Promises Don’t Care About Your Feelings

Before reading text, have everyone take a slip of paper and a pen and write down a personal promise from God that they have not yet seen fulfilled.

Text

Joshua 18:2–3 KJV 1900

And there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes, which had not yet received their inheritance. And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, How long are ye slack to go to possess the land, which the Lord God of your fathers hath given you?

I am going to preach to you about walking in the promises of God.

I submit this title to you: “Promises Don’t Care About Your Feelings.”

Introduction

A Father’s Promise Fulfilled

April 20th, 1989. Walt Shaffner, the man in this picture, became an assistant principal at a local school. He’s standing next to his sister, Mary. It was a great day for him. He had worked hard to earn this role.

And when he got the job of assistant principal, his father, Ted, gave him an unusual gift: a tiny megaphone and a toy baseball bat. Odd, certainly. But these were very thoughtful and calculated gifts. They were apparently inspired by a film called Lean on Me, made years ago.

In that film, Morgan Freeman plays a principal named Joe Clark, who is called in to help save a school out of it’s situation. He has to be devoted and tough-minded, facing down drug problems and rebellion. He’s known for the megaphone and baseball bat. It’s based off of true events. Quite a story. And an encouraging character. Walt says that his dad was a huge fan of the movie.

And along with the small, toy items was a note that said this, “Dear Walt: Many more happy ones. When you get your next promotion to principal - I’ll make it a real bull horn and ball bat. Love Dad.”

And so, Walt Shaffner transferred from school to school in the job, getting closer and closer to becoming a principal. And everywhere he went, the gift went with him. He carried with him a promise.

A few years later, Walt’s father suddenly passed away. And it was right around the time that he had just begun to work as a full principal. And, honestly, Walt just didn’t feel like it was right. He wanted to have that special moment with his dad. It was like unfinished business.

After the funeral ended, the family was gathered around. And here came Walt’s mom, with a box. And inside the box… a baseball bat and a megaphone, ready to go in his school office. And a note inside the box signed off with this: “You’ve earned the real thing. Love, Dad.”

It wasn’t until several years later that Shaffner looked at the two notes together - and noticed that the handwriting was different. And then he pieced together what had happened: His mother, knowing about her husband’s promise, had written the note herself - and possibly even bought the bull horn and bat.

“I think the fact that Mom had the wherewithal to sit down and write this,” he says, “was remarkable. That was kind of a powerful one for me. The power of a promise kept.”

--- {Taken from NPR article: https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6257945} ---

Promises

Promises Kept

It really means something when someone keeps their promise. Whether they do or don’t ends up leaving a lasting impression.

Politicians love to be able to focus on “promises kept.” But very often it’s a small percentage of them.

Can I tell you something about keeping promises… with Jesus, it’s ALL OF THEM.

God has the greatest memory. God has the highest rate of follow through: 100%!

If you could go to God’s reviews on Yelp or TrustPilot or some other ratings agency, you would find Him to be the 5-star trusted professional!

Today, I want to speak encouragement to somebody who’s been given a promise. You’ve been promised, you’re holding the promise, and it has not come to pass yet. I’m here as an ambassador of the Lord today to testify of the surety of His word!

And if God gives you a direct promise, or if you’re ever reading your bible and you know that the Scripture you’re reading is being used to speak to you specifically, I am telling you right now that the worst thing you could ever do is be relaxed about it.

You better come to church shouting. You better show up to work shouting. You better come home from school shouting. You better be in the house shouting. You better be enthusiastic. You better be emotional about it. You better be excited about it. You better be…

Because a promise from God is a big deal.

I’ve seen people make it through divorce with a promise. I’ve seen people raise kids by themselves with a promise. I’ve seen people make it through diabetes and dialysis with a promise. I’ve seen people walk through the valley of the shadow of death with a promise!

I’ll just say this: if you’ve got a promise, YOU CAN MAKE IT!!! STAND ON YOUR PROMISE!

What’s Wrong with the Israelites?

So… I have to ask the question in regards to our text: What was wrong with the Israelites?!

Joshua 18:1 KJV 1900

And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there. And the land was subdued before them.

This was the completion of a massive, generations-long journey. They were placing the ark of the covenant in Shiloh. And Shiloh was at the very center of the Promised Land! It was the arrival! The celebration of fulfillment!

BUT…

Joshua 18:2 KJV 1900

And there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes, which had not yet received their inheritance.

So, all that I can tell in this wording is that a significant amount of time had elapsed. Throughout the Book of Joshua, events that took a good amount of time are compressed into just a few verses.

And so, while some tribes were claiming and fighting for this land that was theirs, apparently… there were seven remaining tribes that had gotten complacent.

They had forgotten the promise. They had lost their shout. They had gotten comfortable just getting by. And what’s truly frightening to me is that it really seems like they were totally unaware that they had gotten this way.

Don’t forget that you’ve got a PROMISE!!!

Some of you all in here hold with you a promise!

When you walk WITHOUT your promise, you walk in complacency! When you lay your promise down, you walk in defeat!

But when you walk WITH a promise, you walk with DETERMINATION!!!

Sarah’s Promise

Sarah, when told - promised - she would have a child in old age, laughed! And God was off-put by that laugh… because to her it was laughable… But to God, it was simply FACT!

When God makes a promise, from His point of view, IT WILL HAPPEN.

2 Corinthians 1:20 NKJV

For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.

ACT on Your Promises

Facts Don’t Care About Your Feelings

There’s a political commentator who is famous for the phrase, “Facts don’t care about your feelings.” And it’s a response to the state of our world today. In which someone can claim that even though they were created one way, they “feel” another way.

Facts don’t care about your feelings.

And I just want to rob that line and change it a little bit today.

To God, what He just told Sarah was FACT. And with God, His promises may as well be FACTS - so it was not time for laughter… it was time for PREPARATION!

I could say this today: PROMISES DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS!!! Because THEY ARE FACT!!!

Now, I understand that our feelings are valid - we went through strained feelings while waiting on our promise…

Our Miracle Baby

We had been prophesied to time and time again. Our baby was on its way. It was the will of God. And the longer time went on, we became discouraged. Our emotions were strained.

Prophecy after prophecy… Promise after promise… but at some point, it was time to WALK IN OUR PROMISE! So we began buying things for the baby!

And in this way, we put our faith into action!

These Israelites were satisfied just roaming through the land. They were not eager to get involved with the warfare required to claim their territory.

But if you’re going to see your promise, there’s warfare involved! Forgive me, but we’re not going to waltz into heaven singing Kumbaya! We’re going to march into glory in spiritual warfare - fighting battles and seeing God give us the victory!

1 Corinthians 15:57 KJV 1900

But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 2:14 KJV 1900

Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.

But there’s no victories without battles! And if we walk in unbelief like the Israelites, we won’t have any fight, and we may see no promises fulfilled.

I don’t know about you, but I am not satisfied with walking in unbelief! There are Apostolic Pentecostals that are walking around today in unbelief. Signs and wonders DON’T follow them, because signs and wonders follow them that BELIEVE! Believe what? Believe their promise! Which promise? The promise of all promises!!!

“You shall receive power when the Holy Ghost has come on you”

Acts 1:8 KJV 1900

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

“This promise is unto you, your children, your children’s children...”

Acts 2:38–39 KJV 1900

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

You’ve got to believe and walk in your promise!

Waiting and Acting

The Israelites got comfortable in their waiting.

We went through waiting on our promise - so did Joseph… Joseph’s story is full of ups and downs. For sure, he didn’t feel like his dreams said he would.

YOU MIGHT FEEL TIRED. ABANDONED. SICK. WEARY. HOPELESS. ALONE.

But promises don’t care about your feelings!

So what do you got to do? WALK IN YOUR PROMISES!

Joshua steps up and asks the question:

Joshua 18:3 KJV 1900

And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, How long are ye slack to go to possess the land, which the Lord God of your fathers hath given you?

It was a call to action!

We cannot be a PASSIVE church fighting an AGGRESSIVE DEVIL!!! He walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

We have GOT to have an AGGRESSIVE Church!

We have to act, because God has already acted!

“God has acted?! I don’t see my promise yet!”

Let’s look at that:

Romans 8:31 KJV 1900

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

The key lies in the sentence “If God is for us, who can be against us?”. God has not given empty promises. He has acted, and what he has done in Christ and by the Spirit gives all the proof we need that our destination is heaven.

God’s activity has cost him dearly—he didn’t even spare “his own Son.” In the background is the readiness of Abraham to give up his son Isaac (Gen 22). But whereas a substitute was found for Isaac and he was restored to his father without dying, no other than God’s own Son could take away the world’s sin and provide reconciliation. So Jesus had to endure the cross.

He looked down on Abraham and Isaac, and said, “I’m going to do that - but I’m going to go through with it!”

He acted, so we act!

Conclusion

In Ezra 4, the people of God began rebuilding the temple. And when they first finished the foundation, they danced, shouted, and rejoiced together… even though the promise of the temple had not yet appeared!

Can you shout on your foundation?!

You have to walk in healing! Walk in victory! Walk in peace!

In our text, Joshua actually had them literally walk through their promise:

Joshua 18:3–4 KJV 1900

And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, How long are ye slack to go to possess the land, which the Lord God of your fathers hath given you? Give out from among you three men for each tribe: and I will send them, and they shall rise, and go through the land, and describe it according to the inheritance of them; and they shall come again to me.

If you’ve got you’re promise, it’s time to walk in it today. I want you to take a step and come to the altar with your promise today.

In Romans, it says that God “calls those things that are not as though they were.” (Romans 4:17)

Joshua had them walk in their promise, and describe it as well: “…they shall rise, and go through the land, and describe it...”

In prayer, we are about to reclaim our promise and describe it’s fulfilment together! Link up with someone right now and let’s claim it!