Wisdom for your Waiting Season -- Dr. E. Dewey Smith
Transcript
00:00 Gospel Saint Luke chapter 1 and verse number 5 says, "There was in the days of
00:09 Herod the king of Judea certain priest named Zacharias of the division of
00:14 Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron and her name was Elizabeth and
00:19 they were both righteous before God walking in all the commandments and the
00:25 ordinances of the Lord blameless but they had no child and Elizabeth was
00:37 barren and they were well advanced in years." Look what that last verse says, "but
00:47 they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and they both were well
00:55 advanced in years." What a sad verse, "and they were both righteous before God
01:00 walking all the commandments and the ordinances of the Lord blameless but
01:06 they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and they were both well advanced
01:13 in years." I want to talk from this thought, "wisdom for your waiting season."
01:21 Wisdom for your waiting season. Somebody say wisdom, wisdom for your waiting
01:33 season. Wisdom for your waiting season. Wisdom for your waiting season. If I can
01:44 be honest with you, this text bothers me. It bothers me primarily because there
01:59 seems to be a contradiction. It bothers me because this text is undergirded by
02:09 what I call a dichotomous motif. That's a challenge here. I'm challenged by this
02:19 text because all of my life I've heard that if you be willing and obedient that
02:31 you can eat of the good of the land. All my life I've been taught that if you
02:41 seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness that all other things
02:53 shall be added unto you. Family, my beloved, I'm bothered this morning because
03:01 all of my life they told me if you delight yourself in the Lord that he
03:12 will give you the desires of your heart. Why am I bothered? I'm bothered because
03:23 all of the aforementioned things that I just mentioned seem to be contradictory
03:30 to the passage that I just read. It seems contradictory. Here's why. Because at the
03:40 time of this text there is a Jewish couple here in the first century world. A
03:47 man whose name is Zacharias whose wife is named Elizabeth. Luke, in a very
03:57 descriptive way, gives us insight about their lineage and their ancestry. He
04:05 tells us that Zacharias was a certain priest to the lineage of Abijah as a
04:13 royalness and a Levitical priesthood order in his background. He came from a
04:21 good family, grew up on the right side of the tracks. If you let me contextualize
04:28 it, he was in Sunday school at five, part of the Sunbeam choir at six. He was in the
04:38 Boy Scouts and the Royal Ambassadors, served as an acolyte by eight, went to
04:44 Camp Shepherd every summer for the programs that mentored boys. He was well
04:54 academically inclined and engaged. He was a well-rounded young man who has grown up
05:03 in the things of faith and now although he's gone off to college and found his
05:08 own family, he's still walking in what he grew up in. A good word reminds me what
05:16 Solomon said. It was true for him that if you train up a child, are y'all gonna
05:22 hold me here in the way they should go and when they get old, although they may
05:28 stray periodically, the prescription is they won't depart. Glory to God,
05:36 Zacharias has not departed. He's gone from being made to go to church by his
05:46 descendants and because of his ancestry. He's gone from being pushed to go to
05:53 church and now it's his own passion, his own priority, his own profession. He has
06:02 grown from a Boy Scout, from an acolyte, from Camp Shepherd to now he's a priest
06:09 who works on behalf of God. Look at him now, up in years. Mama's not forcing him
06:19 to go. No back-and-forth conversations with his parents about BTU, Vacation
06:26 Bible School. He's in church now because he went as a kid because mama made him.
06:33 He learned about God and developed belief based upon what mama said but now that
06:40 he's matured, he doesn't need mama's testimony to sustain him. He knows God
06:47 for himself. Am I talking to anybody around here? There was a time that you
06:54 trusted God because of what mama said. Mama said he'd provide. Mama said he'd
07:02 supply your needs. Mama said he'd take care of you but now life, the school of
07:09 hard knocks and the university of adversity have taught you that you don't
07:14 need mama's testimony about how good God is. You got your own story of times when
07:22 you had your backs up against the walls and now you can testify without any
07:28 hesitation or reservation if it had not been for the Lord on my side.
07:33 Y'all gonna hold me here for a moment. Where would I be? And now he's grown up.
07:40 He's a priest. He is in the division of Abijah and he's not only done that but
07:45 now he's married well. He married a woman who was of the daughters of Aaron. Here's
07:54 a good point for Singapore. He came from a priestly background and he looked for
08:01 a woman who shared similar values, similar interest. Are y'all gonna hold me?
08:09 Similar core values, similar ethics. Thank God that he met a woman whose name was
08:17 Elizabeth and I thank God that his, what Luke tells us is that he married
08:24 Elizabeth not because she had junk in a trunk or a wagon behind her.
08:32 You're right, you're right minister Stevens. Ain't nothing wrong with that.
08:40 But unlike you, his focus was not on that. His focus was on her values and her
08:48 ethics and her morality. It's important that you find somebody who shares your
08:54 similar interests. Y'all quiet on me. Who believes in what you believe. It's
09:01 important too, is a good word, that what was in him is also what was in his wife.
09:07 Which means that often I'm discovering with all of our younger people, our
09:11 college students and younger generations, they have a desire for things that they
09:15 want. But the challenge is you're looking for something that you're not.
09:22 There's some young ladies around this room who are looking for a man who's
09:29 making a hundred fifty thousand. But the problem is you're only making 20 and
09:34 you're spending 40. Perhaps there's a young man who's looking for a woman
09:43 who's faithful. But you're looking for that which you are not. So instead of
09:49 looking for somebody that fits your fancy and to meet all your needs, why
09:55 don't you become what you want? Y'all quiet on me here. And maybe why, maybe the
10:03 reason God has you in a waiting season and he's not sent you that healed person
10:08 yet. Because he's saying why would I send healed to unhealed? Because if I send
10:15 healed to unhealed, the unhealed will make the healed unhealed. Y'all got the
10:20 brakes on me. Why don't I wait until I'm able to become an asset and not a
10:25 liability. Thank God for the midnight hour. But when the midnight hour is over,
10:32 the midnight hour has never paid Georgia Powell. You can't call the bank and say
10:38 he put it down and she had on some white toenail polish. That had nothing to do
10:43 with bills being paid and handling business. You got to be like Elizabeth
10:47 and Zacharias and find somebody who has God in them that you share the same core
10:53 values. Because guess what? God and values will hold you together when the midnight
10:59 hour has gotten old and still. I wish I had somebody that didn't mind telling
11:03 the truth for a moment. They came up in the same values. They had the same core
11:09 values. She had a priestly background. He had a priestly background. He was from
11:15 Abijah. She was from Aaron. And what held them together is that connected to God.
11:22 Relationships are like a pyramid. Imagine on the base of a pyramid there's a man.
11:27 On the base of the other side of the pyramid there's a woman. Too often the man is
11:32 trying to go this way horizontally to the woman. The woman's trying to go
11:35 horizontal to the man and you keep missing each other. But the pyramid is
11:39 significant because instead of trying to go to each other horizontally, you go
11:45 vertically to the tip. Y'all quiet on me here. And as we go, if we go vertically to
11:51 the tip, we can meet each other. So many times there are men in this room who like
11:55 me. That you've been running to and fro horizontally versus going up
12:00 toward God to set your affections on things which are above. And when you do
12:04 it this way, you're gonna run yourself raggedy. You're gonna run yourself to
12:09 cardinality. You're gonna run yourself through frustration. But when you put God
12:12 first and you meet at the top, God has a way of sending you everything that you
12:19 need. If you believe that, you ought to clap your hands right there and give God
12:22 praise. Elizabeth was from Ereth. Zacharias was from Abijah. They had the
12:29 same tenets, the same principles. Ask God to give you this sermon to show you
12:34 yourself in them. Help me here somebody. Don't be so desperate and such in a
12:39 hurry that you get somebody who does not fit what God is trying to put in your
12:44 life. Y'all quiet on me here. So you gotta understand that men and women are like
12:49 nuts and bolts. If you go to the Home Depot or Lowe's, they have a nuts and bolts
12:56 section. Nuts and bolts. They hold pictures. They can be used in
13:04 construction. Nuts and bolts come in all shapes, all sizes. Listen very carefully.
13:10 It's very important that we understand that when you go to Home Depot or Lowe's,
13:13 understand this, that every nut don't fit every bolt. Okay, y'all make me work
13:20 way harder than I thought. Every nut doesn't fit. It may look like it fits, but
13:28 just because it looks like it fits doesn't mean the nut and the bolt were
13:32 designed to go together. And sometimes we look at a nut, we look at a bolt, "Oh that's
13:38 a good-looking nut. Oh that's a fine bolt." And you try to force a nut and bolt that
13:43 don't fit to fit. And if they don't fit, what you can do is end up stripping the
13:50 nut and the bolt. And once the nut and bolt are stripped because it was forced
13:55 on the one that it didn't fit, it's good for nothing. Y'all got the brakes on me
14:01 here. And when a nut and bolt don't fit and when you strip it, that was a time
14:06 that you had to throw it away. Because it was stripped and the one that was
14:10 designed to fit it was right there. But because it got with a nut and bolt that
14:14 didn't fit, it got stripped on the inside. And can't hold what was there to create
14:22 for it. But thank God that that was a day when they threw a nut and bolt away when
14:28 it was stripped. But somebody came up with a great idea of a re-threading
14:32 machine. Y'all quiet. That if my grooves have been stripped by a nut and bolt
14:39 that didn't fit me, that was a time I could used to be discarded. But now you
14:45 can re-thread and re-thread the stuff that's been wounded and damaged and make
14:51 me ready again to try connection again. Am I talking anybody who've been stripped
14:57 and wounded and grooved on the inside? But you thank God that you've met a
15:01 re-threading machine who got the inside of your grooves and now you got your
15:06 groove back. Somebody said I'm getting my grooves back, I'm getting my grooves back, I'm
15:13 getting my grooves back. And when a nut and bolt has been re-threaded to make it
15:19 available to try connection again, you can find the one that fits you. But even
15:26 when you find the one that fits you, pressure can pull you loose. So somebody
15:31 came with an idea called a lock washer and you put the washer in the middle.
15:36 Y'all got the brakes on man. And the nut and bolt that fits when pressure comes,
15:41 it won't be separated because it's got something in the middle called a washer.
15:45 And the lock washer keeps it together so when pressure finances a man, a mistress,
15:52 mother-in-law, money or mashed potatoes try to come to pull you apart, the
15:58 lock washer, I wish I had somebody to give God praise for a lock washer who can keep
16:03 you together. But here's the problem, you can be with a nut or the bolt that fits
16:11 you and have a lock washer that keeps you together. But sometimes exposure to
16:16 the elements, being outside, too much oxidation can rust the nut and the bolt
16:25 and a lock washer that fits and makes it brittle and it come to power. Cause too
16:29 much pressure and oxidation and rust, being in the rains and the storms can
16:36 make it brittle and where it breaks. And when it used to break they would throw
16:40 it away but thank God somebody had an idea called WD-40. Well y'all making me
16:48 work too hard and overflow. And what you do is you put oil on the nut and the
16:54 bolt that fits that has the lock washer in the middle and what the oil will do
16:59 is keep it saturated and keep it lubricated so the pressures and the
17:04 rains and the winds can't make it break. I came to tell you that when you find
17:09 your nut, find your bolt. Put Jesus Christ the lock washer on the middle and then
17:15 ask the Holy Ghost to be the oil that rains and saturates your relationship so
17:22 no weapon formed against you shall prosper. Somebody say Spirit of God fall
17:27 fresh on me.
17:30 And so here's Zacharias and Elizabeth. They are nut and a bolt that fits. They're
17:45 connected. They're combined. And not only that they're walking righteous before
17:51 God. Find the right nut, the right bolt will help you be better. That's why Paul
17:57 told the church of Ephesians, "Husbands love your wife like Christ loved the
18:03 church and gave it himself for it that he might present it to himself a
18:09 glorious church not having spot or wrinkle." The analogy here fellas is the
18:16 woman was never told to love her husband.
18:20 Maybe I shouldn't have said that. But the commandment was for the man to love the
18:29 wife like Christ loved the church and gave himself for it that he might
18:35 present it to himself a glorious church. What Paul is saying is Christ's
18:39 love for the church makes the church so much better that his love for the church
18:45 gets rid of the spots, the wrinkles, and it appreciates the value of the church.
18:52 What Paul is really saying is man when you love that woman your love ought be
18:57 so strong that if she was cussing every day when you met her she ought be down
19:04 to once a month because of your love. Come on help me somebody. That your love
19:10 for her gets rid of her headaches. That your love for her makes us stronger and
19:15 more secure. The problem with us fellas is most of our love is giving them
19:19 headaches and making them cuss because we've not seen ourselves through the
19:24 lenses.
19:27 [crowd shouting]
19:34 Zacharias has done something right. Now y'all sit down right here. Sit down.
19:39 Right here because I see some other stuff going on. Unfold your arms.
19:43 Unfold your arms. Yes, yes you. Unfold your arms. I see. I don't know what's going back and
19:47 forth. Okay. Young man can you sit in between them? Can y'all switch?
19:52 All right something going on right there. And so what he's saying here
20:19 Lord help us Jesus. And so Elizabeth and Zacharias a nut and a bolt that fits.
20:31 Listen they're walking before God. They're walking in all the
20:35 commandments. They're walking in blameless before the Lord. But here's the
20:39 problem. But all of the great stuff, all of the powerful stuff. She's from the
20:49 lineage of Aaron. He's from the lineage of Abijah. Same character, same values.
20:55 They've got chemistry. They've got connection. They're equally yoked. He
21:03 likes football. She likes football. They're on the same page. They're both in
21:09 God. But what does this mean? This means no relationship is perfect. Even with the
21:24 same values, same core values, even with the same chemistry, the same
21:31 connection, it doesn't guarantee a stress-free and problem-free life. Come
21:41 on help me here somebody. And I want to say this to you. Here's why I want to
21:45 say this. Because social media has you us messed up. And some of y'all gonna be
21:52 messed up the next three weeks. Because you're gonna see folks on there wearing
21:56 the same pajamas, standing on the mistletoe. And you look at them and feel
22:12 bad because you don't have anybody in your life. Let me tell you something.
22:15 That's just a picture. They're showing you the mistletoe that's on top. They ain't
22:20 showing you the poison ivy that's in between them. I wish somebody helped me
22:24 here. Don't you get caught up with the photographs and the image and the
22:28 pictures. Because a lot of folk who want to show their pajamas. What good is
22:33 having pajamas that you wear together but you don't sleep in the same room?
22:37 What's good is having pajamas but you ain't resting because you can't stand
22:42 her and she can't stand you. I wish I had somebody who understood that we
22:46 sometimes get caught up with images. And have you looking at something that's not
22:51 even real and doubting yourself and making you feel bad by yourself. Because
22:56 you ain't got nobody to dress up with pajamas. But I came with a prophetic word.
23:01 If you see this Christmas, do me a favor. Buy you some pajamas. And find some
23:10 pajamas for your teddy bear or your little dog. And dress your dog in the
23:15 same pajamas. And put a mistletoe over your head and your dog head. And let your
23:20 little dog lick you all in your face. And say Merry Christmas. Come on. Because as
23:25 long as I got Jesus, I'm in my waiting season. And I would not allow myself. Am I
23:32 talking to anybody who's happy with yourself? Am I talking to anybody who's
23:36 learned how to be content? No matter what state you are in, you may not have
23:40 everything you want.
23:46 Sometimes it's better to be alone and at peace than to be with somebody and
23:53 stressed and mad and cussing and fussing and don't have any joy. Am I talking to
23:59 somebody who learned how to have internal joy?
24:08 Zacharias and Elizabeth, they got all this positive stuff. But they had no
24:20 child because she was barren. And now they're well stricken in years. Let me
24:29 share this with you. You can be following God. But having a
24:35 relationship with God does not mean you won't have any buts in your life. I love
24:45 the Lord and I preach his word. But I got some issues. I've been pastor for 35
24:54 years, preaching for 35 years, pastor for almost 34 years. But I still got some
25:01 struggles. I can stand on Sunday morning and get the Bible and preach to you a
25:08 melodious word from heaven. But on Saturday night when the Bulldogs lose to
25:17 the Alabama Crimson Tide, there's some words that I'm thinking and want to say
25:21 that I don't want to hear you say. I wish I had somebody say, "There's a but in my
25:24 life." And before you point the finger of scrutiny and judgment at me, don't you
25:30 walk around here like you got your act together, like you got you all that in a
25:33 bag of chips, like you've never had some struggles and some situations in
25:37 your life that you're not proud of. But, and what the first century world says
25:47 about Elizabeth is that she is cursed. When a woman couldn't bear her husband a
25:52 child, it was meant that she was, Descartes said she was cursed by the
25:57 gods. The gods had cursed her with barrenness. So her entire life she's
26:03 walking around like she's less than a woman. Not unless she feels she's less
26:08 than a woman, she feels perhaps that the gods have cursed her. Whenever she
26:14 walked, that was Descartes' letter, "You can't give your husband a male child.
26:18 You've been cursed by the gods." And so there's a but in the life. But what I
26:23 love about this text, I'm moving on quickly, but what I love about this text,
26:27 this is a very interesting verse, it says, "But they had no child because
26:32 Elizabeth was barren and they were both well stricken in years. So was that, so it
26:37 was that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division,"
26:43 don't miss your shot, "he is still serving God. His lack, what he does not have, has
26:55 not allowed him to feel that what people think about him." In other words, my
27:00 commitment is to God regardless of where I am in my present circumstance. I will
27:07 not allow what I dislike and what I don't have to make me lose faith in a
27:12 God who has brought me. Now I want to talk to somebody here. I don't know what
27:16 you don't have in your life, but instead of focusing on what you don't have, learn
27:20 how to say, "I'm gonna be committed to you even in the moments when it's raining in
27:25 my life, even when it doesn't make sense in my life, even when I'm in my waiting
27:29 season, I'm gonna be faithful to my," am I talking to somebody who's learned how
27:34 to have faithfulness to God regardless? That's why Job said, "Though you slay me, yet
27:44 will I trust in you. All the days of my appointed time will I wait until my
27:49 change comes." And maybe there's somebody in this house, you've been waiting on
27:52 God. Don't allow your frustrations to make you turn your back. What the enemy
27:59 wants to do is get in your mind and say, "You've done all that good? You've been
28:05 all this faithful? What has it brought you? What have you gotten as a result of
28:11 it?" You ever try to tell you, "You stopped going to the club, you stopped smoking, you
28:16 stopped drinking, you stopped partying, but you still ain't got nobody. You might
28:21 as well gone back to do what you were doing before. At least you had what felt
28:25 and looked like some happiness." What the enemy wants to do is get in your mind and
28:29 confuse you to make you think that life was better before you had a connection
28:35 with God. I came to tell you, don't you let the enemy make you believe that your
28:42 life is better without God. It is in him that we live. It's in him that we move.
28:49 It's in him that we have our very being. Help me hear somebody. He is a center of
28:55 my joy. All that's good and perfect comes from him. Without God, I could do nothing.
29:00 Without God, I would fail. Without him, my life would be rugged like a ship without
29:06 a sail. Father, I stretch my hands to thee. No other help I know. If thou
29:12 withdraw thyself from me, oh where shall I go? It's me, oh Lord, standing in the need
29:18 of prayer. Not my mother, not my father, not my sister or my brother, but I need thee.
29:23 Oh, every hour. You may be suffering, but keep on serving. You may feel stuck, but
29:34 keep on serving. You may not be satisfied, but keep on serving. Am I talking to
29:39 somebody who understands? Blessed is a man or woman who walketh not in the
29:43 counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat
29:47 of the scornful, but his delight shall be in the law of the Lord. And in his law
29:51 does he meditate both day and night, and he shall be like a tree planted by the
29:56 rivers of water that bear forth in his fruits. And his leaves should not wither,
30:00 and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. You can do more with God than you can do
30:06 with how you felt in the world. Somebody shout, "I need God!"
30:15 Zacharias could be disappointed. Don't let your disappointments run you from
30:22 God. I hear all the time people say, "Pastor, I'm coming back to church when I get
30:27 myself together." Let me ask you a few questions. Who told you you could get
30:33 yourself together? Who told you you had time to get yourself together? Can I
30:40 share something with you? Going through stuff shouldn't keep you from God. Going
30:46 through stuff should make you draw closer to God. If you draw nigh unto him,
30:53 he'll draw nigh unto you. Elizabeth and Zacharias are stuck. They're not
31:02 satisfied. There's some suffering. Elizabeth has some shame, but in spite of
31:08 that, they are still serving. He's serving, and it's his time to serve. And guess
31:17 what happens? As he is serving, I'm gonna give you my points at the end. As he's still
31:23 serving, guess what happened? The angel comes and stood before the right side
31:30 of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled. My God, he was
31:36 troubled, and fear came upon him. And the angel said unto him, "Fear not, Zacharias,
31:40 for your prayer is heard." Zacharias, you've been praying. The problem is,
31:53 Zacharias has been praying, but up until now, hadn't heard nothing. Here's a
32:00 question I want to ask you. Here's a new subtopic today. How do you manage your
32:04 silence season? How do you handle the moments when you've been praying and
32:17 ain't heard nothing? Come here for a minute. The same thing happened to Daniel
32:24 and Dan in chapter 10. Dan had been praying to God about the state of Babylon
32:31 and Jerusalem. He prayed, fasted, didn't eat, didn't wash his face, three weeks, 21 days,
32:40 prayed, nothing happened. And 21 days later, Daniel chapter 10, verse 14 says, "The
32:46 angel Gabriel." Gabriel showed up three weeks later and said, "Daniel?" Daniel said, "Yes,
32:53 Gabriel." He said, "Listen, brother, from the first day you prayed..." Don't y'all make me
32:58 run. "...from the first time you prayed, God heard your prayer." And I don't know who
33:04 that's a word for today, but just because God hadn't said nothing, don't mean God
33:09 didn't hear you. From day one, God heard you. And now that he sent me to bring you
33:19 your answer. So what's the deal, Gabriel? He said, "When I was coming from the
33:24 heaven to bring you your answer, I got around the principalities in the area of
33:30 Persia." That's where the demonic realm is. You know, Satan is the prince of the air.
33:34 And he has demons in different territories. He says, "And one of his chief
33:39 demons over the region of Persia grabbed me and put the headlock on me. And he
33:45 withstood me." He says, "Satan's chief lieutenants, who have power just like me,
33:50 withstood me and kept me from bringing you the answer God sent." It was a war in the
33:56 spiritual realm. He says, "But the problem is, y'all, I'm Gabriel, which means I'm a
34:01 lover and not a fighter." Y'all quiet on me here. "And I couldn't fight him by
34:06 myself." So don't worry about what God did. He had a fighting angel by the name of
34:12 Michael. Okay, y'all quiet on me. And Michael is the warfare angel. He shows up
34:18 when you're in a battle. He shows up when somebody's trying to kill your name and
34:22 your reputation. And he'll fight on your behalf. And Michael fought the prince of
34:27 Panada. And I came to tell you, while you are here not hearing anything from God,
34:32 perhaps it's because a war is going on in the spiritual realm. Your answer, your
34:37 prayer, your deliverance is on the way. Just cause you ain't got it yet don't
34:42 mean God hasn't manifested. There's a war. Somebody open your mouth and shout, "My
34:49 answer is on the way. My deliverance is in the heaviness. My breakthrough is above
34:55 me. It's above me now."
34:59 Matter of fact, I came with a word. In the next 29 days, God is gonna release
35:08 something in your life that you've been waiting on and praying for. Open your
35:14 mouth and shout, "It's on the way."
35:17 Same Gabriel. The same Gabriel that spoke to Daniel in Daniel 10, 14 is the same
35:37 Gabriel who's speaking to Zacharias in Luke chapter 1. He said, "He told me to
35:44 tell you something." Now here's what I don't know. I don't know how long he's
35:49 been praying. But if you just let me interject some esoteric insinuations here.
35:59 If he's well stricken in years, some say he's over 70. Most men at this time had
36:10 children in their 20s. Both of them are senior citizens. Well beyond childbearing
36:23 age. So if we suggest that if they're at least 70 and most couples had their
36:31 children, women in their teens, men in their 20s, that if he was 20 when he
36:36 start praying and now he's 70, that means that perhaps, this is my
36:49 imagination, this is what I believe is a logical conclusion. This is my deduction
36:54 here. This is my reference here. I deduce, I want to infer here, that at least for
37:00 50 years he had prayed for a child. Now if you let me take this deduction even
37:11 further, I believe he had stopped praying. The text doesn't say it, but I believe it.
37:22 I believe the moment he hit 60, perhaps Zacharias has stopped praying. Perhaps
37:34 he's saying, "I don't want to be 80 when he graduate from high school." Y'all
37:42 quiet, y'all quiet, y'all quiet, y'all quiet, y'all quiet, y'all quiet. Maybe he's
37:47 saying by 60, because it's not like it was in the Old Testament when you can
37:53 live for 300 years. They're not living that long now at this time. It's more
37:56 closer, it's closer to our time. I believe he's saying at around 60, he
38:01 stopped praying. If you let me deduce that. So he's over 70 now, which means if
38:06 you let me deduce it, that he hadn't prayed this prayer in at least 10 years.
38:11 I think that's a logical deduction. Now be clear, the text doesn't say that. Why do
38:21 I deduce that? Because when the angels show them and say, "Hey, your prayer is heard,
38:25 and God's gonna give you a boy, you're gonna name him John. He's gonna be great.
38:31 You should never let him have strong drink. He's gonna prepare the way for the
38:35 Lord Jesus Christ. He's gonna be great and mighty in the sight. He's gonna be
38:39 the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ." This is what Gabriel says to him, and
38:43 this is why I believe he has stopped praying. Because verse 18, when he heard
38:49 that, his response was, "How shall I know this? For I am an old man. I'm way past
39:02 the years to be a dad, and my wife, both of us old.
39:13 She old, I'm old. No in-vitro fertilization. She tired, I'm tired. Y'all got to break
39:21 something here. She got arthritis, I'm halfway crippled. She can't walk, I can't
39:26 see. I wish somebody talked to me right. I wish somebody talked to me here.
39:31 We're way past our year. And you talking about we gonna have a baby?
39:43 Huh? And guess what the angel said to him? The angel said to him, "I am Gabriel, dude."
39:51 Verse 19, "I'm the one who just left goth brothers. I'm not here bringing you no
39:58 junk. I'm not playing. This ain't superstition. This ain't hyperbole. This
40:02 ain't nothing figurative. This ain't nothing hyperbolic. This not
40:09 parenthetical. This is not the imaginative. God sent me from the throne
40:15 to tell you good tidings. But I tell you what God told me to tell you. He told me
40:22 that since you stop praying, and since you no longer believe, I'm gonna shut your
40:28 mouth and make you mute. Here is why. So when your wife finally gets pregnant, she
40:37 don't eat no old crabby Negro with negativity that's speaking against
40:46 what's been birthed in her spirit. Because you're closest to her ear. And sometimes
40:51 it ain't the folk in the streets who can kill your vision. It's the folk who are
40:55 right next to you. So I'm gonna shut your mouth. Here's the problem with some of us.
41:03 We can't give birth to our new dimension because you got too many Zacharias's
41:09 who are speaking against faith in your spirit. But can I help you here? When you
41:15 believe in God for something that's blowing your mind, ask God to deliver you
41:20 from anybody who's full of toxic negativities. You, listen, when you try to
41:25 go to college, you go, I don't know how you gonna make it. How you gonna pay for a
41:28 private school? How you going to the AU? Folk will talk you out of what God has
41:32 for you if you let them. He said, I'm gonna shut your mouth. You're not gonna be able to say a
41:41 word. I'm gonna shut your mouth. You won't be able to say a word. You done. But guess
41:50 what happened y'all? Verse 23, 24 says, "So it was as soon as his days of his
41:56 service was completed, he went to his own house. Now after those days his wife
42:01 Elizabeth conceived, she hid herself for five months." You miss your shower. Y'all
42:10 don't know what y'all, you miss your whole shower. God shut his mouth, made him
42:22 a mute where he couldn't talk. You got it? He goes home and a little while after he got home,
42:34 Elizabeth gets pregnant. You still miss your shower.
42:42 He can't talk.
42:48 [crowd talking]
42:54 But a few months later, Elizabeth gets pregnant. Y'all still ain't got it. I said
43:05 he can't talk. But a few months later, Elizabeth gets pregnant. Here's your
43:13 problem and our problem. We spend too much time focusing on what ain't working.
43:21 Zachariah says, "I can't talk."
43:30 But there's some stuff that's still working. Am I talking to anybody in this
43:39 house who can testify I may not have the money I want, but my faith is still
43:46 working. I may not have the job I've been praying for, but my expectation is still
43:53 working. You got to work it like you want to work it, baby. Look at your neighbor
43:58 and say, "You got to work it. You got to work it. You got to..." Stop focusing on
44:02 what's not working.
44:05 [crowd talking]
44:11 Look at somebody and say, "Work your faith."
44:16 Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. The
44:31 righteous shall live by faith. We walk by faith and not by sight. If you have faith,
44:40 the sign of a grain of mustard seed, you can say to your mountain, "Be thou removed."
44:46 We come this far by faith, leaning on the Lord, trusting in his holy word. He's never
44:55 failed me yet. Look at somebody and say, "You got to work your faith. You got to work your faith."
45:00 [crowd talking]
45:09 Yes, I'm broken, but I got faith. Yes, I feel stuck, but I got faith. Yes, I'm going
45:17 through suffering, but I still got faith. I'm going to work it while I got a chance
45:21 to work it and believe.
45:24 [crowd talking]
45:36 And nine months later,
45:42 [crowd talking]
45:47 an old man and an old mute man, God let them give birth to John the Baptist, who became
46:06 the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ. But if they didn't have faith and the capacity
46:20 to handle the silent season and the waiting season. I don't know who I'm talking to today,
46:31 but I felt it with everything in my spirit when I got this one. I pray, "Lord, which
46:34 message you want me to deliver?" I had three options for today. He said, "I want you to
46:38 go with this one." He said, "Because you can't get to labor pains until you deal with conception."
46:50 Some folks trying to give birth, but they're uncareful. They're going to abort the assignment
46:57 and the possibility because it took too long. There's a nut who's going to go find the wrong
47:06 boat. Calls your grandma and said, "When you going to have me some grandchildren, baby,
47:13 I'm getting old." Because your sorority sister did this, or your fraternal brother did this,
47:22 and you're comparing your life to theirs, not realizing your journey and your path is
47:27 different. It's funny because Mary had Jesus when she was 15. Her cousin Elizabeth had
47:34 John when she was over 70. Their first child, the first child for both of them. Pregnant
47:44 at the same time. Cousins. One 15, the other 70. Imagine what that looked like. Imagine
47:57 Elizabeth and Mary taking John and Jesus to the park in their strollers. Can you imagine
48:13 what the folk was saying to Elizabeth? "Is this your great grandbaby?" But you can't
48:25 worry about what people say. I may look funny pushing this stroller, but you don't know
48:33 the struggle or the weight or all I had to endure to get to this point. And so any way
48:40 you bless me, Lord. I want you to stand with me quickly. I want to see the hands of everybody
48:55 under 40. Lift your hands. Everybody under 40. Everybody under 40. Everybody under 40.
49:01 Lift your hands. Everybody under 40. Lift your hand. Yeah. My God. My God. This is wonderful.
49:10 This is wonderful. Give our under 40 a hand. Give our under 40 a hand. Give our under 40.
49:18 We're almost done. And here's what I want to share with you. Here's the word that's
49:23 been in my spirit since about three o'clock this morning. Keep pushing, but take your
49:34 time. Keep pushing, but learn when to take your time. So here's what you're going to
49:44 do. Some of you get ready to buy your first house before you're 30. Keep pushing, but
49:53 take your time. Buy the house, buy the condo. It's a good investment, but take your time.
50:01 But don't try to furnish every room from rooms to go. Keep pushing, but don't suffocate yourself
50:18 with debt. Over the next few weeks, you get this furniture at 0% interest for the first
50:28 24 months. And here you run yourself all up and in. And it look good. It feels good. Until
50:48 December 2025 come. And you didn't read the fine print that say it's 39, 39%. 30, T-U-T-T-Y,
51:02 39. But you ran yourself in there. Here's why, because you went to your girlfriend's
51:11 place. It was nice and decorated. So you're going to leave and now you got to go do yours
51:21 so you can invite them over to see yours. If you got to get in debt to invite them over
51:31 to impress them, they want your friend in the first place. You ain't got to have leather
51:44 furniture to watch the football game a lifetime or whatever you watch. Get you two through
51:51 them bean bags, get you some milk crates, put the TV on top of the milk crate and tell
51:57 them, "God, thank you." And you push forward, but take your time.
52:04 I was talking to one of our musicians the other day and thank God he's getting ready
52:10 to get married. Matt, Matt, Matt engaged to his fiance the other day. Y'all get mad, I
52:17 kid you, he's getting ready to get married. He's got a beautiful bride. Y'all get mad
52:20 at him. Give him a hand. Get ready to get married. I'm so happy for him. He called me,
52:27 "Uncle, I need some help. What's up? I'm doing something, something, something." I said, "Hold
52:32 on. I'm doing something, something, something." I said, "Hold on. You finna do what? I'm getting
52:37 married. I want to do something. Hold on. What you mean, Uncle?" Listen, now the difference
52:48 between a wedding and a marriage. Come here, come here, come here, come here, come here.
53:01 A wedding is one day, one hour at the most, and that's too long. So you got to buy flowers,
53:17 tuxedos, pay for your cheap family members tux to be in the wedding to keep them from
53:22 raining sand, get invitations, the reception hall, want to have shrimp cocktail and lamb
53:30 for the folks who coming, and all you're going to get is some cheap coffee pots and irons
53:37 and 23 count sheets that you can't use. Most marriages end not because of a mistress or
53:57 man or mother-in-law, but over money. And most African-American weddings lead the couple
54:06 to start their marriage off in the hole. So we start out the marriage in trouble because
54:21 of a wedding. So keep pushing, but take your time. You got to live after you say, "I do."
54:34 Y'all don't like me here. And don't be letting her family and your family tell you what all
54:42 you got to do. You all do this, you all do that. And the folks that's telling you that
54:46 ain't giving you jack, shut up and leave me alone. I'm going to keep pushing, but take
54:51 my time. Take your time. Take your time and enjoy life. Travel, bill. You 39, three months
55:06 after you got married, you're trying to get him to get you a baby because you want a baby
55:09 by 33. Listen, take your time. Enjoy life. You ain't got to be in a hurry. Don't go on
55:18 vacation. Enjoy it for me. Travel at least for two years. Get to know him better. But
55:24 your girlfriend, "I want to have mine by 35. I don't want to be old." Slow down. You don't
55:30 know yourself yet. You don't know him yet. You can be a good mama at 35. You can be a
55:36 good mama at 38. You can be a good mama at 40. It'll keep you young. You more mature.
55:45 You ain't got to do it at 32. Go on vacation. Take some pictures. Enjoy for a minute. I
55:51 see you, Daniel. Daniel and Jada. One of our young couple. Right here, Daniel. Daniel,
55:55 do heart, Jada, look. And they got married five years ago, and Daniel been working. Daniel
56:07 been working. And when the baby due? June. You all get Daniel, he been working. I see
56:14 you. I remember he was born. That's what I'm talking about. They took their time. Got to
56:23 know each other. Went on vacation. Saved some coins. Enjoyed each other. Jada's seeking,
56:31 he's slow. High as breast milk when he get up in the morning. Do I want to stay with
56:34 him? And now five years later, they figured it out. We're going to do this. Keep pushing,
56:40 but take your time. Y'all give Daniel and Jada a hand. I love y'all. Listen, let me
56:47 share this with you. I want to share this with you. The Lord Jesus Christ. I'm just
56:52 trying to share some things with, because what's happening is this waiting season can
56:57 bless your journey or it can burden your journey. And too many of us are stressed out because
57:06 you're not managing with wisdom, the waiting season. And if you unhealed, you can mess
57:16 things up. You can mess everything up. If you unsurrendered, you can destroy everything.
57:21 I just want to encourage you today that even though Zacharias somewhat lost faith, his
57:28 lack of faith did not abandon God's promises for him. So even when you lack faith and didn't
57:35 manage it well, thank God that there's hope for Zacharias. That's hope for Elizabeth and
57:41 that's hope for you. Do you believe that? Do you believe that?
57:47 [APPLAUSE]