It's Better Not To Talk | Pastor Stephen Chandler

we're in Week three of this series called too good to be true the premise of the background of this series is that there's something called healthy skepticism when you get an email that says that your long-lost uncle in Timbuktu has passed away and left you three million dollars all I need you to do is send me your bank account and your social security number there should be some healthy skepticism that rises in your heart I will send you a peel box send me the check and I will cash it myself I'm not gonna say no because hey I could have a uncle in Timbuktu and I'm not gonna block my blessing if that's where God was to bring it from but I am gonna be skeptical and there's nothing wrong with that skepticism the only problem is so often we bring that skepticism into our relationship with God where we begin to think that yes what God says in his word is good but it's actually too good and because it's too good I'm not gonna get my hopes up because I don't want to be disappointed week one we talked about how sometimes we can be skeptical that God actually desires to have a relationship with us I was in that place for so many years of my life I grew up in church and I think it's ironic that I am a pastor because before I was a pastor I was the biggest cynic on the planet the preacher would get up and say I was speaking to God this week and God told me and I would sit right where you're sitting I think yeah right I know what you mean when you say God told you what you mean is you read your Bible and you prayed and you thought up something that sounded good and you want to put God's name on it so that I have to obey you but let's be real the creator of the universe doesn't really speak to people that's before I got a revelation of John chapter 10 verse 10 where Jesus said my apostles hear my voice my bishops hear my voice my pastors hear my voice he didn't say any of that he said my hear my voice Jesus said you don't have to be a preacher you don't have to be a prophet you don't have to be an apostle you don't have to have any title before your name all you have to do is be covered by the blood of Jesus and as soon as you surrender your life to Christ he makes you a new creation the old has passed away all things have become new and one of the things that he gives you along with a new heart are new ears to be able to heal hear your loving father saying I have a great plan and a purpose and a destiny for your life last week we talked about miracles are not too good to be true that God actually desires to intervene in your life on your behalf yes he has North Korea under control yes he's taking care of Russia in Syria and now Washington DC and every other place where there's drama going on but he is God and he can manage that and actually care about the things that are going on in your life what I want to talk to you about today is the fact that even though God may have great things in store for you you can actually block God's intention for your life with your skepticism the Bible says that all the promises of God are yes and we know that verse all appraoch all the promises of God all 66 books of the Bible I believe it IRA save it in Jesus that's not the end of the first though help me he said all the promises of God are yes and amen he says that yes and we respond with it's not until we say Amen that we're gonna see the promises of God in our life amen is not what you say at the end of a prayer I know today men his 8 men means the prayers over I can eat now it's not what Amen means Amen means what what the young girl Mary said when the angel came up to her and said even though you are young and a virgin and unmarried you are going to give birth as a virgin to the creator of the universe and she said amen or let it be unto me according to what you just said when we say Amen we are giving God permission to move in our lives so when God says your best days are ahead of you that does not come to pass until you say when God says that storm that you're walking through right now that trial that you're facing that you can't see how it's gonna work out when God says that will work out according to your good it won't work out at O according to your good until you say you actually have to agree with heaven for it to come to pass in your life in this passage we're reading about a priest by the name of Zacharias name married to a woman by the name of Elizabeth they were righteous they honored God they finished growth tract they were on three different dream teams they were in two different connect groups they were doing everything that the pastor had called them to do they were loving God they were righteous their neighbors even liked them they were the real deal but yet they still did not have the greatest desire of their hearts and that was a child do you know that it's possible to love God with all your heart and still feel pain for all of your prayers not to be answered the way that you want them to be answered what blows my mind about this couple is that they were still righteous they were still serving in the house of God they were still honoring God in spite of their greatest need their greatest prayer not being answered my prayer is that God would stir of faith in us that is not predicated on what he can do for us God as long as you answer my prayers I'll worship You God as long as you do what I want you to do I'll honor you God as long as it works out according to my plans god I worship you but God the second my week goes poorly the second I lose my job even the I've been tithing the second I get sick even though I've been working out and I've been a vegan and eating nasty vegetables because they told me if I'm a vegan and I only eat organic vegetables that I'll never get sick and god I'm still sick but I will worship you can tell I'm not a vegan I will worship you I believe that we need the type of faith that's not predicated on the hand of God that Jesus while I was a sinner you died for me and if you never do one more thing for me you've already done more than I could ever ask think or imagine so the angel appears to Zacharias and he said that one prayer the prayer that you've forgotten about the prayer that you stopped praying the prayer that you don't even care about anymore God is gonna do that in your life I have a question for you let's just be a little bit selfish right now I'm gonna ask you to think of what's the number one prayer in your life and here's what I don't want you to think I don't want you to think oh I just want the whole world to be happy don't do that that's not real oh I just want every hungry person to be fed yes I know but what's the prayer you want that if I can have God answer one prayer in my life this would be that prayer how would you respond if an angel from heaven appeared to you and say that one prayer that you've actually given up on God is going to fulfill that prayer in your life how would you were to spine which got you fall out you scream you shout you would be a little mean today can I bet how you would respond you'd probably respond the way Zacharias responded in verse 18 he said Oh God is finally gonna answer the prayer that I've been praying for decades and decades and decades yeah right you're an angel you were with God well angel if that's even your name tell me how shall this be when an angel from the presence of God came to Zacharias and told him the prayer that he wanted his entire life was going to come to pass he did not shout he did not scream he did not run laps around the altar he said it's too good to be true I don't believe you he said how shall be for I am an old man and my wife is watch this well advanced in years he was lacking in faith but he wasn't dumb my wife's not old she's just advanced and the ancient incident said to him I am Gabriel who stands in the presence of God and was sent to speak to you and bring these glad tidings to you but behold you will be oh you want to doubt God that's cool you just won't speak for 10 months because God's decided that he's gonna do something great and he knows ouch that your words have the ability to abort his promise so he is gonna take your ability to speak so that you don't mess up the prayer that you've actually been praying for yourself he said you'll be meeting not able to speak until these things take place because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time and the people waited for Zacharias and marvel that he lingered so long in the temple but when he came out he could not speak to them and they perceive that he had seen a vision in the temple for he beckoned to them and remained speechless it was customary when a priest came out of presenting the people's altar before God that he would speak the priestly blessing over the congregation you may have heard a pastor do the benediction at the end of a service that's a priestly blessing may his face shine upon you when he came out and did not say the priestly blessing they knew something was wrong it was out of order it was out of custom let's jump down first 57 when the baby finally comes somebody say help him God I have a baby coming in five weeks and it is like when the baby comes god help me god help her first 57 now Lizabeth full time came for her to be delivered as she brought forth a son when her neighbors and relatives heard how the Lord had shown great mercy to her they rejoiced with her so it was on the eighth day that they came to circumcise the child and they would have called him by the name of his father Zacharias his mother answered and said no he shall be called John why because the angel said but the angel into Zacharias the angel never went to Elizabeth i'ma just leave that one right now but they said to her there is no one among your relatives who was called by this name they made signs to his father what would he have had him called and they asked him for he asks for a writing tablet and he wrote the boy's name is Little John so they all marveled immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed and he spoke praising God I love food you know maybe not be able to tell by looking at me but I I love food I love food I am NOT a foodie foodies are people who like to try new things foodies are people who eat weird things things that should not have made it on to Noah's Ark but Noah was not paying attention so he allowed it on the ark and now it's on my plate but just because it made it on the ark it does not mean you should fry it and put it on my plate I'm out of food because I don't like new things I like things that I can count on I like things like steak and steak and beef stew which is chopped steak and burgers which are minced steak I like steak the only problem is I don't really like waiting for my food a long time I remember him about three years ago I was coming out of a worship conference it was like 1:00 in the morning and I was super tired and super hungry it's like hey let me just run to KFC and grab something really quickly and and and and and go home KFC by the way if you don't know if you're not from around here it stands for Kingdom Fried Chicken it is the favor of God on top of God's little birdies so I pull up into the drive-thru at KFC and I said hey can I get a number three a number six and a number nine yes I was the only person in the car but your boy can eat his body weight so I said can't get number three and number six and number nine the person on the other end said what she want just came from a worship conference I just came out of the presence of God Shekinah glory of God was on my life my face is probably still shining so I said good good day madam I I would like number three and number six and number nine the enemy the deceiver responded to me we don't have chicken Solomon wrote in the book of of Proverbs there are three things that I understand a young man with a made in how a lizard gets into Kings temple and how KFC does not have chicken I thought I say you're Kentucky Fried Chicken right she said yes I said you don't have any chicken she says no we don't have any chicken said what do you have we have fish fillet there is somewhere right between Leviticus and Deuteronomy right after it says do not be unequally yoked where it says do not eat fried fish from so I felt close to the Lord that night I decided to fast and I went home few weeks later was me and my wife's anniversary we decided to go to a really nice restaurant not just a nice restaurant Raj is a really nice restaurant but an amazing restaurant it was actually the only time that we've ever been to this restaurant we don't normally eat at amazingly nice restaurants but this restaurant was on a level but honestly in the last three years I have never eaten in my life it was a steak restaurant it was amazing risottos the restaurants when you walk in there's a gentleman standing at the door he has a white tablecloth an entire tablecloth not a napkin I did not misspeak he has an entire tablecloth around his arm and he says good day Madame's can you follow me and I said your butt down I'm sir let's go and he takes us to the table and he sits down and he pulls his chair out for my wife I'm like back up bro it's my wife my anniversary I can pull up her chair and he says thank you thank you you guys all set okay thank you so much and he walks off and I look at my wife and I said it was all nice and cute and all that like a little take off her little tuxedo saw like you know that me forgot to give us menus trying to be all pretty and he forgot the menus five minutes goes by and our waiter doesn't come ten minutes go by and our waiter than in common I'm just like hold up now there's one in in places I was getting ready to be me as I don't want they think they think I can't afford this I can't afford this one anyway they don't serve people like me anybody I was ready to go and my wife was worse than me so she's like excuse me excuse me chef a waiter comes over he says yes madam he's like oh you've forgot to give us menus he said oh I'm so sorry here at this restaurant when people come in we just assumed that they want to settle themselves before jumping into the meal would you like a cup of coffee I looked at my wife and I said babe settle yourself gotta catch up real quick like you've been there before then he began to walk us through the five different waters that they had who knew there's five different kind of waters he said what kind of water do you want I said what kind of water do you have I assumed he was gonna say clean water or dirty water no he said we have we have tap water we have filtered why do we have Fiji water we have sparkling water we have infused water I said give me one of all of those those all sound good I'll just just call this water tasting we ordered our meal I got a steak with Imperial crab on top of it you know Appirio crab is it's it's lump crab meat that's that's sauteed and has all types of goodness and godliness in it and then it's just dropped on top of the steak it took them 45 minutes to bring the steak out by the time the steak came my stomach had gone through my back I did not care if it was Imperial celestial I did not care what type of steak or crab it was I was hungry at some point somewhere between minute 30 and minute 38 my desire for a good meal was quenched my for my hunger of any meal i sat there looking at my wife saying I would do anything for a KFC number three number six and a number nine I find sometimes when we are praying for God to move in our life yes I am finally getting to the message that our desire for our prayers to be answered has a time table on it and been we begin to pray we're praying for a steak with Imperial crab on top but when God does not answer that prayer in the timetable that we want it to be answered we change our prayer from steak and crab to a number three and number six and a number nine if going gets tough enough and if things get funky enough will actually give up on the 369 and will just say give me the fish fillet from KFC I'm just that hungry I will eat whatever you have what do you do when you're doing everything right and the prayer is not answered yet what do you do when there is no sin in my life that I can point to that's keeping this promise from coming to pass what do you do when you're worshiping God you're honoring God you're serving in God's house you are giving him the first 10 percent of your income you are honoring God as best you can but yet you are still waiting on that yes there's three thoughts three things that I want to give you while you're waiting for your prayer to be answered the first thing is this you have to understand the longer the wait the greater the impact the longer the wait the greater the impact what I did not understand then but I do understand now is if you're gonna cook a steak properly it takes 45 minutes he could cook it in five minutes but he's gonna put it right in the fire and it will come out as a piece of charcoal or he could put it in for 10 minutes and he'll bring it out the way some of you guys still eat your steak and that is alive some people call it rare that is unbiblical the Bible says do not eat anything with the lifeblood still in it you got just that thing is on your plate going [Music] you're like oh it's perfect horns still sticking out of it I've discovered that good things don't come quickly I dare say that God things don't come quickly and here you are have given up on a prayer because you thought that because God hasn't answered it yet the answer is no and it's not that the answer is no it's just that what he has for you is so far above all that you can ever ask think or imagine that I can't just give it to you in the first week or the second week I'm trying to set up your destiny maybe when you started praying for a spouse you said god I want somebody that I can change the world with god I want somebody that has a heart like your as someone that is surrendered to you someone that knows what their destiny is and is running after you and after about six years of praying that prayer you are now praying God I want somebody amen maybe when you started that business 10 years ago you said God here is my prayer that I can raise up a business that's large enough that I can employ hundreds of people and provide them a salary that would allow them to provide for a family in the way that they never thought possible god I'm praying that this business brings hope and healing to community and now you're just praying God this lease payment that is coming up on Friday God if you can help me meet that lease payment that's all I'll ever ask in one of those prayers God if you then I'll never ask for anything am I the only one am I the only one this guy's is the only pray if you would just do this God I wouldn't it's amazing how time whittles down our prayers I remember when I started out as a youth pastor I believed that God was gonna send revival to my city I began to pray God specifically God I want to see over a thousand people but are passionately in love with you that are food holy spirit that our kingdom minded and desire to see a city turned upside down when I started off we had monthly services and I would preach it was hilarious I would preach revival to those six people in the room I remember one day after a service my dad pulled me aside he said Stephen you have six people in the room I said yes did you see how God moved today he says Stephen I think it'd be a lot better if you did a Bible study like all sat down and the six of you talked the the microphone is a little bit overkill for six people the 45-minute worship session is a little bit overkill for six people I said dad I'm not preaching the six people I'm preaching to thousands I see it in the spirit he said boy next week you will have a Bible study I said yes sir for eight years as a youth pastor I was praying for revival those Bible studies turned into services which turned into weekly services which turned in a Bible studies in six excuse me three different high schools in Baltimore County and Baltimore City hundreds of kids were coming to Christ as I was bribing them with pizza we didn't start bribing 2 weeks ago we've been doing this for the last 20 years but do you know in eight years of youth ministry I never saw what I believe God said he was gonna do I actually only started to see what God told me 20 years ago 12 months ago and what God has done in this church in the last 12 months has so superseded my greatest expectations 20 years ago if only I had known everything that he spoke to me back then would come to pass just not when I thought it would come to pass and not how I thought it would come to pass some of you are looking at me like man I did feel like I was in a youth group the Bible says in Galatians chapter 6 verse 9 let us not stop praying let us not stop serving let us not stop honoring God let us not stop trusting God let us not weary while doing good for in due season you will reap if you know we like to underline words in our Bible we like to underline promises in our Bible we should underline and highlight that word if because that's the main part of the entire verse if you don't drop your expectations of God if you don't become a cynic and get the mindset that this is too good to be true if you don't stop believing that my best days are ahead of me if you would believe that all the promises of God are yes and amen it doesn't matter how long it takes it will come to pass in my life you see Zacharias and Elizabeth they just wanted a child by the way is there anybody here who's grateful that God answers prayers that you stopped praying they had given up on praying for a child and God says nananananananana you prayed for it I heard it and I have answered it and it will come the past they were just praying for a child God says no I never meet your expectations I am the God that is only capable of doing exceeding and abundantly above all you can ever ask think or imagine so you're just asking for a baby boy but what I'm gonna give you is a deliverer what I'm gonna give you is the forerunner of Jesus himself at your son named John filled with the Holy Spirit 45 chapters before the book of Acts who will stand in the wilderness saying there is one coming after me who is greater whose sandals I am not worthy to untie God says I don't meet prayer requests I exceed them the second thought is this don't don't let the weight weaken your words don't let the wake weight weaken your words he looked at the angel and he says how shall I know this for I am an old man and my wife she was not old but she is well advanced in years angel what'd you say your name was Gabe can I call you Gabe I'll call you Gabe Gabe Thanks we do this sometimes when Christians try to encourage us thanks for what you're trying to do come on let's be really Church just for half a second and we go back to being as phony as we always are we do that don't we you mean well I know you just don't want to see me discouraged or you just don't want to see me hopeless so that's why you want to tell me to believe that my husband will come to Christ you mean well I know you you just don't want me to be depressed so you that's why you're telling me that God's a healer and even though the doctor said there's nothing they can do about it that God is still a healer and he I you mean well I pre I appreciate I I appreciate the heart in which you are trying to encourage me with he said Gabe you mean well but you got to understand I'm old my wife's old and and Gabe you you're in heaven which means you're outside of time so where you live there is viagra but where I live there is none so pray for the pastor he's Jesus so you have to understand Gabe you mind if I call you Gabriel friends game cool it is physically impossible for what you are saying to come to pass and Gabriel Bob doesn't say this is Gabriel really and you're a priest oh I am Gabriel and before I was here I was standing in front of God you have to understand this of all the angels in the Bible only two we were told their name they are the two chief angels there's a Michael the Archangel he is in charge of God's army and then there is Gabriel the messenger angel and he only shows up if God does not trust anybody else to give the message so he needs his number one angel he said do you not know who I am do you not know where I just came from do you think I would come down here to talk to your priestly behind if I was not telling you what God has to say do you really think God's presence would touch you during worship of this service if that promise was not to come to pass do you really think that God would take a message from a skinny Chris Rock looking preacher who knows nothing about your life and make it exactly what you need to hear if God was not going to bring to pass everything that he said the issue is that we're looking at the natural we're looking at the situation and we're not like Gabriel was coming out of the presence of God that's why God's presence is so powerful that's why you can't just worship on a Sunday that's why you have to learn how to turn that music on in your car at that red light and a your head back in the praise God knowing that he is in that seat right next to you that is why you have to know how to enter his gates with Thanksgiving and a walk into his courts with praise because it's in God's presence where your vision changes it's in God's presence where you see things not as they are but as he sold them it's in his presence that you see your children healed it's in his presence that you see your spouse sets free it's in his presence that you see that business taking off it's in his presence that he sees that in spite of what I've been through that he still has a plan for me he still has a purpose for me he still desires to do in my life above and beyond all that I can ever ask think or imagine but if you don't get in his presence the only thing you'll believe is what you see and you will accept what you see not as reality but as the final I love how the psalmist says I will live above the sickness I'm gonna look above the disappointment I'm gonna look above the fourth rejection letter I'm gonna look above that failed exam I'm gonna look above that lost contract I'm gonna look above that lost job I will look to the hills from whence comes my help and it's not talking about Capitol Hill cuz no help comes from Capitol Hill it's not talking about Wall Street is not talking about San Francisco it's not talking about la Miami Tokyo or any other Hill it is talking about the hill of the Lord where the presence of God rests I will look to the hills from whence comes my help this in case you were confused about what hill my help comes from the Lord who is the Lord the maker of and earth what if we had a people that were so bold that they did not live based on what they saw but they live based on what he said in his presence Zechariah said I'm old I'm old I'm all dude I'm old I'm old okay I'm old it's too late for this prayer come to pass Gabriel said it will come to pass but so that I can ensure that it comes to pass you also won't speak for the next 10 do you understand that God believes in your power more than you believe in your power proverbs 18:21 says life and death is in the power of the tongue and you may not believe that your tongue has power but God believes that your tongue has power to the point where he shut up a man's tongue so that man's tongue could not abort the very prayer that he had spent his entire life praying for what prayer are you praying that your tongue is destroyed where in one prayer you're saying God provide an event in one word you're saying I'll never be out of this situation in one prayer you're praying God heal and then in one paragraph you are saying this is my lot for life and in one prayer you're saying God changed their heart and then in one argument in one flare of the emotions you say you will never be and I will never and we will never and you abort your prayers with your tongue not understanding that life and death is in the power of the tongue I have a tough word to say but then we'll end it's that cool tack pastor you're gonna send me home in a tough word I'll pick you up at the end of the great I believe some of you that God has struck you mute preachers reach it he was good up to now pastor I'm talking my I was shot at you up to this point you kind of got off-track here though I'm not saying that God is taking your physical voice but he has taken the authority and the weight away from your voice I don't know what's happening but my children don't seem to be listening to me anymore I don't know what happens but it seems like my spouse has just shut me off as soon as I speak there maybe you're an employer in here and you're just like I I don't I don't I don't get it I don't understand but my employees they just don't respond to me anymore the the pep talks the the the bonuses those all the things that I've used to motivate it's as if no one is listening as if no one knows me or hears me I'm speaking but it's as if no one can hear what I'm saying could it be that God has taken the authority of your voice because you are not echoing what heaven says over the situation by the way just a little fun fun fact there were 18,000 priests in Israel at the time of Zacharias those priests were divided up into 21 different orders and each order would spend two weeks sacrificing in the temple there were so many priests that they would cast lots to see who had the opportunity to go into the presence of God and it was not guaranteed that every priest would have an opportunity to go into the presence of God in the entire lifetime of their service and if you ever did get to go into the presence of God it would be your last time in there your first time and your last time because they needed to give somebody else an opportunity Zacharias had one shot one opportunity in the presence of God one encounter with an angel one word from God and he responded with skepticism yes it is true that the gifts of God are irrevocable that when God blesses you with something when God has a plan for you he does not remove it but could it be that one dream that God has laid on our heart because we responded with skepticism God says I can't trust you with anything else I'm waiting for you to say what I'm saying over that situation before take you in so it comes to delivery time with no epidural it was crazy Zacharias was like let me know when they're done I'll be out here baby comes eight days goes by and then they have the naming ceremony some of you come from a background in a culture where you do naming ceremonies it may be great but it's nothing like a Jewish naming ceremony the entire village showed up to celebrate and go crazy for what God had done in this family's life they said hey it's time to name him and we all know that Zacharias can't speak because God did something to him so Elizabeth what are we gonna name this baby now I have to give you context so you can understand the the gravity of this interaction here they were not choosing the child's first name they were choosing his last name me and my wife we're having a little bit beef right now if you can pray for her that God would move her heart soften her heart and allow her to submit to her husband it would be great you're laughing I am NOT this is dead serious she will not name my son what I want to name my son and I am faithful in prayer that God would move upon her heart and bring her in to alignment with her men of God some well we can't decide my son's first name we have about 12 I have one we can't decide however there is no discussion about the child's last name there is no discussion his last name is Chandler why because I'm his father my last name is Chandler he had another last name do I need to go any further so when they come to Elizabeth and they say hey what should we name your son and she says we should name him whatever his first name is last name John what's your husband's name Zacharias there's nobody in your family your last name is not Zachariah it's not John it's Zacharias why I'm even talking to her she's probably bout to get stoned anyway Zacharias your trifling wife does not want to name your son your last name you might need to check that out with the priests but right now we need to understand what are we gonna name this boy he says bring me a tablet they bring him a tablet he writes out his name is John the Bible says the second he's writes his name is junk that his mouth is open and his voice is restored write this down your sound comes back when you echo heaven your sound comes back when you echo I said yes John is not my last name yes there's nobody in my family whose name is John but heaven has determined that this is no ordinary boy heaven has determined that this boy will be named John which means Jehovah is a gracious giver the purpose of this boy's life is not to make me and my wife happy the purpose of my life is not for my enjoyment the purpose of my answered prayer is not to be consumed unto myself it took me my entire life to figure this out it took me ten months of not being able to speak to realize that yes God loves me yes God blesses me but he's not answering my prayers just for me that God is working together a much bigger story on this planet that is bigger than me and as soon as I decide that I'm gonna come in alignment with what heaven is doing it's not about getting the dream job that I've always wanted it's not about the spouse that I've always wanted it's about your kingdom come your will be done here on earth as it already is in heaven the second I give up my selfish desires and come in alignment with what God has always wanted to do in my life all his promises yes God today I decide to say that amen let it be unto me according to you were let's pray father God we're great God that you're the God that answers prayers that we've stopped prayed you

Channel: Union Church

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Length: 43min 40sec (2620 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 19 2018