you going to argue with him? How are you going to argue with his word? Well, then it's interesting to me how the things that that are applying the things that are for now and then the things that that was cultural for then. Come on. Help me out. Everybody wants a blessing but not everybody wants the responsibility comes along with it. James 1:22, "But be you doers of the word not hearers only deceiving yourselves." In other words, don't expect the fruit of the kingdom if you don't want to live by its principles. God's promises are real but they're tied to a relationship. Not perfection but pursuit. Not performance but obedience. That was good. I don't think y'all caught it. I'm going to say it again. God's promises are real but they're tied to a relationship. Not perfection, but pursuit. Not performance, but obedience. And when you walk with him, not just visit him on Sundays, you'll find that the blessings don't just follow you, they overtake you according to Deuteronomy 28:2. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you because you obey. That's why David could say, "Goodness and mercy follows me." Why? Because David was being obedient. David wasn't perfect. David was flawed, but David understood when his hand got caught, he had a repentant heart in what he did. So, as he's penning those words, "And I'm walking through the valley of the shadow of death." He said, "I'm not going to fear." And he went on to say, "Goodness and mercy are following me all the days of my life." Why? Because I'm living in a relationship with him. And sometimes it's hills, and sometimes it's valleys, but I'm not afraid because my shepherd walks with me. He was describing and defining a relationship that you and I are supposed to have in our life. That I'm committed to the cause even if I don't understand what I'm going through. I'm still hanging on to the one WHO'S WRITING THE BOOK. OH, BUT THE MOMENT WE GET uncomfortable and inconvenienced, we'll let go of his hand. That's the moment you need to get up in his lap. Not let go of his hand. What's wrong? The vast majority of God's promises are conditional promises. If my people If you will do this, then he will do what he does best. He will do his part. If I go back to the story of Jonadab, I believe that we can find here a very powerful principle, but in order for me to define it to you, I got to give you some history. Anybody up for a history lesson? It's a story that most of us are familiar with that have been around church for any length of time. I ask myself, "What would make God give such a boundless and timeless promise to Jonadab?" What was it? What was it about his life? What was it about the decision that God made there that was so powerful? How did it come about? This promise doesn't have any conditions on it. It's like a covenant that God gave him. And to get a better understanding of the promise, we have to go back in the scripture to get the backstory. God was fed up with the wickedness of Israel. Seems to be a theme in this book. Y'all picked up on that? Those of us who read through this on a regular basis, we spend a lot of time going, "What's wrong with you, bunch of morons? You guys don't ever learn. From year to year, y'all never learn anything." From year to year, y'all never learn anything. What's wrong with y'all? Look at myself. From year to year, I'm Now, we're there. That's why I love the book. It's not It's not This isn't This isn't about perfect people. This is about a bunch of broken mess. I don't know about you, but that gives me hope. Cuz I live in a world of broken mess. And it's about a perfect God who died for you and I to restore relationship back. That's what this is about. But if we get into here, we see in this story that is the backstory to what I want to unfold today is that God is fed up with them walking away from him. He's fed up with King Ahab and his and Jezebel and Judas King Ahaziah. And he uses Elijah to pronounce judgment. There's been a drought. And Ahab is frustrated because Elijah called for the drought to take place. And it wasn't just Let me It's a long drought. I mean, it was dry. It was like It was like beef jerky dry. And then finally, they're going to have a whole moment, right? They're on Mount Carmel. They're going to have a little showdown. They're going to We're going to We're going to decide who's really in charge because God was tired of them chasing after Bale and sacrificing to Bale and building groves to Bale and doing everything with Bale and disregarding him completely. So, we have this whole thing that's going to take place. We see it in 1 Kings 18:21. And Elijah came and all the people Everybody say all. He said, "How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him. But if Bale, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. The Bible says they were all there. It was there. And because everybody's there, according the word of God, that must mean that Jehonadab and Jehu were there also. I'm going to come back to these guys in a minute because the Bible says all were there. And if you look at the Hebrew word of all, it means all. Good, you guys are sharp. You know Hebrew. I'll get with you later about how to pronounce some things. It appears that something happened to Jehonadab that day. Cuz we know that the prophets of Baal, they try for the majority of the day to have fire come down from heaven to consume their sacrifice. And they dance around, and they holler around, and they scream around. They even go go to the great lengths of cutting themselves to try to get their gods' attention. And then finally, Elijah said, "Are you guys done?" And he goes and gets barrels of water, which is hard to get in that day because did I tell you it was a drought? He pours barrels barrels of water all over the sacrifice that was there. In fact, he dug a little ditch around the altar, filled the altar up, and he prays a very simple prayer, and God answers with fire. Not only does it take the sacrifice, but it takes up the stones and the water and everything as they licked it all up. And then Elijah turns around and kills the prophets of Baal, and there's a mighty victory that day. It was a it was a great service. It was like last Sunday. Last Sunday, the fire fell in here. And last Sunday, our faith was high. Last Sunday, we were feeling that. We were coming off that and wonderful experience. This Sunday, see, it's a good church service, but we got to be careful because this kind of feels like the norm, right? We come back to the norm. Nothing wrong with norm. I like normal things. I like I like routine. But you got to be careful because it's in the normal and routine where we often times we end up missing out what God's wanting to do. So, some time has passed to get to where I had us when I was reading Jeremiah. We see in 2 Kings that Elijah's mantle has been passed on to Elisha. And here we run into Jehu. He's crowned king and Jehu is on a mission to purge Israel of the idolatry that lies within. I mean, he is he's got him a chariot and he's beating that horse and he is flying across the countryside. He's about to set things right because he's got a mission. He's on a mission from God. This was before Blues Brothers got after it. This was the original mission from God. Y'all lighten up. It's okay. He's going through and annihilating anyone who stood in his way and now he's on his way to Baal's temple to slay the worshipers of Baal. We pick up 2 Kings chapter 10 verse 15. And when he was departed thence, he lighted on Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him. Now this is again to give you the story. Jehonadab was the one I mentioned in Jeremiah. All right? Who God said his family will always serve me and stand before me. All right? This is the beginning of this. Jehu the king is on a mission to cleanse out all the Baal worshipers and he passes by Jehonadab and he says this to him. He saluted him and said to him, "Is thine heart right as my heart is with thine heart?" And Jehonadab answered and said, "It is." "If it be, give me thy hand." And he gave him his hand and he took him up into the chariot and he said, "Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord." So they made him ride in his chariot. Jehu again on this mission that he has been mandated by God is to rid Israel of Baal's worship. But he says, "You can't get in my chariot until I know how your heart is." I don't know where you are. I don't know I don't know if I want you riding along with me on the what I'm fixing to I need to know is your heart is right as my heart What I want to know is anything changed in you since Mount Carmel? You were there. I was there. You remember what happened. You were there. You were with me at NYSC. You were with me last Sunday there at worship. Has anything changed in your heart since the last time you and I met? I want to know if you still have a right attitude, if you still have a right spirit, because I still got things I need to do for the kingdom of God, and I don't want you close to me unless your heart is like my heart. Listen to some There's an important principle here. The Listen to me today. If our families are going to survive, we have to stir up a zeal and a passion for truth and righteousness every day, every day. And not just the big Sundays, not just during conference time. I don't I'm not just to be apostolic on Sunday and Wednesday, but I'm to live this apostolic lifestyle every day, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. It's an everyday decision. Every day I get up, God, I'm living for you today. Every day, God, I'm committed to you. Every day I'm committed to your presence. I'm talking about how you end up with the promise of God in your life. It's not an occasional thing. It's not a convenient thing. It's about relationship, and relationship takes work every day. Every day I got to be committed to my relationship with God. Every day. Jesus has to remain a high priority. Do you remember Carmel? Do you remember your Carmel? Do you remember Do you remember when God filled you with his spirit? Do you remember How many of you remember the first time God filled with the Holy Ghost? How do you remember it? How how powerful was that day? How wonderful I remember that. I was over on I've told this story so many times. I was over on Spring Street, 1989. God filled me with the spirit in a little small church we had over there, a little basement church. It's up on top. I remember where I was standing. I remember who was praying for me, and I remember the moment happened. It's like I got struck by lightning. I remember this overwhelming sense of joy. I remember just feeling like, man, everything is right in this moment. I don't I feel like I'm complete. I understood what had happened to me. I'd been praying for a long time, and God filled me with his spirit. And it would be wonderful if I was able to stay in that moment, but I had to leave. Have you noticed that you didn't get to stay in that moment? But do you remember Carmel? Do you remember your moment? Do you remember other moments in your life, other I remember other of the powerful services, other times in just prayer by myself, where God has visited with me? But we don't stay in those moments, right? We they they're there and I'm thankful for them, but they don't they don't stay forever or they pass and we have to go back and, you know, eventually you have you go back to your routine and your work and your job and your family and your circumstances. And then what what do we do when we can't just stay in that moment? We got to be careful how we prepare ourselves mentally for this apostolic life. What are you allowing in? You got to be very careful. You got to be very careful. And I know you've heard me use this analogy so many times, but I feel like it's a powerful thing for me to explain to you. It's not just about staying arms length away from the world. And I say that because the world's constantly in a downward spiral. If I'm only staying an arms length away, then I'm spiraling down, too, because it's moving. But I got to reach a hold and grab a hold of something that doesn't change. I got to anchor myself to something that has stood the test of time. And it may be something that goes countercultural in its approach, but I'm not worried about trying to preach please the culture. I'm worried about trying to please my God. And my God has given me his word and he settled it a long time ago. My God has given me hope that if I'll take and apply this in my life, I can live in an overcoming fashion in a way that I can have his power and his presence with me always, that I can be like David where goodness and mercy follow me every day of my life, that I can that I can hang on to something here. I can't I can't just be arms length from the world. The world's moving. If I do that, I'm constantly drifting. I got to hang on to something that doesn't change and doesn't move. He's He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. If God hated it, he's always hated it. If God loves it, he's always loved it. He doesn't change his mind. That's why I can anchor myself into what he is. It doesn't matter what others say about me. It doesn't matter what they post about me. It doesn't matter what my family tries to disqua- None of that matters. The only thing that matters is am I RIGHT WITH HIM? I'm talking about God's promises. Say God's promises. What are you allowing to be your God? What are you secretly bowing down to? What are you allowing to have more influence than you should? What what what what is it that's seeping in? What is it that you're allowing? What is it that's consuming so much of your life? What it what is it that you're allowing? What is it that you're giving permission? I'm speaking to all of us today. There's so many things that are there. There's so many I don't care what it is. You know, I'm a guy. I'm a I'm a normal guy. Southern boy. I like to shoot things. I like playing in the dirt. I like driving fast. I like adrenaline. I love football. It's almost fall. It is the best time of the year. That song, it's the most wonderful time, was wrong. It's fall. It's not Christmas. We had just a peek of it yesterday and people had sweaters out and put their pumpkins out. People from Louisiana had parkas on. This is the best. But what am I what am I allowing? You know, I like a good sale. I'm a I'm a happily married man. I go antiquing now. I say it publicly. We buy things that other people throw away. We put it in our house and we display it. We do and we're happy about it. We are. What are allowing in? Let me be Let me be serious for a minute. What are you allowing in? Cuz anything that causes you to be distracted from God is an idol. Doesn't mean you can't have things. It doesn't mean you can't have fun. It doesn't mean you can't watch something or do something. But is it Is it How much is it consuming? Listen to me, moms and dads. Listen to me. What are you pushing your kids into? I'm not against sports, you know. One time our movement was you know, they were against everything basically but water and air. That was that all you got water and air and that was it. No fun. There's no fun. If it was fun, it was the devil. Cuz God was not fun. He was serious. I know I'm speaking to somebody. Y'all grew up that way, right? And then the day you had fun, you felt guilty. Look, I have always and I followed a man right back here in our bishop who always said, "Look, let me let me say what the Bible says. Let's put this down in a way that's applicable and reasonable in our life." We didn't take away from the word of God. We didn't We didn't water it down. This is the word of God. Cuz I'm going to tell you right now, God is fun. And living for God is fun. It's the best life that you can live. But you got to be careful that you don't allow things come in. And moms and dads, look, I'm afraid sometimes, you know, if we get into the sports stuff, I I'm not against sports, but I'm just going to ask the question. Are you focused more on sports than you are on God? Is it talked more about practice and making practice? And then if we're tired, then we'll skip midweek. I'm afraid you're creating an idol. Now, I'm talking about promises. I don't got you guys all down in the low and I know I started plowing around the field over here. So, pull your toes back in a little bit. Let me speak to you for just a minute. I'm talking about a promise that said, and I'm going to explain how the promise came. And my family will always have someone who serves God. How did that happen? How did it happen? We're going to get to the story. I'm going to go on fast forward. Jeremiah 35:1 The word of which came unto Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, said, "Go into the house of the Rechabites and speak unto them and bring them into the house of the Lord into one of the chambers and give them wine to drink." But they said, this is the Rechabites, "We will not drink wine for Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us saying, 'You shall not drink no wine, neither ye nor your sons, forever.'" So, God tells Jeremiah to go to get the descendants. He doesn't tell him what he's going to do. He just says, "Bring them in the temple." When he gets in the temple, he says, "Send the King James has gives them bowls of wine." I don't know what you would do. Sounds like a lot of wine. I mean, a bowl, you can put your head in a bowl, right? Seems like a lot of wine. So, the prophet offers them wine in the house of God, but when the prophet offers them, they respond and they say in verse number six, "We will not drink no wine for Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us saying, 'You shall not drink no wine, neither ye nor your sons, forever. Neither shall you build houses nor sow seeds nor plant a vineyard nor have any, but all your days you shall dwell in tents that you may live in the days of the land wherein you be strangers.'" 200 years later, they had it memorized word for word. They brought them into the house of God. Offered them wine, and they said, "We don't do that." 200 years We're like 10 to 12 prophets later in the Bible. Some 200 years have passed, and they have it memorized word for word. We don't do that. Somewhere along the lines there was a precedent set that said, "Look, this is who we are." This is what God has asked us to be. This is who This is And because of that, 200 years, some 10 to 12 generations later, they're still quoting Grandpa Jehonadab word for word. We don't drink wine, we don't build anything, we are strangers in this land. And because of that, it got God's attention. Because of the commitment that was there. He made Grandpa Jehonadab obviously made some things known to his kids. He sat down and clear and concise objectives about who they were and who they were not. That's why moms and dads we spend so much time talking to our families in this church because it's important. Because I'll be honest with you, I'm tired of seeing one generation Apostolics. I don't think there's anything wrong with having four and five and six and seven generations worth of people living for God. Now listen No, no, no, listen to me before you clap for that because I don't want to say this. If you're generation one, thank God. Thank God. Thank God. Start a legacy today. It doesn't make me any better than you just because I have multiple generations. I'm not closer to God because of that. That doesn't do anything. It's just something I can look back and be thankful that that I was handed something that was a blessing in my life. But I want you to know I could ruin the whole thing. I could derail the whole thing if I didn't do my part, if I didn't understand what has been gifted me and afforded to me. It makes a difference, moms and dads. It makes a difference to have hard conversations. It makes a difference sometimes that you go against the culture. Sometimes you just have to say, "Honey, I'M SORRY. WE DON'T do that. I know you're embarrassed by it and I was embarrassed about it, too, but I'm looking at a bigger picture. This is bigger than just a moment. This is bigger than just high school. This is bigger than just junior high. I'm talking ABOUT SETTING YOU UP for success in the entirety of I'm looking down the road of my grandkids and my great-grandkids. There's a price to pay. There's just some things we're not A PART OF. AND IF THEY SAID WINE OR any other WE DON'T DO THAT. GRANDPA SAID NO. WE AIN'T DONE IT IN 10 generations. Why? BECAUSE THERE'S A PRINCIPLE WE'RE OPERATING OFF OF. THERE'S JUST SOME THINGS I'M NOT GOING TO BE A PART OF. I'M NOT GOING TO PAY TOO HIGH PRICE WITH MY CHILDREN. THERE'S ANOTHER STORY IN THE BIBLE THAT'S equally as bad. I don't know where I'm at. Do you guys got time? Am I going slow? There's another story in the Bible about a man of God named Eli. And he was chosen by God. Picked to be the priest of Israel. He had the favor of God in his life and the blessings were there. He was used by God. Prophetic voice. Guided and led the children of Israel there, but for some reason he got a little lax when it come to his voice, Hophni and Phinehas. He didn't He didn't steward what had been entrusted to him properly. Cuz the moms and dads, listen to me. Grandma and Grandpa, listen to me. Aunts and uncles, listen to me. Our children are a treasure to be stewarded. He didn't He didn't steward correctly. And again, he was a man of God. The hand of God was on him. You can read about Eli's life at the beginning. God used him. God God spoke through him. God used him for prophecy. He was there in the temple. He's doing the stuff that God had selected him to do, but he didn't follow through with the next generation. He cut back. He got a little lax. And as they started doing things they shouldn't be doing, they he didn't cut it off. He didn't He didn't Barney Fife. He nip it in the bud. He didn't. He let it go. He turned a blind eye. And before it was just some small things. And inconsequential, but you know, just the little things go, little little things drift here, there, here, there. Before you know it, they're messing around with the temple prostitutes on the steps. They're taking away parts of the sacrifice that God said that belongs to me. They're taking the choice meat, the stuff that belonged to him. They decided because dad never stepped in and said, "Boys, you can't do that." Because dad didn't teach them proper respect and how to honor the house of God and the things of God appropriately, they didn't think anything because it wasn't serious enough for Eli to talk about it. It became of no consequence to them to run past the fence. It didn't. So, here's this man, right? Standing in contrast. I'll read you 1 Samuel 2. And there came a man of God unto Eli, and he said unto him, "Thus saith the Lord, did I plainly appear unto the house of thy father when they were there in Egypt in Pharaoh's house? And did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer up mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? And did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel? Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and mine offering which I have commanded in my habitation, and honors thy sons above me to make for yourself fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people? Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house and the house of thy father should walk before me forever. But now the Lord saith, be it far from me and from them that honor me I will honor, and them that despise me shall lightly be lightly esteemed. Behold, the days come that I will cut off thine arm and the arm of thy father's house and there shall not be an old man in that house and thou shall see the enemy in my habitation and all the wealth which God shall give Israel and there shall not be an old man in that house forever. Let that sink in for a moment. Eli, because you wouldn't do what you supposed to do but since you wouldn't take care because you refused to correct those boys. There's not going to be an old man in your house forever. I'm cutting you off. Cuz you were careless with what I gave you. It didn't matter to me. Because of that you've allowed dysfunction to be in the house of God. And I'm not going to allow dysfunction to be in my house. So I'm going to take care of you. And you may be thinking, well, that's harsh. That's hard. Listen, we have a responsibility to steward what God has given us. Don't Don't Don't miss what this message is about. I'm talking about God's promises. Right? I want God's promises in my life. We got to be careful how we handle what God gives us. What has he entrusted to you? How have you handled it? How you think you When I look at Jehonadab, we got 10 or 12 generations deep later, they're still being obedient to everything that granddad laid out. Cuz somehow granddad was able to teach the principle to his son and his son's sons. It says, this is who we are and this is what we do and this is what we don't do and this is who we are not. And you got to be fiercely protective of this because we're strangers here. We're strangers. This isn't our land. We're strangers and pilgrims. That's what we are. I'm here to tell somebody I'm here to wake up Center Point to tell you that this isn't our home. We are strangers and pilgrims here. This isn't where I'm putting my phone My hope isn't in here. My hope isn't in Murfreesboro. My hope isn't in Tennessee or for States of America. Thank God I'm living here right now, but my hope is there That's right. in heaven with him. That's where I lay up my treasures there. So, there's some things that I'm not going to be a part of here because it's going to cost my relationship, and I don't want there to be anything that costs me a relationship. So, I ask you, Eli or Jehonadab? What way are you living? How are you living? Now, I felt this came to me this morning. I was I was praying about this and how to wrap this up, and I'm getting ready to close. The musicians can come. Cuz here's what I feel. I feel like I have some in this room today that you're working on your relationship with God. You you you This is For some, it's new. For some, it's revisiting. For some, it's a refresher. We're coming back to it. We're trying to make changes, and we realize that there are got a lot I got to make right in my life. I was thinking about What do we What do we do when there's dysfunction in the home? Dysfunction in the family. Cuz the amount of family dysfunction in our world today is just overwhelming. The brokenness of our world. The brokenness of humanity. You know, I've said this before that My mom's on the front row. I grew up in a home where I was always loved. My mom and my dad loved me. My grandparents loved me on both sides. My great-grandparents, I got to meet most of them, a lot of them. They loved me, too. I've been loved. I grew up in the church. I was around love. It wasn't perfect. Yeah, wasn't perfect. I mean, I got a brother, so it wasn't perfect. I love my brother. He's back there. We were blessed. We were blessed to grow up around love. But now you go one side or the other the cousins and aunts and uncles and it was crazy. It's crazy. Dysfunction. Majority of people that are sitting here today in this room have some dysfunction in your family. So how do how do we do this cuz we're looking like we want the promises, right? I want I want I want the promise. You guys with me? Okay, cuz I'm telling you I got something I'm going to tie this up. I got like 3 minutes. Preacher time, 3 minutes. How do how do I deal with this? And I and God brought back the story in Judges 6 of Gideon. So Gideon he's a he's a he's a fun read, right? You you you You meet Gideon and it says that he's taking care of the of wheat in a wine press because the Midianites are stealing everything they have. So you got to mentally get your head around this dude. He's down in a wine press and he's threshing the wheat. And then he's like a groundhog. He'll pop his head up. And an angel comes introduces him and says, "Gideon, thou mighty man of valor." Now, I've said this before and I mentioned his name a while ago, but when I read the story of Gideon, I don't know why I cannot help but see Barney Fife. That's how Gideon looks to me. It's this little scrawny dude prominent Adam's apple, shaking and the angel's talking to him. And he's declaring to him the things he's going to do. And Gideon's was rattling off, "I'm the least of the tribes and I'm the least of the least of that tribe." And basically he's saying, "I'm a nobody's nobody. I'm a nothing's nothing. That's who I am." And God says, "Nah, I see you as a mighty man of valor. I got some I'm going to do something with you. I'm going to use you, Gideon." But I need you to do some things. Before Gideon ever held a sword, I'm going to read this to you. Just this how I typed it. Before Gideon ever held a sword or commanded an army, God gave him a different assignment. He told him, "I want you to build an altar." An altar. But it wasn't just any altar. It was an altar that would confront the brokenness in his own household. Gideon's father had erected an altar to Baal and a grove beside it. Signs of compromise that they had lived in the shadows for far too long. And God told Gideon, "I want you to tear it down." It would be easy to miss the magnitude of this moment. This wasn't just about confronting sin. This was about stepping into who God wanted him to be. And at first he had to confront what was broken at home. Not with a sword, but with an altar. God didn't send Gideon to fight the Midianites first. He sent him to his father's backyard and that's where he was going to be formed and shaped by building an altar. He wanted to change himself and the world was going to be changed through Gideon. But they had to face the dysfunction that was in his own lineage first. He daydreamed about the platforms and everything that was going to happen. And so many people are the same way. We feel like God's called us and God's going to do things with us and we're going to stand on stages and we're going to go to mission fields and we're going to do these things. And I absolutely believe that in God in this service today, in this room today, there are missionaries and pastors and preachers and Sunday school teachers and choir members and musicians. They're in this room today. They've not yet come to fruition, but I'm here to tell you before you can get there, some of you have to deal with the dysfunction in your own home. Gideon obeyed the voice because he realized he couldn't have authority over the enemy while he still carried bitterness towards his own house. So, he tore down the altar of Baal and he cut down the grove and with the wood from the grove, he built a new altar, an altar to God and on that altar he sacrificed a bullock. And he did this to destroy what was wrong, but he used the pieces to make something holy and with purpose on it. He stewarded what God had given him correctly. That's why intercession and it's what intercession looks like. Real intercession isn't loud for the sake of being heard, it's faithfulness in secret places. In secret places. And to me, the story gets even more remarkable because when Gideon's father woke up and the town woke up and realized what had been happening, they come out and said and they found out that it was Gideon that did it because he did it at night because remember, he's Barney Fife. They said it was Gideon that did it and then it was Gideon's dad who came out and said, "No. You're not going to kill him. We should have been worshipping the true God the whole time." I'm here to tell somebody, if you are willing to face the dysfunction in your own home, you'll be surprised at what's going to happen inside your own family. It was Gideon's dad who come out and said, "Stop. We should have been worshipping God. It's not Gideon's fault. He did what we should have been doing." Whoo, I'm speaking to somebody right now about families being reunited, about ministries being restored. But before you ever going to get on the battlefield, before you ever going to start that ministry, you got to go home and deal with the dysfunction in your backyard. So, this altar call today goes this way. This is for those who want the promises of God. But I'm reaching today for those who try to disqualify themselves because of a dysfunctional lineage. I rebuke that in the name of Jesus. He is a redeeming God and there is nothing that your family has ever done that can cause you to be too far from his grasp. He'll reach down into the lowest of the low. He'll get down I'm here to tell you his blood covers over all. His blood covers over all. So regardless of what label's been placed on your family, I'm here to tell you you are a child of the king. Won't you step up and embrace your destiny today and understand that God has a purpose and a plan for your life. Stay with me today. Oh holy God. In this moment we're in right now, Lord, I know that there are hurts and there are hang-ups that are in this room. There's dysfunction. There is abuse that has tried to destroy family lines. But I'm calling on the God of heaven today. The God who restores, the God who heals, the God who who who brings back what the enemy has stolen. I cry out to that God today and I pray ask for a boldness to come over this congregation right now. Lord, that we be willing to push past our comfort zone, to reach out and step into a destiny that you already have for us, Lord. To realize and understand, Lord, that you have a purpose and a plan for my life. And God, I'm claiming the promises that are there. I'm claiming that I have someone in my family who will always serve you. Oh Jesus, do a work. Do a work. In Jesus' name. This altar is open. I pray today that someone takes advantage of this opportunity. Let it be said of you what's been said of Jehonadab, that shall always have a man in my house that will serve God. It's prayer time, church. Will you come?