This Day

Luke chapter 4 Jesus has returned from The Temptations and the power of the spirit he's visited synagogues he goes back home to Nazareth and he's attending a church service there and I'll get into the details of this but the book of Isaiah the prophet is delivered to him he finds a particular place Luke 4 18 Jesus begins to read the Bible publicly in a Jewish synagogue it reads the spirit of the Lord is upon me and I have a feeling when he read that he read it with an authority like it had never been read since it was written over 700 years prior to that time the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted preach Deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind to set it Liberty them that are bruised to preach the acceptable year of the Lord close the book gave it again to the minister sat down and the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him and he began to say unto them this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears I want to preach a little while on that theme this day God bless you please be seated amen well God is good all the time and all the time God is good every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before that's what the old timers saying every day with Jesus I love him more and more every day is a happy day they say when you put it in the hands of the Lord God is good all the time the writer of Hebrews 13 8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday today and forever amen every day when you wake up you can declare what Psalm 118 24 declared this is the day that the Lord has made we will rejoice and be glad in it rainy day sunny day good day to you bad day to you rich poor better worse amen this is the day that the Lord has made and your attitude makes all the difference because you can choose to rejoice and be glad in that day amen Jeremiah and the Lamentations of Jeremiah said that his mercies and compassions they fail not they are new every morning every day when you wake up you can be thankful that God is good all the time this is the day the Lord has made you can rejoice and be glad in it God has never had a bad day he's never had an off day never went back to the house after work and said well I was a little off today wasn't really on my game today God never has days like that but while every day with God is a good day not every day in God's plan is a notable day where his plan that has been unfolding is fulfilled in a single day that's why the writer Paul told us in Galatians 6 and 9 to be not weary in well-doing amen keep doing the right thing for in due season we shall reign shall reap if we faint not don't quit doing good in time that Harvest is going to be produced and you're going to reap what you sowed a long time ago amen so sometimes there's an unfolding process doesn't happen overnight Amen in the days of Noah the Lord told Noah there's going to be a flood it will destroy the entire Earth Noah priest about that for maybe over a hundred years he built an ark and while God's promise and prophecy was true from the moment he spoke it it wasn't raining so it was true but it didn't come to pass the Bible says that the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was a preparing but there was a day when Noah and his family got on the ark there was a day when the Lord shut the door and the rain began to fall and The Fountains of the deep began to open up the Bible said it was in the 600th year of Noah's life and the second month in the 17th day of the month so there is a day and Noah could have looked out the window of the Ark and said this day is everything I preached about to you come to pass this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears I want you to see the distinction between the unfolding of God's plan and the day when God says this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears the children of Israel the people of God were an Egyptian bondage for some 430 years from the time the prophecy was issued that God initially spoke to Abraham Israel became slaves they suffered they cried out to God but God seemed to do nothing God had a plan to bring all of Egypt to its knees but while God allowed time to pass Israel continued to suffer day by day but on that first Passover night when the angel of death passed through the land of Egypt all the days of waiting made sense all the days of suffering made sense because it was in that night and in that day that God delivered all his people out of Egyptian bondage amen I would like to tell you today Faith now you may think these will never change but it will change God has a day of Deliverance that he will bring to his people amen it is my mission today to encourage you to not miss this moment it is my mission today to encourage you to not be asleep at the wheel well God is doing something great in our midst Israel had been in Babylon the people of Judah for 70 years and when God turned again their captivity they said we were like them that dreamed we didn't really believe it we couldn't believe it was happening that God really did what he said he would do it seemed too good to be true but it was what God had promised and on that day it came to pass the birth of Jesus was prophesied about all the way back in the Garden of Eden and with the very first sin in Genesis 3 15 the Lord promised that a seed of the woman a descendant of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent but decades centuries Millennial rolled on and nothing seemed to happen throughout the Old Testament every prophecy that pointed ahead to the Messiah seemed like it may not come to pass but there is a prophecy that was given in the Psalms when the Lord said Thou Art my son this day have I begotten thee there was a day when the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary and that which was conceived in her was of the Holy Ghost Paul wrote in Galatians that in the when the fullness of time was come that God sent forth his son made of a woman and made under the law with all of that waiting there was a day in Bethlehem that baby Jesus was born and all the waiting was over and Christ came into the world to save Sinners amen I want you to see that it doesn't go on and on forever that in due season you do reap that God has the time to bring his plan to pass we live in the church age the church dispensation but in Romans 11 25 Paul said that there will be the fullness of the Gentiles that will come in Paul also wrote that there will be a day when the Lord is going to come and take his people away the writer of Hebrew he said he that shall come will come and he will not tarry you may think that the coming of the Lord has been put off fromever but one of these days the Bible said that in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last Trump the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised Incorruptible and we shall be changed be not weary in well-doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not you can keep on keeping on knowing that Thursday this day for your life and for the church and for this church and for this church and I believe that this day this season in the history of Atlanta West Pentecostal church is a significant season where the prophecies the promises the labor that has gone on since our Inception in a basement in 1961 that God is bringing together something significant for our time and again it is my mission to make sure that we don't miss it that we are not asleep at the wheel that we don't miss this moment when God is doing something significant and special in our church no I don't throw this out lightly I don't say this unless I feel it strongly but I believe we're living in a prophetic fulfillment of what God is doing [Music] amen you can preach about love every day and it's always good you can preach about God's salvation it's always true but what I'm saying today is either a hundred percent right or a hundred percent wrong I would not stand here and put my life and reputation on the line but I'm saying to you that there is a voice that has come from God that is saying this day this day this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ear I'm doing something in your day and this season in the life of this church don't miss it don't miss it praise God that's God's Dead story seems to be painfully slow and folding and then in a moment just like that it comes to pass amen Luke 4. begins with the Temptations of Jesus the initiation of his Earthly Ministry he comes out of the Wilderness being tempted of the devil and he comes in the power of the spirit he begins to visit those local Jewish churches the synagogues and teaching and preaching there and then on this particular Saturday Sabbath day Luke 4 16 says and he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up and as his custom was he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read do I want to point out a couple practical things Jesus went to church God in flesh attended in person he was everywhere on thy present but he physically went to church the Bible said that it was his custom amen going to church for him was non-negotiable he did it his whole life he did it in his Earthly Ministry not just periodically when it was convenient for him when it wasn't raining but he went to church amen and when you went to synagogue the Bible was read there is an Old Testament reading from the law the pentateuch and there was a reading from the prophets evidently the reading from the law had already been done by someone else and now it was time and that church service for the reading from the prophets Jesus stood up and volunteered to read and the attendant or maybe the ruler of the synagogue appointed the attendant to bring a scroll of scripture to Jesus it just so happened not really just so happened it happened that it was the book of Isaiah and Jesus found a particular verse in his Bible and the Old Testament it would be Isaiah 61 and 1. in the New Testament Luke 4 18 Jesus found the place and he started reading the spirit of the Lord is upon me I couldn't help but when I was reading the text to say I kind of feel like they felt something in that moment this is different than we've ever heard and he tells his mission he's anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted to preach Deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind to Senate Liberty then that are bruised to preach the acceptable year of the Lord this was the mission of the Messiah prophesied about 700 years before by Isaiah and Jesus read it and said that this spirit is upon me verse 20. he closed the book gave it again to the minister and he sat down and when he did the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him it made me think of how I felt before in a really small town going in a restaurant when everybody is so curious and everyone's eyes were fastened on me and my wife or whoever was there but they knew Jesus he grew up there but this felt different now later they would reject him they would say this is Jesus he grew up here we know his mother and his brothers and his sisters but something fascinating is happening and there's a little side note to this sermon that when Jesus stopped reading and closed the book and sat down he read about his first coming but he paused before there was a phrase about his second coming Isaiah 61-2 to the very next phrase after the acceptable year of the Lord is the day of Vengeance of our God over two thousand years separated those phrases but Jesus did not come to condemn the world he came that the world through him might be saved amen he will come another time to judge the world but he shook the book in that exact pause and sat down and everybody looked at him and then verse 21 and Jesus he began to say to them this day now I know you've already got this but you have to think about what this meant this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears I know you've heard this scripture many times it's a significant Prophecy from the book of Isaiah that silver tongued orator who was used so mightily you've got a a major prophet Isaiah wrote his book between 741 and 701 BC so I already mentioned it but about 700 years this prophecy has been sitting on the shelf it has always been true but has not ever been relevant until this precise moment for 700 years God allowed this verse with all of its power to be held back until this moment amen there is imagery In this passage of the Year of Jubilee that 50th year of release that God allowed in Israel he mandated in Israel all the captives would go free all the debts would be forgiven all the land would revert to its initial owner and all the people would take the year off to celebrate it was a Year of Jubilee and Jesus said this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears all the jubilees that have ever been celebrated have come into culmination right now what you wrote about back in Leviticus 25 life is happening right now this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears amen there's got to be a time in our lives that we realize it is not yesterday and it is not tomorrow it is today that God is working in us and we should be ready to embrace what God is doing now this day not all days are equal not all seasons in the life of a church are the same there's a lot of mundane days a lot of grinded out days a lot of days that you just live Faithfully for God according to my best calculations I've served as Pastor here for 27 years and almost seven months since August 31st 1995. in case you're wondering it's about 1435 weeks ten thousand forty five days and I would like to say like Jacob said when he worked seven years for Rachel that it seemed unto him but a few days but sometimes you feel like Jacob when he woke up the next morning and instead of Rachel It was Leah it wasn't what she thought it was but we'll leave Jacob back there in the Old Testament God has been good to us and I want to say a few things that I hope you don't misunderstand me I'm not patting myself on the back I am thanking God for the Assurance of his will and the 10 045 days we've served here there's never been one day that we have ever questioned that we are in the will of God serving Atlanta West not one day not one day before we came when God confirmed it not one day when you were praying about the vote we believed it was the will of God for us to serve here if my wife and I were voting yes and no we would say that there's ten thousand forty five yeses and there's not a zero no we are unanimous that this is the will of God to serve this church and to take this church to the promises of God we're unanimous in that [Applause] you see you cannot do the will of God just with the burden you should have a burden you need to have a call for 16 years I served on the global missions board and missionary candidates would come in to meet the board for application to serve in global missions brother G.A Mangan when he was alive sat on that board in almost every candidate he kind of had a way of doing his hand like that you know brother Grayson was filled with the Holy Ghost in Alexandria and brother Mangan would look at those candidates and he would say do you have a burden or do you have a call he said you know a burden can lift but a cold will keep you when you don't feel a burden I thank God I know the call of God and the burden that comes with that but I don't question the call of God Amen but not all of those ten thousand forty five days that the Lord has made have been equal some days have been better than other days I know you're not supposed to say it was a bad day but it was not as good a day as other days some days you didn't feel like they were what you wanted them to be amen amen I like special days when you look back on your life and you reflect on where you've been you're probably not going to remember every day you're going to remember the really good days you're going to remember the really bad days the highs and lows of life I love to have special days that remind us of the goodness of God in all of it in between days about all seasons are equal not all days are equal and the life of our church we have seen some significant days since our Inception and in the last 27 years right after I came there was a lower parking lot that was Clay and it rained about every other day and it was a muddy mess but the board and I discussed it we borrowed some money and we paved the lower parking lot in the first year in 1998 we paid the mortgage on this building off we burn it on January 4 1998. thank God for that in 2001 you can celebrate that those of you who were here it was the significant moment 8 300 a month taken care of praise God 2001 finish the Family Life Center 2014 remodeled the sanctuary started awpc 2.0 new paradigm of two services and and children's ministry 2018 we paid off the Family Life Center December 21st 2023 it's time to build again amen we've had some significant markers I believe it's time to build again you voted for it amen so do we amen part of me for just kind of going right past that it's a big deal you've had some significant markers in our church in 2005 to 2010 in two Services back then our average attendance crew by exactly 300. I remember the first time on a big day we had more than a thousand people in church a thousand and eight we had little flags made up it was a celebration of a big moment none of us who were here will ever forget how God moved and how sweet to sound and hundreds and hundreds of guests came to experience the power of the Holy Ghost amen when we launched 2.0 and back to two services that was amazing and the remodeling of our sanctuary in our church we are continually fixing it all the time painting remodeling updating making it better we had some people at launch he told us how great our sound is is because we invest a lot in the experience the Bible asks a question how shall they hear without a sound system wait how so are they here without a preacher since 1996 we've welcomed twenty thousand six hundred and sixty two guests in church for the very first time amen thank God for the twenty thousand people who've come to church to visit 2250 have been filled with the Holy Ghost since 2000 to the end of last year [Applause] 1813 baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ since 1998. thank God for that thank God that you've given 6.9 million dollars to World missions hey we need to raise about that much money or more so we've given that away so why not let God bless us with that plus more thank you for the 3.7 million almost 3.8 million given to past Capital campaigns God has been good to us all my life I know you know I'm a Saints kid I never asked God to let me be a preacher when he started calling me I never dreamed I could but I had the giftings the ability to do this and of course I didn't because our sufficiency is of God and not of ourselves without him you can do nothing but I can't do all things through Christ but strengtheneth me with every breath that I am able I will sing of the goodness of God God has been good to Atlanta West Pentecostal Church some of you have gone to the Valley of the shadow of death you've had premature funerals you've battled sickness you've been through financial duress but all my life God has been faithful and God has been good Hallelujah I can stay without equivocation that every good camp and every perfect gift is from above and coming down from the father of light with whom is known variableness neither shadow of turning God has been good to us [Applause] this is the day that the Lord has made I will rejoice I choose to rejoice and be glad in it amen ten thousand forty five days but I'm just telling you that this day not this precise March 26th but this season in the history of our church is significant it is like other seasons in our church but all the work and all the prayer came together for another big move another big season of growth and this day I feel like the Lord spoke to me to let me know to preach this today that there are some days that you've just gotta nail it down it's not yesterday it is not tomorrow it is this day in the last ten thousand forty five days we perceived relocation 2007 didn't work out we toured a facility in 2020 the week of coven it didn't work out in the last ten thousand forty five days our trusty born the people that serve on our team in Ministry we have tried to stretch and reach and pray and ask God what we should do in 2018 we had a series of next meetings when then because of the setback boundaries we concluded that we could not build here but guess what now we can there have been gays that have gone by like the Prophecies of Isaiah 700 years or so it seemed like it didn't come to pass but on that day when Jesus stood up for to read and he spoke of his mission he said disdain is this scripture fulfilled in your ears it was like the day of Pentecost that was fully calm and all the hundreds of Prophecy came true in that one's service my mission today is to make sure that we are not asleep at the wheel that we don't miss this moment that we're not like Martha his brother was dead and Jesus came to their house and Martha said Jesus if you would have been here our brother would not have died Lord yesterday was better than today our past is better than our present and then Jesus said your brother will rise again and Martha wisely said Lord I believe in the resurrection I know that in the last day my brother is going to rise again she went from the past to the Future and she skipped right over the present but Jesus looked at Martha John 11 25 and he said to her I am I am the resurrection and the life I have come to raise your brother from the dead not tomorrow not yesterday but today but it is all too typical of human nature to put the best days in the past or to hope for the future but again my mission today is to help us look at what God is doing now that this day is a day of prophetic fulfillment in Atlanta West Pentecostal church we are awake at the wheel we will not miss our moment amen this day the Bible says that today is the day of salvation sometimes God walks into your life and it's not just a saying that's good every day it's only good that day Lazarus was resurrected the end of Jesus is Ministry people are wanting to kill Lazarus because he's evidence then Jesus passes through Jericho on his way to the Cross he will never go there again there's a wee little man we used to sing in Sunday School his name was Zacchaeus some people call him Zacchaeus Jesus is passing by in crowds of people or lining the streets and Zach is can't see over the crowd I know you think I relate Zacchaeus Was small but he was smart he could climb and he climbed up a sycamore tree so he could see over people sometimes you've got to get over people to see Jesus got over people to see Jesus and Jesus stopped and looked up in the tree said zacchus come down I must abide at your house today I'm going home with you I'm hungry and you're fixing lunch Zach is received him gladly others murmured Jesus is going to be the guest of a sinner Zacchaeus got in front of Jesus and he said Lord he basically repented all of my goods I'll give them away to the poor if I've taken anything unjustly I'll restore fourfold and Jesus looked at Zacchaeus Luke 19 9 and Jesus said unto him this day is salvation come to this house for as much as he is the son of Abraham for the son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost that day was the day of salvation for Zacchaeus and I can't miss this moment to preach to those of you who may not be in a right relationship with God you do not have tomorrow but you have right now you may think you need to know more and hear more and think about it for another week or a month or a year or a decade but I've come to preach to this church that this is our day and I've come to preach to you that this is the day of salvation to you do not let this moment pass you by do not let it pass you by my mission today is to make sure we don't miss this moment that we are praying that we're reading through a devotion that we are opening our heart to God to see what he is saying to us and this Vision campaign there will be a lot of giving but there will be a lot of growing spiritually our mission is not to build a building our mission is to reach people a building is a tool to reach people giving is a means to building buildings but this campaign is focused on the mission of our church but if we somehow think that our best days are behind us or if we think that our best days or some dead way someplace in the distant future we will miss this day so would you pray with me right now and will you ask God to not let you be asleep at the wheel to not miss this day let's pray would you pray with me right now Lord God that's right let your voice and pray everyone everywhere praise God Jesus name today Lord I pray that if someone in this house is not saved that they would turn from sins and repentance today yeah that's it pray right now pray right now Lord God in Jesus name in Jesus name O God Hallelujah