An Opportunity for God

Oh, praise the Lord everyone. Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts. Praise him for his excellent greatness. Oh, hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Amen. I'd like to go straight to the word of God and read a verse of scripture while you're standing. It's in 1 Samuel. It is a privilege to be here. I don't take it for granted. I don't take it lightly. Just because that's been the tradition doesn't mean it has to be. So, Bishop Anthony Mangan, Pastor Gentry Mangan, and Pentecostals of Alexandria, because of the Times supporters, thank you for this opportunity. And I hope I my goal is always leave you a word, not the final word, but a word. And I'm going to try to do that tonight. 1st Samuel 14:6, story of Jonathan is his armor bearer.

1st Samuel 14:6. And Jonathan said to the young man that bear his armor, "Come and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised," it may be that the Lord will work for us, for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few. I'm preaching tonight an opportunity for God. And you may be seated. Now, if you if you'll allow me to take just a few minutes before I get into this word, but speaking on behalf of the UPCI, and we do not think we're the entire body of Christ. We respect other apostolics. We know God is moving far beyond our ranks, but we do believe we're a significant part and we have responsibility to help lead the way. And when I became general superintendent in 2010, I felt God gave me three points. apostolic identity, apostolic unity, apostolic revival.

And I'm thankful that we still maintain our identity as strong as or probably stronger than ever before. The oneness of God, the deity and humanity of Jesus Christ, the new birth message, the pursuit of holiness, the gifts of the spirit, the fruit of the spirit. We believe those things. I'm thankful that we have unity. Sure, we have different opinions. When we go to conferences, we'll vote different ways. That's okay. But we're not fighting each other. We're not attacking each other. We're working together, the whole gospel to the whole world by the whole church. And revival. We are seeing revival and growth. In a time when mainline denominations have cratered, conservative denominations, even trinitarian Pentecostal denominations are plateauing and declining. I'm happy to tell you the apostolic movement is still in revival. It's still growing. It's still moving forward in Jesus name. Just speaking on behalf of the UPCI of the 210 nations of the world.

We added three last year, brother Hunley. 203 plus many territories. And this year, I'm sure we'll have a few more to add to the list. 45,000 churches worldwide in the UPCI. 6.2 million constituents in three years. Brother sis drunk North American missions right here in the US and Canada we have started just under 700 new churches in the last three years and worldwide our best estimates are in the last three years 1 million people have been filled with the Holy Spirit in the ministry of the UPCI. That's something to celebrate. God is doing great things. The culture around us may be grim. Politics may be polarized. But the church of Jesus Christ is moving forward. This is our opportunity and this is our day. Praise God. I felt the Lord impress upon me for this new year in addition to all that to renew that emphasis of apostolic identity, unity and revival, but to emphasize healthy revival and healthy growth, healthy church culture, not dysfunctional or abusive, but flourishing where people can grow in grace and be retained and come to maturity.

And I mentioned some of these things before. If you've heard me, I'll just hit them. But we need to be emphasizing things like servant leadership, team ministry, accountability and shared governance, Christian liberty, effective transitions. And I want to mention one thing. I asked Bishop Mangan if I could just say a word. Uh but I just want to take tell you about one challenge. And those of you that feel led, I want you to respond in your own way. But in 2001, we started Graduate School of Theology. From the beginning, it was for the entire apostolic movement. But we faced a crisis in a short period of time. In 2002, right here at BOTT, Pastor Mangan allowed me to make an appeal. I wasn't general superintendent. I was president of this new school. And I basically said, "We can't survive without you." We took up enough partners and offerings to make it through that year.

I'm telling you, UGST would not be here if it wasn't for Because of the times and pastor Anthony Emanuel. That was a miracle at that time. Now looking back on it, we're living in a post-Christian culture. The education system is post-Christian in many cases anti-Christian. I was just talking to someone apostolic freshman goes to a state university. The first teacher of the verse class, a science class. Well, I want you to know I identify as binary. And then he proceeded to this person proceeded to tell what was going to happen in that class. And I'm so thankful. Who would have thought when we did that just to allow UGST to survive that we would have Ursen University, a fully apostolic, fully accredited university, bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, doctorates degrees, alumni now all over the world, Skip missionaries, pastors, doctors, lawyers, social workers, faithful saints, teachers.

It's happening already. It's exciting to see what God has done. But I will tell you we are at an inflection point. I'm just going to take a moment on this. An inflection point. What I mean through the because of the growth, we were able to uh purchase uh a new dorm right adjacent to our campus. Uh a a a hotel came open. That was an incredible opportunity. We're able to advance programs. We have dual enrollment for high school juniors and seniors can get college credit. That's incredible. We're working on a new masters of counseling, which many people have demanded. We've got to have that. We're working on a K through 12 curriculum starting with those high school students of how can we help homeschoolers and churches with small schools that we can have education from A to Z, K through K through doctorate can be accredited, apostolic, spiritfilled.

It's just incredible. However, that means we have an urgent need. So, I'm going to just put up a QR code. And Dr. Colthart, where are you? He's right back there. Kevin Howard is here somewhere. These folks can help you. But Dr. Coloulth is our president. He can help you as well. But we need monthly partners. We need one-time support. I'm going to take it up tonight. But if you want more information, go to that QR code because we got to pay for that dorm. We got to pay for those new programs. We've got to we we've got to go to the next level. And let me just say the need is urgent. And I'm saying it because I feel the responsibility even though I'm not the president. But hopefully in the next few minutes before I finish, I will show you what how this ties into my message and how I think God has spoken to us.

But if you would take it seriously, either scan that code, talk to Dr. Coltharp, get a card, do something because we need massive support to push this to the next level and to sustain and grow. Now, let me go back to my text. Let me read it from the NLT. Same text. Here's Jonathan speaking. Let's go across to the outpost of those pagans. Jonathan said to his armor bearer, "Perhaps the Lord will help us, for nothing can hinder the Lord. He can win a battle whether he has many warriors or only a few. And let me just make a few statements. I'm not going to be long-winded tonight, but I studied this passage. I feel the Lord spoke to me several months ago. The first thing, God wants to help us more than we realize. Jonathan said, "It may be perhaps." And God's behind there saying, "Oh yes, I'm ready.

I'm more than ready." We're saying, "Well, maybe it could be, possibly." And God's behind you. Say, "Come on now. I've given you those promises. Come on now." God wants to help us more than we realize. And he can do more than we can imagine. We don't have a clue of what God wants to do if we would just get started. However, there's a theme here. He waits for us to invite him to work. I just read something recently that resonated. We are waiting for God to do everything while God is waiting for us to do something. Let that sink in your spirit. So what I see in this text in verse six is the possibility of a miracle. It's not automatic. It's not inevitable. It's not predestined, but it's possible. Jonathan recognized that. He may not have had the full vision, but he recognized it's possible God could do something.

And so verse six, we see he's taking the step and he wanted he just wanted to make himself available. He wanted to give God an opportunity. And I think that's what we need to do this week. I'm going to give God an opportunity to do more than I can even imagine. Jonathan realized numbers don't matter to God. Circumstances don't matter to God. If God has given you a vision or if God has just given you a step, which is what happened with Jonathan, he had enough sense to realize it doesn't matter what's against me. It doesn't matter what's around me. What's matters is who's for me. What's matters is who's behind me. God plus one person is always a majority. If God be before us, who can be against us? So in the story, the Israelites under King Saul were facing the enemy, the Philistines.

They were at a stalemate. They didn't have a strategy. They weren't fighting. They didn't know what to do. People were defecting, actually going to the enemy. Israelites were actually joining up with the Philistines because there was no vision. There was no movement. Other people were hiding in holes in caves. They were staying neutral. We want to stay out of it. We don't know what's going to happen and the good guys might lose and we don't want to be caught up in that. So there's mass confusion, defections, neutrality, stalemate, no opportunity for God to work. God is limited by our willingness to invite him to work. So, Jonathan simply wanted to break the log jam. He simply wanted to give God an opportunity to do whatever God wanted to do. Notice his humble approach. Contrary to a lot of teaching, I certainly believe in faith, and I'm going to mention that a little bit more in a minute.

But notice it wasn't demanding. It wasn't presumptuous. It wasn't a formula of name and claim it. He just says perhaps perhaps. According to some people's theology, God shouldn't have answered that prayer. But God is looking for someone that it's even a perhaps or a possibility. But somebody's willing to break the status quo. Somebody is willing to step out of the crowd. Somebody is willing to do something in the hopes that God will do something. You don't have to be super spiritual. I want you to have great faith. But I'm saying if you feel like you're lacky, don't let that stop you. You can do something. You can at least step out by faith. You can at least see what God wants to do. It was a humble approach. But when he did, Jonathan, his armor bearer, approached the enemy. They fought and they started winning.

But I want you to see this. If you take the time, and I'm not going to read it all, but verse six shows the power of faith. God can do it. Skip I don't know if he will or not, but I believe he can. You got to start with faith. But number two, he asked his armor bearer, "Would you go with me?" And his armor bearer said, "Whatever you want, I'm with you 100%. Whatever you feel where two or three are gathered in my name, if any two of you will agree touching any one thing, Matthew 18, I think we got enough people here to say we can agree. I don't care what the rest of the world does. And I'm concerned about the rest of the apostolic world or the UPCI at this moment. I'm saying in this room, we have enough people with enough faith, with enough unity that we can change our world.

the power of unity and the power of faith in action. John said, "Let's cross over and let's disclose ourselves to them." So, you can't just talk about it. You can't just say it could be, perhaps, maybe. You could say maybe, but let's just see. And you also have to hear from God. And this is kind of hidden in the story, but you can see it because Jonathan said, "Okay, we're going to step out by faith and we're going to expose ourselves to the enemy. We're going to disclose ourselves and see what happens. And if they say, "Wait right there, we'll come attack you." That's God's way of telling us to wait. But if they say, "Come on up and fight us. We'll beat you. We're going to go." So Jonathan although he said perhaps and maybe it could be it by the time he acted he had to know God am I supposed to wait or am I supposed to go there is a time to wait and there is a time to go but sooner or later if you're going to see something you can't wait you're going to have to go and so

I see the principle not only of faith and not only of unity but acting in faith and when They acted in faith. The power of faith and action. Sooner or later, you got to take a risk. Sooner or later, you have to step out of your comfort zone. Sooner or later, you go beyond your calculations into the miraculous. But you got to hear from God in order to do that. The importance of discerning God's will. The result was God gave Jonathan his armor bearer victory immediately. Then panic started setting in on the enemy. And then God sent an earthquake. Isn't it amazing? When we do what we can do, God will do what we cannot do. And God said, "I'm going to fight a I'm not just going to stand on the sidelines. I'm going to join the fight. I'm going to start shaking the earth.

I'm going to start overthrowing the enemy. I'm going to send rocks down to to knock them out. I'm going to split the earth over to swallow him up. I'm going to fight on the side of those two believers." And then Saul and the army decided we can fight. And the whole army joined. They won a great victory. And the Bible says those people that are hiding, the neutral people, they join the Israelites. And those people that had defected and gone over the side of the enemy, they came back. And so God, because two men had faith because one leader believed and one follower agreed, the whole army won an incredible victory. And all those people on the sidelines, all the wishy-wash people, all the backsliders, all those started coming around. There was a revival, a great revival of defeating the enemy and restoring the fallen, restoring the lost, restoring the nation.

Because one man said, "I want to at least give God an opportunity. I don't know what will happen, but we got to do something, an opportunity for God." And so, let me circle back to a testimony. So in 2018, Ursan is well established. I stepped down as president because I had to focus on being general superintendent and to go forward that this the the u you know the board wanted me to make sure we could get accredited. But then to be accredited I had to remove myself and put somebody else in place. And we also needed to do something about our campus. We are growing. We had a good campus, but old, historic, limited, highmaintenance. It was going to take millions to restore, millions more to build. The neighbor is declining. So, we're having this board meeting and we looked around for other property. We found this incredible piece of property for $7 million.

It take another million dollars to restore it. And so, we had this this board meeting. Should we invest in the old or should we take a real stretch and try to build go to the new? And then we learned, no, a million is wrong. We're going to need two million to restore. So that's out of reach. That's beyond our plans. So we discussed, debated, nobody was arguing. We were all trying to find the right answer. So half the board said it's it's better to invest in the old. Half the board said it's better to stretch by faith incredibly and go to the new. And so when it's 5050, guess what? You're the general superintendent. You tell us. Whatever's in your heart, Jonathan, we'll go with you. I appreciate the unity, but I don't know. So, finally, we came with a good plan. So, I said, "Look, let's take this night in prayer."

And I wanted to run through the numbers again. I wanted to do some sincere prayer. I wanted to hear from God. Tomorrow morning, we'll have a fresh start. God will give us an answer. In the meantime, since we can't afford the extra million, we're going to make an offer, a final offer that if they'll drop the price by a million. And if they will, that'll obviously be the answer. So, I'm that night I'm driving to the campus because I'm supposed to preach the um preview weekend for the prospective UGST students. So, we're having dinner that I'm going to preach and I get the call while I'm driving and we and the answer says the the sellers are not willing to come down a million. Their final offer is they're going to come down $400,000. So, you only need a $600,000 miracle, but they have to know tonight because they have another buyer and tomorrow they're going to sign the contract with the other buyer.

So, I'm driving and I'm praying. I said, 'Lord, I'm so sorry. I really want to dedicate a couple hours to prayer tonight, quality time. I don't have that time. I I'm very sorry that I'm having to pray like this, but God, I need an answer right now. It's all falling on me. And one of the few times in my life, it wasn't an audible voice, but I felt a very definite sentence from God just pop into my mind. And here's what God asked. He said, "What is your message tonight? What is your title of your message?" Well, it was preview weekend. I said, "Seizing your opportunity." God said, "That's your answer." So I went gathered as much of the board as I could and I said I feel like I have an answer from God. So we bought the new campus. Okay. I just told you we're at an inflection point.

So we had a meeting just a few days ago. All the incredible opportunities, all the incredible costs associated with all the incredible opportunities. We got to have millions more than we have. mean need And so once again, here I am like back to square one. You'd think after 16 years of being general superintendent, I should be able to coast on in. But God doesn't act that way. He sometimes brings you back to your first commitment. So here I am praying again. Lord, we need a miracle. We need a big miracle. We need multiple miracles. We need miracles we don't know where they're coming from. you know, yes, we have we developed a multi-prong strategy and all that, but even with all that multi-prong strategy, we need some miracles. So, I'm praying and kind of griping just a little bit. God, why after all this, I'm not even the president anymore.

You know, why don't you just put all that on brother Coulthar? Leave me out of it. And so, once again, I felt God speak to me. I don't know why he does it this way. He says, 'What is the last message you just preached? I said, 'Well, is anything too hard for God? So, I came to because of the times. You got to help me out. I have faith, but I'm struggling. Is anything too hard for God? I'm preaching to you tonight, pastor. I'm preaching leader. I'm preaching minister. When the situation seems impossible, make yourself available to God. Step out by faith. God can use you. But you must give God an opportunity. Let's stand our feet and say, "This week, Lord, I'm preparing for a miracle. I will give you an opportunity. I will go back to my