The Promise Keeper | Jerry Flowers

Jerry Flowers (0:08)

This particular sermon, I feel like, has been sitting in my heart for six years.

At first, I thought it was six years of waiting, but now I know it's two things. It was actually six years of glory pending. Because sometimes God will create a circumstance, a situation, and a scenario to where when He does it, you can get the credit, your accolades can get the credit, your degrees can get the credit, mama and them can get the credit, but only He can get the credit. So I'm going to do something so massive where only I can get the glory. And secondly, it wasn't just waiting. It was training. It was training because God loves you, and God loves me so much, to where He will not allow your desire to outrun His timing. Just because you want to, I don't know who this is for. I'm preaching already. Just because you've been asking God, when are you going to do it? And when are you going to do this? Sometimes He might tell you what He told me. When are you going to submit to my chiseling so that you can become the version of yourself that can handle what you're asking for?

So I'm excited, and I want to share with you what the Lord has placed on my heart. If you would, could you turn your Bible to Joshua chapter 21?

Joshua chapter 21, we're going to launch our reading at verse 43 I'm going to pray, and then I'm going to explain why I believe the Lord has desired for us to go this particular route for our grand opening historic Sunday afternoon. What a God, what a God, what a God you are. Father, I thank you so much for this moment, for allowing us to be able to fellowship and gather in this local assembly to give you glory.

SPEAKER_2 (2:10)

You are the one who hears our prayers.

Jerry Flowers (2:13)

You know our thoughts. And for some reason, God, you saw it fit to answer our prayer, and we're so thankful that you did, because now we have a place that we could call a church home. And God, I believe this is just the beginning of what you're going to do.

Lord, just like I prayed in private, I also declare this in public, anoint me as your oracle to soundtrack the PA system of heaven. I thank you, Lord, that we will remain humble, that nothing will change, but we will continue to preach sound doctrine. Far be it from us to have hunger in the valley, but then when we get promoted, we will start looking at Basheba on the roof. We're asking that we have a heart of humility.

Bless this moment. Come into the house and get yourself some glory in Jesus' name. And everybody who agrees in that prayer will just shout all over the room, amen.

Amen. So the foundational scripture that I want you to turn your Bible to is Joshua 21 There are going to be a plethora of scriptures that we're going to go to before we get there. And that's just going to be the backdrop of what we're going to dissect on today. But I want to share with you that there is an attribute, an unchanging quality about God that I want us to examine through the scriptures. Because sometimes God will do certain things to reveal His power. I call it the God flex. When God would just show, I'm God. And I'm God all by myself, and hey, nobody do this but me. With man, it's impossible, but with me, all things are possible. Sometimes God does things to reveal His power, and then other time, God does things to reveal His character.

And Joshua 21 is going to introduce us to a dimension of God's character that is extremely important for all of us, especially if you find yourself experiencing distance between what God said and what you currently see.

And before we read this text, I want to just give you a little history. Joshua chapter 21 is not the beginning of a promise. Joshua 21 is actually the fulfillment of a promise that God made generations before. So years before Joshua ever stands in this new land, the promised land, God had already made a promise to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12, verse 7, that to your descendants, I will give you this land. That's Genesis chapter 12, verse 7 So Abraham heard the promise. Can I get everybody to say he heard it? So Abraham heard the promise, but he died before his fulfillment. And then we have in Genesis chapter 26, verses 2 through 4 God reaffirmed the promise to Isaac, but Isaac heard the promise, but he died before the fulfillment. And then once again, God reaffirms the promise in Genesis chapter 28, verses 13 through 15, with Jacob. Jacob heard the promise, but he died before he ever saw the fulfillment of the promise. And then here comes Joseph. Joseph believes so much that God is going to do what he said he's going to do that I want you to see what he says in Genesis chapter 50, verse 24 You can just look at the screen. Genesis chapter 50, verse 24 Joseph said to his brothers, I am about to die, but God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land, to the land he promised on a oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And Joseph made the Israelites swear an oath and said, God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place. In other words, Joseph is saying, listen, I'm going to die, but God's promise is it.