August 21, 2016 - William Carrol - To Everything There Is A Season

I want to talk to you this morning on the topic to everything there is a season to everything there is a season now if you remember after the resurrection of Jesus there was a time period about forty days immediately following the Passover where the Lord revealed that he had been raised from the dead that he was physically resurrected from the dead he ate with him he walked with him he talked with them they were able to touch him and realize that his resurrection was physical and that this was also a foretaste the promise of what would eventually happen to all of those who believed in him for forty days he showed himself and then at the end of those forty days he spoke to his disciples and he began to give them some insight as to what the Lord was planning to do as to what the father had in store and of course he spoke about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that would come about ten days later they didn't know exactly when the Spirit would be poured out but Jesus said not many days from now but before Jesus was ascended to the right hand of the Father they asked him a question and the question is in your Bibles obviously in the book of Acts first chapter around the sixth verse the question was will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel now that kind of a question has global implications but because we are what we are we are made the way we are we think personally and then outward it begins with our immediate concerns then we begin to think more broadly of the people that are closest to us and then the people that are in our immediate vicinity of the people that are in our sphere of influence and it goes broader and broader so when they asked are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel they were also asking are you at this time going to bring us to a place where we represent all of the promises that God had made regarding his people and I think that they had in mind their own personal growth and their own development because they knew that they were afraid they had already scattered whenever the Lord was being crucified they had already gone back to their old vocation after they saw that he had been resurrected they were still terrified of the forces that were trying to eradicate Christianity they had no idea of where they were going they had no idea of the fullness of their calling all they knew was that they were outlawed all they knew was that their faith was being persecuted and the persecution began with Christ and as far as they were concerned was just beginning Jesus made that very clear if they do this kind of a thing speaking of the crucifixion in a green tree imagine what they're gonna do in a dry and he had also said to them if they do this to your Lord expect that they're going to do it to you so they knew that there had to be changes in their personal life so when they asked are you going to restore the kingdom basically what they were saying is are you going to bring us to a place where we the fulfillment of God's covenant promises and Jesus response to them was twofold on the one side he said it is not for you to know the times and the seasons which the father has placed under his own authority and on the other hand he says but you shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem in Judea in Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth so he begins with the idea that there are certain seasons which is under the sovereign authority of God these seasons happen because of the wisdom of God and he's making it clear to them that the question that they're asking is in reference to the seasons are you at this time or are you at this season of my life going to bring the kind of victory that I heard that God brings into human lives are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel so it would be the same as you asking or the same as me asking Lord I know when I read my Bible that there are victories that have been promised that there are things that I should be expecting I know that I should as the psalmist says I should expect that you are going to restore my soul that there are going to be changes in my life and I'm wondering are you going to do that today it's natural for us especially when we see deficiencies in our lives the way that they would have seen deficiencies in their own life when they recognized that they were fearful they were prone to scatter that they were prone to go back to their old ways they were prone even after seeing the resurrected Jesus even after touching him and as John said handling him even after all of these things they realized that I still got a long way to go just like you and me we realized that even though we have seen the goodness of God we've seen his signs his wonders his miracles his salvation we've seen his heart revealed to us we've seen the family of God grow and develop there were still aspects and elements of us knowing what we have to endure in this generation there were still aspects and elements of us that we realize still need to change and so we ask the same kinds of question Lord are you at this time going to do the things that I know the Bible promises and the Lord basically says to us these same two things on the one side there are seasons of life that are under the sovereign hand of God under the prerogative and under the provision and under the Providence of God they belong to God it's the same as seasons in the regular world if the seasons in the regular world go to produce various kinds of fruit at various times we can assume that the seasons in the spiritual world will produce various kinds of fruit at various times you don't expect certain fruit to grow in February that are usually going to grow in July and you don't expect certain fruit to grow in July that usually grow in February and so likewise there are aspects and elements of our growth in our development that is particularly based upon the time or the season of our lives there are things that we want to happen now that cannot happen until we have endured a certain season of life there are things that we have to go through if we are going to get stronger things that we have to endure if we are going to get better and there are times when we realize that we have no control over those seasons God brings us into a place again as the psalmist said one time we're walking along the still waters and the green pastures another time we are in the valley of the shadow of death other times we are eating at a table even though our adversary is right there and we have got to remind ourselves that this is the way it is with all of God's people we are people who grow and flourish at certain times sometimes one aspect or element of my personality grows because I'm in that season another time another aspect of element of my personality grows because I'm in another season and then anybody who's done any farming or any gardening recognizes that that's the way it works and so there's a part of growth and development where we have to say God it is out of my hands I don't know what season I am entering into I only know that you know and what Jesus wanted the disciples to do was to recognize that these seasons are not in the hands of an abstract being that can't be touched with the feelings of our infirmities but that they are in the hands of our Father they're in the hands of someone who weeps with us someone who feels with us someone who recognizes that there are times when we are a little bit patient we are tired of going through this struggle or that struggle whether it be an emotional struggle whether it be in a medical struggle whether it be a financial struggle whatever it might be there are times when we say God would you at this time restore me would you at this time revive me would you at this time give me the strength that I need to go forth because I know that there is persecution round about and I know that there is an influence that's unhealthy round about and I want to be able to survive and so we say God will you do this at this time and we have got to be open to the idea that God as our Father reserves the right to bring us into seasons according to his own wisdom he knows what's best for us and he cares about us he's not simply playing chess with our lives we matter to him for God the soul loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son this is the father who gave us his son and who gave us his spirit this is the father who gave us his name the father who gave us his commission in this generation the father who gave us the care of his communion of his community this is the father who has lavished us with love more than can be depicted even in the parable of the prodigal son a father who dotes over us who weeps upon our neck who knows us by our name who knows every hair on our head this is the father who says I want you to trust me with this I want you to leave it to me there are aspects and elements of your life that I must reserve the right to engage according to my own wisdom I'm not going to tell you everything that's going to happen all I'm asking you to do is to believe in my promises now what that does is it helps us to overcome our propensity to make a whole lot of promises to God promises that sound like from now on I am never gonna do this again and from now on I'm gonna be doing that and from now on I'm gonna be about this everything again saying right here right now everything is going to be restored I promise you God and what God is saying is look no no no not everything little by little brick upon brick one thing upon another grace - grace faith - faith glory to glory this is how we grow this is how we develop this is what we preach will we talk about progressive sanctification little by little we see it happening now the second side of it though is where we begin to see the part that we play in it on the one side he said it is not for you to know the seasons for you to know the times that the father has relegated to his own power to his own authority and again we are talking about the power and authority of someone who is our Father someone who loves us but you shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses now what the Lord is saying is even though things might not change at the rate that you expect them to change in other words not everything's gonna change in the next five seconds even though things don't change at that rate they are changing you are growing he makes a promise to us rather than us making promises to them or to him you shall receive power a promise you shall receive my presence you shall receive my person you shall receive my commission and you will be a martyr you will lay down your life you will give your all for the glory of God you will testify to who Jesus Christ is your life will be a monument to God's grace you don't have to make promises to God I don't have to make promises to God God has made promises to us and all we have to do is appropriate those promises by faith God is saying to his people you will be exactly who I said you will be because I will give you my spirit and when I give you my spirit you will have power you understand they were worried about what they were going to do when the going got rough they were worried about what they were going to do when the world seemed to close in on them they were worried about what they were gonna do with the powers that be but what God was saying is you shall receive power a supernatural power a power that can overcome every kind of adversity but this power is going to change you from the inside out in other words you will be martyrs you will lay down your life you will be that kind of a person the kind of person who is not trying to save their life the Bible says if a person tries to save their life they will lose their life but if a person lays their life down they will have their life and so what the Lord is saying is I know that you're worried about how you are going to endure the times to come but I'm telling you that the things that you think you will run away from you will find yourself running into the things that you think will chase you away you will find yourself moving into that situation saying I know it's a tough situation I know it's a difficult time I know it's a hard situation but God has called me to it God has not called me to turn away from the difficulties of life God has not called me to turn away from the hardships of life if you notice even though people will try to depict Christianity as this community that hides away from reality if you notice whenever there is a disaster whenever there is pain wherever there is hurt whenever there is hunger whenever there is anguish we are always the first ones in and the last ones out we are always the ones who go into the fray rather than running away from it because that is the nature of the Christian person that's what God said we would be and even though in our natural even though in our flesh we might be afraid when the Holy Spirit comes upon us we become bold as lions we find ourselves doing things that we never thought we could do going places that we never thought we would go saying things that we never thought we would say because there is a power that comes upon us and that power of the Holy Spirit comes upon us even though we are going through a process of growth and a process of development thank God the Holy Spirit doesn't say get your act together and then we can talk though thank God the Holy Spirit has come upon us and has given us a commission in this generation so that even though we are still growing and developing we are still moving and we are still shaking and we are still changing the world for the glory and for the name of the almighty god that's who we are you will be my martyrs you will witness to the name of Jesus Christ don't let the devil lie to you and tell you you don't have a witness don't let the devil lie to you and tell you you don't have a testimony that's just not true you have the testimony of the faithfulness of Jesus Christ you have the testimony of the saving grace of Jesus Christ you have the testimony of the keeping power of Jesus Christ you have the testimony of his mercy and of his forgiveness and of his patience you have the testimony of the fact that he will never leave us nor forsake us you have the testimony of the fact that the God that you love loves you with a depth and with the width and with a breadth of love that cannot be calculated you know that your God is real because you can feel him loving you you can feel him blessing you you can feel him strengthening you you know that your God is God you have a witness in this generation you have something to say you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea in the familiar places you'll talk to people about the covenant faithfulness of God people who might have gotten caught up in a religion that requires them to act in their own strength and according to their own wisdom and according to their own timing and you'll remind them of a sovereignty of God and you'll remind them of the free will given to us by God through the Holy Spirit where we can choose to lay our lives down and you remind them that this glorious faith is all about the glorious God and you remind them that it's not about making a thousand promises to God a thousand times a day but about appropriating about receiving about grasping with the hands of faith all the promises of God which are yes and amen in Jesus Christ you will talk to men and women about God again oftentimes men and women who believe in God but have gotten off just one degree one degree just one degree where it's all beginning to move in the direction of human effort or gone off one degree on the other side where it's so much about divine sovereignty that it doesn't matter what I do or how I live and you remind people that there is a balance that there was a blend where the sovereign God is still dealing with the hearts of men with the hearts of women and causing his name to be glorified you remind them of it but not only that but because the Holy Spirit has been working in your heart you'll not just go to Judea to Jerusalem but also to Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the world to the to the nation's to the Gentiles and you'll speak to people that nobody else wants to talk to people that maybe some well-meaning religious folk told you they'll never listen the Samaritans will never listen the Gentiles will never listen but you're gonna go anyway because wherever Jesus is that's where we go hallelujah hallelujah and Jesus still cares for the lost he still cares for the needy I was interacting with a group one time and they had come to the conclusion that the only people that could be reached in our generation were those who were not walking with God yet but they were morally upright and they seemed to have everything together and they were just this far from the kingdom but you'll never find that in the Holy Scriptures it just doesn't exist we were all dead in trespasses and sins and all as far away from God as East is from West but God traversed the gap that was between God and humankind through Jesus Christ and reached us when we were enemies of God and He is still looking for the most lost of the Lost he still says go into the highways and into the byways and compel them to come in he still has a burden for those people that everybody else has given up on he still has a concern and you and I are going to go into those places and when we go into those places we're gonna go in as people who are born again people who are belonging to God but people who are still in this process of growth and development so we're going to go in with humility and we're going to go in with compassion and we're not going to be speaking from an ivory tower talking to people and saying you need to be like me no we're gonna say we need to be like Jesus hallelujah hallelujah we're gonna have something to say to this generation and so we want to be reminded that there is a promise that comes from God one element of it says there are seasons of life that you just have to trust me with I'm gonna take you into this place and then I'll take you into that place and this will happen when you go there and that'll happen when you go there and you'll grow in this area under this circumstance you'll grow in that area under that circumstance just trust me and then there's another element that says but at the same time I'm gonna be working in your life in a way that changes the world around you it begins with a change within and you'll know that change within because you are not only willing to go to Jerusalem in Judea but you're also willing to go to Samaria and to the other most parts of the world you're willing to go where God sends you and you don't see yourself as bigger than anybody but a servant to all and that change that's happening within you will begin as Jesus said out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water that change will begin to change others the light that's in you will begin to irradiate the darkness you'll begin to recognize that God though working in you is still working through you and you don't have to wait until you're perfect to see God work in your life all you have to do is be sincere God you know I want to grow you know I want to change you know I'm not saying this but meaning that I mean what I say I can say that and you can say that I might not be a perfect person but what you see is what you get that's the truth and you can say that we might not be perfect but we are what we are we have something to say we have something to offer I want to pray with you this morning because I want us to cling to a certain truth and I want us to cling to that truth irrespective of any lie the devil might throw at us and that is that even though we are growing within we still have a work to do and we are still impacting the world with trust in God with the seasons of our life and we're allowing God to make us witnesses at the same time we will see restoration to everything there is a season we have to trust God with that remember Jesus says with regard to the fig tree he curses the fig tree because the teacher was boasting that it was one season when in reality it was another season so we're not gonna boast and say yeah I got it all together I got something to offer to God no no what we're gonna say is Lord you know the season that I'm in but can I glorify your name anyway you know the season that I'm in but can I do something to help somebody anyway you know the season that I'm in but can I make a difference anywhere can I can I bless somebody anywhere can I pray for somebody anyway can I believe with somebody anywhere can I make a difference in some way Lord you know but I still have a lot of growing up to do but can I be of some service today and if you were to pray that prayer and I want to pray with you because I want to help somebody today I want to do something today I want to make a difference today I don't care how slight it might be mad at the same time I expect that I'm growing as a person I'm not gonna wait for the one thing to happen before I do the other they have to happen simultaneously same thing with you let's stand together in the house of the Lord the Lord is in the midst to hear your prayer if you're saying God you know I got a little bit of growing up to do but I want to help somebody today and I'm not gonna be ashamed I'm not gonna be ashamed to talk to my kids about Jesus even though they know I got some growing up to do not gonna be ashamed to talk to my spouse about the Lord even though they know I got some growing up to do I'm not gonna be ashamed I talk to my neighbors about the Lord even though they know I got some growing up to do I'm not gonna be ashamed to pray for great things even though I know I got some good enough to do heard of God is with me he's gonna help you you will be martyrs for him you will change the world that's just the way it is that's a promise from God the Lord is speaking to you please come to the front of this auditorium it's time to shake off every lie of the devil time to just shake it off I know God can use me even though he's still changing me I know God can use me main-floor you come on a balcony come on down you're the annex walk between the screens north jersey i should will tell you what to do if you at home therefore your voice to god if you prefer to bow bow before the lord first and lift up your hands the lord knows we will go pray together in Jesus Holy Name Amen hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah Lord we thank you we know that the seasons are in the hands of our Father that there is nothing haphazard about it no there is nothing that's left to chance that you have everything under control then you will never allow any season to last longer than we can bear a handle but God you know how to take us by our hand and lead us from glory to glory from one season to another Lord we simply thank you we thank you that as we go from season to season and from time to time we can still be salt and light we can make a difference wherever we happen to be wherever we happen to go Lord we can make rivers in the desert Lord we know that we can glorify your name no matter how dark the night you are able to see your name glorified in our lives Lord we willingly lay our lives down for your glory we willingly say God use me in this situation or use me in that situation but we're not going to say get me out of this we're gonna say get glory out of this let your name be praised because of this hallelujah let the name of Jesus be lifted up God we thank you so much that we are your sons and daughters thank you that we don't have to make a litany of promises we can receive all of the promises of God with your yeah and amen in Christ Jesus we don't have to boast upon where we happen to be we can boast upon the fact that we know where you are you are on the throne glorious as ever irrespective of the difficulties we can boast in your goodness we can boast in your grace knowing that our God can be trusted Lord we thank you lord I pray for my brothers and my sisters then we ask that your name be lifted up over every one of our lives let your praise be our song let your worship flow from our lips let men and women know that the Lord is God because he has a people in this generation let it be known that God's people are once again on the move that God's army is once again on the march let it be known that the Lord has chosen to be glorified in this generation once again Lord we come to you with a godly jealousy for your name we want to see your name lift it up again we're not gonna let our personal growth process impede the march of your army but we're gonna grow and we're gonna go we're gonna believe you for both simultaneously so that your name might be glorified Lord I thank you for my family here pray you lay your hand upon each one glorify your name in the midst we will thank you for it and bless you for it in Jesus Holy Name we pray amen amen amen praise God praise God praise God

Channel: Times Square Church

Views: 5,697

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Keywords: William Carrol, Sermon, Times Square Church

Id: t7J_QpQrkms

Length: 37min 20sec (2240 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 25 2016