Don't Give Up Now
by Wesley Stephens
November 25, 2020 · Centerpointe Apostolic Church (Murfreesboro, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Luke 18:1-8, Galatians 6:9, Hebrews 10:39, Genesis 27:22, Romans 10:17, Job 42:5, Matthew 24:35, Job 33:14, Psalms 62:11

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/wesley-stephens--don-t-give-up-now
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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If you have your Bibles, you can turn with me to Luke the 18th chapter. Luke chapter 18 and verse number one. I'm going to be reading from the New Living Translation, just for the sake of the story. Luke chapter 18 and verse number one, it reads this. It says, "One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up." Once you look at your neighbor and say, never give up.

It goes on to say, "There was a judge in a certain city who neither feared God nor cared about people. A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, give me justice in this dispute with my enemy. The judge ignored her for a while. But finally he said to himself, I don't fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I'm going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with these constant requests. Then the Lord said, learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don't you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly. But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on earth who have faith?"

What a daunting question that concludes us with there in verse number 8. How many people, when God comes back, when Jesus Christ comes back, how many people will still have faith?

You know, this year has been a pressing year. It's been a challenging year. Our faith has had to endure a storm this year. And, and we're still here. Praise God, we are still on this life, or on this journey called life. We're still mosing along, moving forward.

And I want to encourage and to remind somebody with this title today: Don't Give Up Now. Don't give up now. I believe that God wants to do something amazing in this place. Pastor talked about it, I believe. And I believe that God wants to do the supernatural here today. I think, I know, listen, I get the fact that when we talk this way, sometimes people get uncomfortable, where we're starting to claim it, and, and, you know, pray that it happens. But here's the reality. This is where I'm, where I'm at. I would rather start speaking things out and have to eat an unfulfilled prophecy, than to have promises of God that are unclaimed in this place. I would rather see God do something supernatural, and claim, claiming right now that he's going to, then have such a low expectation level of this service that he doesn't even move at all. He says, man, I want to set the bar as high as we can set it, believing that our God can reach even our highest expectations. If you believe that, why don't you clap your hands? Amen.

Don't give up now. I heard a story once about a man who loved soda, who loved pop, who loved Coke, whatever you want to call it. So he went into the soda business, and he spent hours pouring over this recipe. And he developed this, this product called Three Up. He was proud of it. He sent it off to the stores, believing that it was going to make him the millions, only to find that it wasn't flying off the shelves, and ultimately it ended up as a failure. So he went back to the lab, and he started working on the recipe again. And he made this new product called For Up, sure that this would be the one that sold, that this would be the one that, that brought him, uh, the millions. But again, this one failed. And so he said, "You know what? I think I know what this lemon lime product needs." And so he made a new soda, and he called it Five Up. He's sent it out with excitement, believing this was for sure going to be the one. But once again, it failed. Frustrated, he, he said to himself, "I'm going to give it one more shot. I'm going to adjust a couple more things. And if this doesn't work, then I'm going to throw in the towel." So he made this product called Six Up. He sent it out. Nobody bought it. Nobody liked it. His lemon lime dream of making millions was a failure. And so he decided that he was going to forever give up the soda business. He was going to walk away, only to discover a few years later, a man took his recipe, made a couple of tweaks, and made this product called 7up.

Now, I'll tell you this: that story, while somewhat funny and most likely fabricated, I believe it does serve as a reminder to us all of a terrible reality that many of us will experience in our walk with God. You see, I think we can be so close to a success, so close to a victory, so close to a breakthrough, and get frustrated in the failure, and walk away completely without ever seeing that, that, that success become a completion. I think there is a great danger in this day, dare I say, a deception amongst us, that we can be both so close to a victory that God has promised us, but believe, for whatever reason, that we're never going to see it come to fruition, and walk away from it completely.

I wondered, as I was putting this message together, how many of us were at the threshold of receiving God's promise, at the threshold of seeing the supernatural, at the threshold of seeing a miracle done, yet we walked away because we didn't have the faith to endure for another season. How many prayers today were abandoned right before they were to be answered? How many miracles were relinquished right before they were to become a reality? How many prodigals were on their way back before we quit on them with our prayer in fasting?

I have come tonight, not to be rude or discouraging. Quite the opposite. I've simply come today to remind each and every one of us that we are close to the brink of a breakthrough, and right now is not the time to give up. Right now is not the time to walk away. Right now is not the time to give up on what God has promised you.

It's in the midst of a pandemic, and a season of political pressure where there's civil unrest. And just to be frank, we have a total, uh, lack of confidence when it comes to what's next in this year. I, I sit there sometimes thinking, what could possibly go wrong next? Had anybody ever heard of a thing called a murder hornet before 2020? I know we're several months removed from that, but I'm still terrified that there is somewhere in this world a murder hornet. This year, I believe, if there's ever been a year in my lifetime, it's easy to get to a place of discouragement. It's easy to get to a place where we become despondent, where we have a sense that all hope is lost. It's easy in 2020 to push off the promises of God, and say that, that the problems of this world outweigh what it is that God was trying to do.

If you recall, we were just opening the doors, dedicating the building, when everything came to a halt. And it's easy, Center Point, for us to sit here today and have excuse after excuse as to why God hasn't done what he promised he would do in this church. But Paul gives us a warning in Galatians 6 9, when he says, "And let us not be weary in well-doing." He says, if we faint not, that there is going to be, in due season, a season to reap.

Can I just preach for a second? Can I just tell somebody, that that season of reaping has not evaporated, but we are on the brink of seeing the greatest revival that this church and the apostolic movement in our world has ever seen before. There's something inside of me that knows that there is seats in this room, empty, that represents souls that one day will fill them. There is a balcony that will go in, and it will be built, and lives will be restored. There is a Holy Ghost, there is a Holy Ghost break out for Murfreesboro, that I have not, and you should not, give up on yet.

I call alive right now, every dormant dream. I call alive right now, every unfulfilled call. I call alive right now, every ministry that has been sitting on the sideline. Now is not the time to give up. I believe with all my heart, there is a season of reaping. There is a season coming that's going to cause heaven to rejoice, in hell, to tremble, if we, the church, do not give up now. It's coming. There's a, it's a promise in the Bible: if we don't grow weary and we stay faithful, that season is coming. But so many of us get frustrated with waiting. We decide waiting's not worth it. So we, we move away, right before the victory is going to sweep over us.

I think of the Bible. There's many examples throughout Scripture where people left unclaimed promises on the sideline. Thousands of men that were with Gideon walked away right before the victory was won, because they were afraid of their enemies. They looked around, and all they could see were the reasons why they couldn't succeed. They saw their enemies. They thought themselves to be outmatched. They became so consumed with their opponent, with their adversary, that they lost being consumed by their God.

Hear me today. We cannot look at our difficulties. We cannot look at our struggles. We're going to look at the reasons why we can't, and start forgetting about how big and how wonderful our God is. My three-year-old son, every night he quotes this Scripture. But sometimes I forget about the truth that's in it, when he says, "Greater is he that is in you, then he that is in the world."

Gideon's men, they looked around and they said, "We can't win this battle." So they walked away, leaving 300 men there to destroy a much larger Midianite army. Why could they destroy that army? Because the battle wasn't theirs. It was the Lord's to fight. I think to myself, how, how did those thousands of men fell? How do they feel when they left that battle, only to hear about it through the grapevine, that those 300 men saw such a tremendous victory, that they didn't have to lift up a weapon one? That was a lot of regret, I'm sure. I pray to God that's not me, that I don't hear about the, the, the successes of Center Point, or the successes of the apostolic movement, while sitting on the sideline playing it safe.

Can I tell you, I want to be in the middle of it. I want to be in the middle of whatever it is God wants to do in this day. I don't want to watch. I don't want to observe. I want to be a part of what it is that God is trying to do.

Perhaps the most popular story in the Bible about people giving up too soon is when the Israelites left bondage in Egypt. Of course, they faced obstacles after obstacle, hurdle after hurdle, setback after setback, yet they continued to march forward. They had the Egyptians chasing them, yet they marched for. They had a red seat across, yet they continue to go forward. Yes, they were thirsty because they had no water, but they continued to go forward. They walked mile after mile, step after step, over the hot desert sun, but they continue to march forward, taking the long, less traveled way, and not the shortest route, because it is what it was, what God wanted them to do. They never, yes they complained. Yes they murmured. Yes they spoke ill sometimes. But they never stopped moving forward. They never stopped moving forward, until they got on the, the banks of that Jordan River, and they could look over the river and see the promised land.

Why is it that the Israelites, coming all that way out of Egypt, got to a place where they were just a stone's throw away from receiving the promises of God in their life, yet there they decided, "You know what? It's not worth going on to the other side. We're going to halt our progress. We're going to take a step back. We're not going to move forward like it is God wants us to do." Why is it that they were so close?

The writer of Hebrews, he seems to write a rebuke to this mentality, when he says in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 39, "But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition." Another translation says it like this: "We are not people who turn back. We are not people who turn back and are lost. Instead we have faith, and we are saved." Can I give you the Wesley Stephens translation of this verse? What he's basically saying is, we're not quitters. We're not given up. We're not going back. Yes, there have been some who have put down the sword and retreated back to the way that their life used to be, but we are not those people. We are not the quitters. Despite the obstacle and despite the hurdle, we're not going back to the way life used to be, but we're moving forward. We're not stopping.

Can I tell you today, I don't want to be a part of the generation that just gets out of Egypt. I want to be a part of the generation that crosses the Red Sea, that crosses the Jordan River, and gets into the promised land. I'm not going to settle for getting out of Egypt. I want everything that God has for me. Why do I want to see it? Because I know, I know what God has last is what's best. He has saved it for us. He has saved it for this time. I want God to show up and show out. I want God to do things I can't explain. I want to see blinded eyes open. I want to see the lame walk. I want to see those addicted to drugs and alcohol come in, one altar experience, receive the Holy Ghost, and have chains fall off of their wrist. I want to see it. There is a latter-day revival, and I'm not going to settle for anything less than the greatest revival our world has ever seen.

The persistent widow in Luke chapter 18, she knows that justice belongs to her. She knows that there's a victory out there for her. And so she comes to the judge day after day, week after week, month after year, or month after month, potentially year after year, knowing that if weariness ever overcomes her consistency, or if discouragement ever, ever overcomes her faithfulness, then there is a chance that she will have to live the rest of her life never knowing what it would be like to have justice in her life. Likewise, I today do not want to rest my head on my pillow tonight thinking about what would have been, or what could have been, if I had just followed what it is that I knew was rightfully mine.

You know, the lady, she, the widow, she had a made-up mind. She was determined that one day that victory would have her name on it. I'm just curious today, how many people in this room, you have a similar mindset. You have determined, you have settled the fact, that there are victories, that there are miracles, that there are signs and wonders that have your name written on it, and you're not going to settle for less. You're not going to be okay with less than what God has for you.

I know how it is. Listen, I get being tired. I get failing and messing up, and thinking, I don't, I've lost my chance. I've lost my opportunity. But I wish today we would stop looking at our failures. We would stop looking at our mistakes. And we would stop looking at all the reasons why we can't. And we would be like the prophet Micah, when he says, "Rejoice not against me, O my enemy, for when I fall, I shall arise."

I wish that there was a mindset in this room today, that no matter the obstacle and no matter the challenge, you're going to get back up. You're going to try again. You're going to try ag. You know what? Some of you, dear saints, you've been praying for a long time. You've been praying for that thing for a long time. But what I can tell you today, and what I can encourage you with today, is that you should pray again. Some of you, he'd always been stripped from you a long time ago. You come in this place worshiping week after week after week, praying one day that God would give you joy again. I can't tell you why you don't have it now. But I can tell you this: you want to worship again.

Some of you, you've been going to altars, asking God to answer that prayer, and you haven't received it yet. But I'm telling you today, you want to go to the altar again, because you never know when it is God is going to answer that need. I'm not going to quit here. I'm not going to be like the Israelites and quit on the wrong side of the Jordan River, when the victory is right over there. I'm going to push. I'm going to make it a little inconvenient for myself. I'm going to make sure I'm praying. I'm going to make sure I'm fasting. I want to make sure I'm giving everything to God. Because when you come to the realization that God is truly your only hope, there's no ill will whenever he says, "Give me everything you've got." You gladly do it, because you know he's capable of doing all things.

Persistent widow, I'm sure there were days where she was mocked, where she was scorned by her friends, when people will tell her things like, "You're wasting your time," or, "You're never going to get what you're after," or, "You're, you're never going to see that justice, that right, that the thing you're searching for in your life." Yet still she pursued. It each and every day, waking up each and every day believing that today is the day I'm going to receive that justice.

Maybe today you woke up, and you feel no peace in your life right now. Maybe today you woke up, and you feel no joy. Maybe today you woke up, and you feel no love in your life right now. Maybe today you woke up, and you thought that there is nothing good that's going to come from this day. You thought, you know what, today is just going to be like every other day. But subconsciously, somewhere inside of you, you believe something could be different. You know how I know that? Because you're here. Obstacles, hurdles, they try to keep you from the house of God, but today you are here. The devil, listen to this, your adversary does not want you to be in the house of God today, but you're here. And guess what? God's also here. God's also here. What does that tell me? God plus u equals a miracle. God plus you equals deliverance. Scripture says, today is the day of salvation.

I wish somebody would just make up in their mind that today I'm going to get that answer. Today I'm, I wish some people who really needed healing in their body would make a determination that today you're going to get the healing, today you're going to get that. Some of you think that chronological pain is your middle name, but can I tell you, it's not. There is a deliverer here. There is a healer here today. Your life can be restored. Jesus is here. He's not an unjust judge. He's not unfair. He is a great God. He is a loving God. I can tell you right now, everything that's good in my life is because of him. Every good gift has come from him. I am indebted to this Jesus. And he is here today.

In Genesis, the 27th chapter, we find Isaac. He's growing old, and he's getting ready to bless his oldest son Esau. So Isaac commands Esau to go to the field and come back with his favorite mill. And Jacob, he, he overhears, uh, his father. He, he comes to the knowledge of the fact that, that Isaac is going to bless Esau. So he goes out, and with the help of his mom, prepares a meal. Puts on goats, or skins of goats, on his hands to resemble the hairiness of Esau. That's gross. Let me just tell you right now, if you're so hairy that someone has to put on goat skins to look like you and feel like you, that's weird. Mama, I can't. You know, Jacob putting on those goatskins, I'm like, he's fight, like, this ain't worth it. Goes and he takes the meal, and he takes it to his father Isaac.

The Bible says that Isaac, he can't see real well, so he can't tell who's in the room with him. So he has to go to his other senses to see if it's his son Esau or his son Jacob. And so he goes out and he fills the arms, and it feels like Esau. And he smells the field on the sun, so he assumes, again, it's, it's Esau. And the mill, the mill was prepared just right, so it tastes like the mill that Esau would have made. His eyes, his sight, his feel, his touch, the smell from the field, the smell, the, the taste, all the senses were saying, "This is my son Esau." Everything was communicating, "This is an Esau. There's no doubt about it. This is Esau."

But when Isaac started asking Jacob questions, Scripture says in Genesis 27 22 that despite all the senses that were saying it was his son Esau, Scripture says that Isaac had a realization that the voice was Jacob's. He was feeling and sensing an Esau, but he was hearing a Jacob.

You may think to yourself, this is a weird point to make right now. But this is what I believe in this day and age. I believe that there are so many voices, so many people, so many things, trying to persuade you to believe one thing over another. All of your senses are shouting, "This world's in chaos. This world's confused. This world's messed up." But I believe that if today you will ignore all the other senses you've got, and only rely on your ear, what you're going to hear is, you're going to hear a still soft voice whispering to you. I hope this makes sense. But this is what I believe. I believe with all of my heart that the, that the adversary is trying to distract us through a plethora of means. But at the end of the day, God is still speaking to his people. And if you'll learn how to shut off your other senses, and just trust on what you're hearing, you will begin to hear what it is God is trying to do in your life.

Romans chapter 10, verse 17, it says, "So then faith, it cometh by, in hearing the word of God."

Job said in 42 5 of his book, "I've heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee."

I believe that too many people are expecting to see their miracle, are expecting to observe their miracle. But that's not how God is operating in this day. What he is waiting for is for a child of God to get in tune with the Holy Ghost, to be in tune with the Holy Spirit, where you can hear what he is doing, so you can start proclaiming the things he is doing. Can I tell you, you're probably going to hear it before you ever see it. Isaac says, "I, I, I sense an Esau, but what I hear is a Jacob."

I've come to tell somebody today, it's time to start making sure that your sense is placed in the right direction. That you tune off Facebook. That you tune off news. That you tune off what your friends are saying. And you start paying attention to what thus saith the word of God.

Matthew 24 35: "Heaven and earth, it'll pass away, but my words, they shall never pass." The psalmist said, "Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven." At the end of the day, a child of God, there's only one thing you can take for sure in this world, and that's God's voice. That's God's word. What are you listening to today? What are you paying attention to today?

Isaac, he should have known he was blessing his wrong son. But he didn't want to go against his other senses. They were too overwhelming for him. But today, I believe that there are people that are going to tune off everything else, and are going to listen to what it is that God is saying to you.

Job chapter 33, verse 14, says, "For God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it." What a terrifying thing that would be for a saint of God, someone Holy Ghost filled, to have God trying to speak to you, but you can't hear what he's trying to say. In this room right now, I believe that God is whispering things in people's ears. I believe he's whispering to somebody, "It's not time to quit. It's not time to give up. It's not time to throw in the towel, because I'm still right here beside you." For some of you that have been dealing with anxiety and depression, I believe God's whispering your ear, "Joy is coming in the morning." I believe that for some of you that are overwhelmed with fear, God's trying to whisper in your ear right now, that his perfect love will cast out that fear.

What you and I need today, to not give up, not throwing the towel, is to hear the word of God. It's to hear the voice of God. Psalmist said in Psalm 62, verse 11, that God spoke once, but twice have I heard it. I think today would be a good day for you to hear again what it is God is trying to say to you.

Don't give up today. Don't give up on your call today. Don't, don't throw in your purpose and say, "You know what? My purpose, it's not relevant anymore." There's a God here today. He wants to restore you. He wants to put the pieces of your life back together. Today's not the day to give up. We need to hear the voice of God.

I'm coming to a close now. I want to tell you a story about something that took place in 1968, a few years before I was born. It was in Mexico City, that there was an Olympian by the name of John Aquari. He raced a, in the marathon, which is 26.2 miles, and that pushes the limits of human endurance. In Mexico City, it was more challenging due to the race being held at an altitude of 65 feet above, 6500 feet above sea level. He was from Tanzania, and he never ran in such high altitude before. And so when he begins to race, he, he notices, like the other runners, that the oxygen levels are quite different. He begins to cramp, and when he does, he falls at nearly the 12 mile mark, badly wounding his knee and dislocating the joint. Plus he badly damaged the shoulder. He had a decision then and there to make. As the medals were being awarded to the winners of the Olympians who had won the race, and having realized that 18 racers had already dropped out of the race due to the lack of oxygen, a quarry, he, he had to make a dis, a difficult decision. Do I attempt to finish the race, or do I just quit right here, nowhere near his average time of two hours and 15 minutes? He came in to the Olympic stadium, limping. But once hearing the cheers, and hearing the fans rooting for him, he began to try to run again. And as he made that final sprint and crossed the finish line, people, they stood to their feet. They were amazed at the fact that the man who had so much to overclaim, overcome, had finished the race. He wasn't, hear me, he wasn't supposed to finish the race. His leg was hurting too bad. He could have given up, and nobody would have blamed him. But after the race, the reporters, they went to, and they said, "Why in the world did you keep going? You were hurt. You weren't going to win. You weren't going to set a personal best time. What kept pushing you, when everybody else was already done?" And he said this statement. He said, "My country did not send me five thousand miles to start a race." He said, "They sent me five thousand miles to finish the race." He said, "I didn't, they didn't send me to begin. They sent me so that I could finish it, that I could conclude it."

Saint of God, today, when I feel in the Holy Ghost, is to remind you that you may be limping this, this year. It may be hurting you real bad. There might be financial pressure there. There may be pressure in your marriage. There may be struggles in your mission. I don't know what's going on in your life right now. And I'm sure that if you lined up across this altar today and gave me every reason why you can't keep going, that you would probably get pity for every single person in this room. In fact, I, I feel confident that some people will tell you, "I don't blame you for giving up right now. Just, just go ahead and throw it, wave the white flag. You've been through enough. Go ahead and give up."

But I want somebody to know today, that despite the hell you've been going through, God did not send you in this world, for just a time as this, for you to quit and for you to stop. God did not call you for this time, for you to sit on the sideline and watch everybody else through ministry, while you sit there and think about your pain and your frustration. There is still a race to be run.

There is still a day where we will meet Christ in eternity, where he will look at each and every one of us, and he will say, "Despite the pain, and despite the obstacles, and despite all the reasons why you could have given up, you're here. And because you're here, I want to tell you, well done, thou good and faithful servant."

We stand to our feet today. It was the psalmist who said, that they that sow in tears shall reap in joy. I can't tell you when the reaping of joy is going to begin. I can't tell you if it's going to be on this earth, or if it's going to be in eternity. But what I can tell you for sure is that, if you say, "I'm not going to give up, that right now is not the time to, to give up, to wave that white flag. But I'm going to keep on going. I'm going to keep on doing what I know to do. I'm going to keep on praying. I'm going to keep on fasting. I'm going to keep on worshiping. When the altar call's called, I'm going to keep going down to the altar. I'm going to keep coming to church. I'm going to keep inviting people to church. I may not have all the things I want, but I'm not going to give up now." Because there's a season that I'm going to reap what it is God has for me.

They're going to begin to sing in this altar call. This altar is going to be open. This is what I would like today. I would like for each and every person to come. And right now, I think right now, if we could come to the altar, what it would be, it would be a declaration that we're not giving up. That Center Point's not a group of quitters. That we're not saying, "You know what? We're never going to get what we wanted." Here's a deal. There is going to be a balcony in this place, amen. There is going to be revival in this city. There is revival with your name on it. There's revival for your family. There's peace for your family. There's hope for your family today. God didn't send you here to quit. He sent you here to keep on going.

They're going to begin to sing. Won't you lift up your hands right now? Lift up your voices in this place. Let's begin to worship God. Let's begin to magnify him. He's here, and he can do all things right now. Hallelujah. Come on, lift up your voice, saying of God. Come on, lift up your voice right now. Begin to pray. Begin to declare some things in your life. Come on, right now, you baby.