I will not be DELAYED!
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I will not be DELAYED!
I will not be DELAYED!
Acts
And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
Intro:
There are a few things mentioned here in today’s text that immediately grab my attention regarding Paul.......
But the greatest one that jumps out to me is Fear..........
........and how he overcomes it.
Fear is by definition....
......an unpleasant emotion caused by the awareness of danger.
And in many cases it has been known to paralyze lives.......
....putting dreams and purpose completely on hold for extended periods of time.
And........
Sometimes fear can get you to a place where you feel like there’s no one that can help you!
.....that you are all alone
(pause)
And it is only when we look at a life that has somehow overcome fear factors are we able to witness what we call successful OVERCOMING!
And the question becomes......
How did they do it?
(pause and expound)
Barrel: Kobe and the Mamba mentality -
........basically suggests nothing is going to get in my way from doing what I have set my mind to do!
(pause)
And so today I want to encourage and share with you on how we can overcome fear!
(pause)
Look at it now......
Acts 20.22
And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.
According to the text.......
.....that you are all alone
Paul basically says all of my movement is shaped by the Holy Spirit!
Our guide must be Supernatural
The Holy Spirit’s Guidance looks like......
I believe it is important to authenticate the person of the Holy Spirit, because many people don’t believe him to be real.
Gk - Parakeltos - advocate or helper
Hb - described as wind or breath
As agent
-
the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.
The spirit of God has made me,
and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God.
Let your good spirit lead me
on a level path.
And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.
The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.
And so......
.....biblically we are viewing time and time again how the Holy Spirit is very active in the lives of humanity.
(pause)
And then Paul says......
“I’m on my way to Jerusalem, and I really don’t know what I am going to have to face”
(slight pause)
........and this statement expresses Paul’s knowledge limitations
But look at what he says next......
“......except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and persecutions
.....are waiting on me!”
(In other words)
Paul says.....
The Holy Spirit has warned me that people will put me in prison and cause me great trouble.....
And so......
....from a natural perspective Paul is clueless about what’s next in his life.
....and from a supernatural perspective Paul is guaranteed some trouble will happen in his life.
(pause)
And I don’t know about you........
.........
And I don’t know about you........
........but if this was me
.......this would be the point where I would be trying to figure out
......how in the world do I avoid.........or get out of this city
(pause)
But Paul says in verse 24.....
But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
According to the text......
Paul says....
“But none of these things MOVE ME!”
(pause)
And..........
.........this is where I started thinking hard about what Paul was really saying.
Because............
.........if I had to guess and say what direction Paul would be moved based on what he knows supernaturally about the problems he has to face.
......I would guess that FEAR is telling him to,
.......STOP or go back in the other direction!
(pause)
Now.........
........the important thing here is that Paul is on a MISSION!
As a matter of fact he says later in this verse......
I must finish my course with joy
This is my ministry that I received from the Lord
(pause)
And for many of us.......
..........this is the place where our lives begin to experience being delayed as it relates to our purpose or our mission.
(pause)
Because........
..........reality sets in and we are now forced to face our fears
.......and things start looking really different when FEAR starts talking
(pause)
.....especially if the language that its using sounds like SUFFERING
Think about it.......
........If God said to you,
“I need you to go on a mission for me..........
.......but oh by the way,
...........heres what you got to go through”
(slight pause)
........in most cases immediately that’s where we start trying to figure out another way to go
(pause)
But whenever we allow ourselves to listen to FEAR..........
.......we automatically DELAY the MISSION!
(pause)
Watch this.....
But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.
And so....
Fear started building Unbelief....
(Keys in the text).....and you never want fear to start building in your life.
(pause)
.....because that’s where things start grinding to a complete stop in our lives.
The text says,
the 10 spies that went out to see the land that God had promised came back saying,
the people were stronger
the cities were too securely setup
there were giants in the land
And so FEAR is building all of these EXCUSES as to why this is not a good idea.....
......and
(pause)
And here lies the reason why you never want FEAR to build anything in our lives...
In this scripture......
The people who were giving the report saw two things,
a. They saw the giants.
b. They saw themselves as grasshoppers
But their vision could not have been too good because....
..... the one thing that they didn’t see....
....was GOD!
(pause and expound)
Watch this......
Another of his disciples said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
According to the text.....
This small moment in the massive narrative of Jesus’s mission shows us this disciple who is looking to postpone or delay what Jesus is asking them to do....
And if we are not careful church family........
Fear will cause us to make procrastination our NEW NORMAL...........
......and we will begin delaying what GOD is building
.....and this is why our lives are moving backward
......it is because we have replaced walking in purpose with moving in a mode of procrastination
And we’re trying to figure out why it feels like everything is being postponed........
......and the reason is because we have made procrastination our NEW NORMAL
(pause)
And the reason I know that FEAR is of the enemy is because of what is actually being held up.......or DELAYED
Watch this.......
But then a hand touched me and roused me to my hands and knees. He said to me, “Daniel, greatly beloved, pay attention to the words that I am going to speak to you. Stand on your feet, for I have now been sent to you.” So while he was speaking this word to me, I stood up trembling. He said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me twenty-one days. So Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, and I left him there with the prince of the kingdom of Persia,
Daniel
The text says..........
Gabriel begins to explain to Daniel why he has been delayed.......
.......and the reason he gives Daniel is that because of “Spiritual warfare” he was struggling for 21 days to get to him!
(pause)
Freedom family.......
.......have you ever been praying for God to give you understanding
.......and then when you don’t feel like God is working it out fast enough
.......FEAR starts building
.....and the things of God start becoming less important
.....and we start shifting to survival mode
(pause and expound)
But I believe in my spiritual imagination..........
whenever we begin to experience FEAR taking over......
.........because God is not a God that will ever be delayed
.......that this is why Paul says in verse 24,
........and we as believers should never let anything slow us down in the MISSION of Christ!
“But none of these things move me!”
In other words.....
I understand that MISSION wont be easy
I understand that LIFE will include struggle
But none of these things........
......are able to MOVE ME..
Paul says......
“I will not be DELAYED!”
(pause)
And the reason........
None of THESE things are ever going to be able to move me
is because.......
.......SOMETHING else is already MOVING ME!
(pause)
Paul says.....
I’ve got to FINISH my COURSE with joy
I’ve got to testify the Gospel of the grace of God
(pause)
And then that’s when it hit me.......
...........the only way FEAR can win is if let it PUSH us around!!!
(pause)
And I don’t know about you, but I refuse to be PUSHED around!!!
(pause and expound)
And in the words of TUPAC......
“I aint a fighter but don’t PUSH me!”
(pause and expound)
Somebody in here needs to get like Paul.........
......and start declaring over your life
“.....that if God be with me!”
Don’t you PUSH me...........fear
(pause)
You are not BIGGER than my GOD!!!!!!
(pause and expound)
And when fear is trying to talk to you........
You need to go into ATTACK MODE.....
And start TALKING BACK.......
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
And holler.........
“I will not be DELAYED!”
Go into ATTACK MODE..........
Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
his understanding is beyond measure.
And guess what.......
We didn’t start this fight........
But I GUARANTEE you...............WE getting ready to FINISH IT!!!!
(pause)
DEVIL.......
.......you should have never tried to SLOW us down..............
(pause)
WE come from a people who know how to FINISH!!
And........
WE come from a GOD who knows how to FINISH!!!!
(PAUSE AND EXPOUND)
Because.............
........when he was hanging on the CROSS
........and diaphragmatic pain was shooting up his thoracic cavity
.......and PAIN was maximizing in his body
He CONSECRATED his SUFFERING and declared.......
I”M GETTING READY TO ATTACK...............death!
and then hollered out........
IT IS...................
..........FINISHED!!!!!
Concluding thought
Fear cant win when we ATTACK......
.......and if we never stop ATTACKING
....FEAR will never WIN!