Not So

for those of you that think you just dropped into the third year of the tribulation please don't adjust your set brother Tuttle couldn't make it so I am a a temporary standin and uh here's how I look at it when your friends from this great church that has worked so hard to invest so much in all of us when they say would you the only answer is yes so I apologize to the rest of you but I didn't have an option personally he is the pastor of this church he is the bishop of this Great Fellowship called the Assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ and in just a few moments we're going to hear from the bishop of the movement which for this meeting is his most important designation thank you brother Kenneth Carpenter for shepherding this conference this Movement we love you we esteem you and I cannot wait you may be seated when you get there throw the devil a terrible curveball and just erupt in worship and praise from your seat Hallelujah yes yes Hallelujah yes yes yes I thank you Jesus I give you praise I give you praise her name was Elizabeth and she had lived her entire life longing and hoping for the beautiful blessing that most women just take for granted the blessing of becoming and being a mother today it's quite different many women opt out of motherhood for a variet of reasons everything from personal career plans to uh just the sheer inconvenience of it all and all the moms could say Amen from time to time those mothers in our generation maybe wonder what might have been but then they shake off those feelings and they carry on with their busy lives and they never give motherhood a second thought really but for others like Elizabeth they long and they hope to become mothers but they're never afforded the opportunity they feel styed because they remain just single in a world of couples or cheated because they are married but they remain childless in a world of parents and it bothers them those happy proud doting parents with the baby pictures and the birthday parties and the busy but beautiful lives and they really do try to Rejoice with those who Rejoice but in in so many ways they just feel robbed but it was even worse far worse for Elizabeth because being childless in her culture was considered a curse from God you had sinned you had done something evil or Wicked or awful and Elizabeth had lived for many decades just trying to negotiate that loss and that longing she tried to negotiate her dashed hopes and her deep hurts and she battled feelings of deficiency and inferiority every single day the smiles of others made her inexplicably sad their Joy was her Injustice their fulfillment was her emptiness their blessing was her unanswered prayer and yet this is the wonderful thing about that lady named Elizabeth she remained faithful despite her frustration she wasn't bitter against God in fact she blessed God every day Luke chapter 1 there was in the days of Herod the King of Judea a certain priest named Zacharias of the course of abah and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron also of the Priestly line and her name was Elizabeth and they were both righteous before God walking in all the Commandments and the ordinances of the Lord blameless and they they had no child because that Elizabeth was Barren and they were both well now stricken in years there were 18,000 priests who ministered at the temple in Jerusalem in Elizabeth's day they were divided into 24 courses and each course served two weeks out of the year in fact it was the high priest himself who cast lots to see which priest would perform which Ministry during that service and it just so happened that Elizabeth's husband Zacharias was chosen to burn incense on the altar of incense in the Holy Place upon the golden altar that stood just in front of the veil before you ever got to the holy of holies No Ordinary priest like Zacharias could ever hope or dream of entering into the holy of holies behind the veil so to offer the incense on the golden altar of incense was the highest privilege and honor an ordinary priest could ever hope to have furthermore he could really only ever hope to have this privilege once in his life Lifetime with 18,000 priests on rotation in Jerusalem can you imagine that Zacharias just happened to be chosen for this sacred Duty on an otherwise ordinary day I know we typically say it as a warning to each other and we typically say it as an admonition or a serious exhortation one phone call could change your life one text message could change your life you could get bad news that would alter everything and you might never be the same it could be an accident a diagnosis a tragedy could I turn that on its head for Apostolic people filled with faith one text message could be an offering that would change the destiny of your church one phone call could be a backsliding grandchild who just prayed through at an altar could we stop looking at everything upside down and turn it upside right one phone call could change your life one text message could change your life furthermore one altar service could change your life my goodness Zacharias just happened to be chosen for this sacred Duty on this otherwise ordinary day and neither he nor Elizabeth could have imagined in their Wildest Dreams what was about to happen or how their lives were about to change verse 11 there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense and when Zachariah saw him he was troubled and fear fell upon him for all of you that have coffee with the angels every morning I honor you but when people in the Bible saw angels they trembled they fell on the floor like a pile of jello I think that's probably a better reaction and when Zachariah saw him he was troubled and fear fell upon him but the angel said unto him what Angels always have to say fear not don't freak out it's going to be okay fear not Zacharias for thy prayer is heard and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son and thou shalt call his name John the Angel's message stunned Zacharias and he began to do what we often do when we've lived through a long season of unfulfilled dreams and unanswered prayers he let his logic fight with his faith and he allowed his emotions to argue with his Miracle Verse 18 and Zachariah said unto the angel whereby shall I know this for I am an old man I have learned not to call Beverly old um so Zachariah says help me here my wife is well stricken in years we won't go any further with that conversation in this meeting and the angel answering unto him said unto Himi am Gabriel I stand in the presence of God and I am sent to speak unto thee and to show thee these Glad Tidings and behold I'm going to do you a favor Zacharias because your mouth is your biggest problem you are always talking yourself out of your Miracle you were always talking yourself out everything good God wants to do so I'm going to do you a favor would to God he could do some people that favor in 2024 Thou shalt be dumb and not able to speak you're not going to be able to talk yourself out of the miracle before your feet hit the ashal after Sunday night you're not going to be able to speak until the day that these things shall be performed because thou believest not my words which shall be fulfilled in their season the angel brought a word from the Lord and since Zachariah asked for a sign he gave him the best gift of all okay here's your sign you can't question God you can't argue with his promise you can't verbalize your doubts for nine months until your baby boy is born verse 24 and after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived and hid herself five months saying thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked upon me to take away my reproach among men now Zacharias may very well have been overwhelmed but Elizabeth was overjoyed she was finally going to get to be a mother but God wasn't finished yet our Eternal God is never finished yet and so six months into her miraculous pregnancy the same Angel stepped out of Heaven from the throne room of God and brought news of yet another miraculous pregnancy and this time the news came to her young cousin whose chances at motherhood were frankly even more impossible because she was a virgin girl named Mary and here's the angel speaking to Mary in verse 36 and behold thy cousin Elizabeth she has also conceived a son in her old age and this is the sixth month with her who was called Barren and then the angel adds the holy punchline direct from the Throne of God for with God nothing shall be impossible in the Old Testament in the Book of Genesis to another Barren couple God's question to Abraham went like this is anything too hard for the Lord but but in the New Testament God answers his own question in the words of the angel Gabriel for with God nothing shall be impossible I don't care how long it's gone on I don't care how many naysayers you have I don't care how the enemy has threatened or how the church has resisted in your local let me tell you something is there anything too hard for the Lord and the answer is for with our God nothing shall be impossible I wish you'd give God a praise in this room hallelujah hallelujah your diagnosis or your dilemma may be impossible with man but it is still possible possible with God he specializes in the unworkable and the unattainable and the unimaginable our great God easily overcomes the inaccessible and the insurmountable and the inconceivable do you know why because his power is immeasurable and his grace is inexhaustible I'm here tonight to announce to you with our for God nothing in your church is impossible nothing in your community is impossible nothing in your ministry is impossible nothing in your family is impossible I wish you just get a hold of the hand of somebody standing next to you lift that hand with yours join the angels in the throne room of God and give praise to our Eternal God nothing stops him nothing thwarts him nothing hurts him yes yes yes yes yes take that devil take that hell the apostolics are engulfed in Holy Fire of Revival yes yes yes yes yes yes oh yes God Mary comes to visit her cousin Elizabeth for the next three months and she stays to help until the birth of Elizabeth's baby John the Baptist who just happens to be the Forerunner of Mary's baby Jesus the Messiah when Mary and Elizabeth meet not only does Elizabeth Rejoice for Mary but in the womb John rejoices for Jesus I know we preach that John's witness of the Messiah began in the waters of the Jordan River but that's not the whole story John's witness of Jesus began in the amniotic fluid of his mother's womb 30 years earlier when that unborn baby boy sense the presence of almighty God who would inhabit a body of Flesh my goodness verse 41 it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary the baby leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost how much more on the other side of Pentecost when we hear the word of the Lord when we get the promise of God when we see the least little glimpse of a miracle on the horizon our spirit should leap within us a few months later Elizabeth gives birth to her promise and everybody in the neighborhood is rejoicing with her an elderly woman having a baby seems so unexpected and unbelievable to them but you see what the angel spoke was true these words shall be fulfilled in their season or we could say it this way Elizabeth God has the day of your Miracle marked on his calendar God has the day of your deliverance marked on his calendar God has the day of the rest oh I speak in the Holy Ghost tonight God has the day of the restoration of your backslider marked on his calendar you can't see it yet but it's marked on his calendar God has the date of your healing marked on his calendar goodness and Elizabeth Embraces it wholeheartedly even her name means promise so of course she's expecting and rejoicing in This Promise being fulfilled however Zacharias still can't speak because the promise still isn't quite complete Jewish baby boys weren't named until the Eighth Day when they were circumcised ized and the promise isn't complete without the name when that day arrives the same neighbors who were rejoicing with her a week earlier now begin to argue with her because they want to observe Jewish custom and they want to name the baby Zacharias Jr now there's nothing wrong with that normally but this is not a normal situation and as they're debating back and forth Elizabeth speaks up verse 59 and it came to pass that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child and they called him Zacharias after the name of his father and his mother answered and said not so his name shall be called John zacharias's name means remember and that's what many people want you to name the miracle you have waited for so long remember what the doctor said remember what the banker said remember your limitations remember all the situation remember the division in your family remember your complications remember all your frustrations remember you really can't expect this don't get your hopes up don't get ready for it because you remember but Elizabeth refused to hear that she refused to look back to the years of pain and problem not so you're not going to minimize my Miracle you are not going to marginalize my answer from the Lord not so his name is not going to be Zacharias his name is going to be John do you know what John means it means the favor of God get out of my way devil my name is not remember my name is the favor of God the blessing of God the provision of God it rest upon me his name will not be remembered his name will be f favor you know why God is birthing something new in my life it's a new beginning it's a new page it's a new start and it's a new heart you can come to the movement you can get all this wonderful information and inspiration and you can even cry in the altar but when it's all over you have to walk back into your home you have to walk back into your church you have to walk back into your city and you have to stand flat-footed Square your shoulders look the devil right in the eye and say not so I've heard the threats not so I've heard all the bad news not so I've heard the report from the enemy's Camp not so my diagnosis is not my destiny my backslider is coming home my family will be saved my breakthrough is coming my prayer will be answered not so you can't stop any of the above not so just like Elizabeth God has had your Miracle marked on his calendar God has had that Revival that's going to break out and transform your church I am not saying you just sit around in a hammock sipping lemonade I'm saying you work I'm saying you pray and you fast and you preach and you do everything you know to do but I am telling you God is Not Unfaithful he will not forget your labor he will not forget your work he will not forget your faithfulness he's a faithful God and he sees every day every hour every every prayer meeting he sees every Bible study he sees all of your work and there's a date marked on God's calendar I don't know how to explain it but somehow it's going to come to fruition and when it does it's going to be like a tidal wave that sweeps away the old and brings in the new there's coming a day when your years of barrenness are going to be turned into into a great moment of blessing it will change everything so Pastor leader Saint Ministry team member keep praying keep trusting keep working keep believing for with our God nothing shall be impossible oh my goodness this little message tonight is for everyone who is caught between the now and the not yet it's for every leader who has tried and failed you've loved and lost you've hoped and hurt you've believed and you've battled this is for everybody that is trusting God for deliverance tomorrow but you still find yourself struggling with doubts today I speak in the Holy Ghost tonight and I say you are not wrong you are not backsliding you are not unique you are not crazy you are not forsaken You Are Not Alone God is walking with you as you labor for him in his Harvest field your emotions cannot be trusted a bad slice of pizza can send you into a spiral of emotion by the next morning don't trust your emotions your emotions scream at you remember remember everything that's against you remember all the limitations of your life and your ministry and your church remember but if you can just get an ear to the word your faith shouts favor is coming to me favor is coming to my church blessing is coming to my family blessing is coming to this ministry you need to go home you need to walk in to wherever it is that the attack has been most severe stand in your pastor's study stand in your living room stand in that backsliding son's bedroom stand at the point of the attack and you need to square your shoulders in the Holy Ghost and say not so I don't believe it Who Shall Believe the report of the Lord Lord enemy not so remain standing habach chap 2 and verse three the prophet said for the vision is yet for an appointed time but at the end it shall speak and not lie you're not crazy the vision of Revival God gave you for your city that's a word from the Lord so here's the word of the Lord for you tonight though it t we say it about everything else wait for it you get your phone out at a restaurant and you're showing somebody a video of your grandkids wait for it wait for it it's really cute at the end their their eyes are rolled back in their head wait for it if we can say that about everything else could we not put some steel in our spine and wait for it it's coming I don't know when but it's coming God's got that date marked on his calendar wait for it the vision's not a lie the vision is the truth the vision is going to speak it will surely come it will not t John 7:38 Jesus spoke these words he that believeth on me as the scripture has said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water that is Kia in the Greek language it is not belly as in stomach as in food it is belly as in womb as in birth Jesus told us that when you pray in the Holy Ghost something is birthed through you now I know that's true for a bunch of Sinners around an altar who need to receive the baptism for the first time let me tell you it's exponentially more true for a group of leaders filled with the Holy Ghost who have some situations at home you need to RAR back and you need to pray in the Holy Ghost while you're here in this meeting and you're going to take something home that will let you stand on the Giant's head brother Zach and just say not so would you grab a hand on either side would you lift a choir of uplifting hands now your voice your voice your voice it's the center of spiritual warfare in your life pray in the Holy Ghost there's a healing in that flow there's Deliverance in that flow pray in the Holy Ghost not so devil yes yes yes yes yes