Paul Daugherty - Waiting On The Lord
Summary
In this opening sermon of the «Harvest» series, the pastor preaches from Isaiah 9:3 about getting ready for a spiritual and practical harvest of joy, victory, increase, mercy, and revival. He honors veterans, celebrates recent rains after drought as a sign of coming harvest, explains that old seeds (prayers) still sprout, and urges believers to surrender seeds to God, sow in good soil, stay rooted, and turn adversity into fertilizer. The message ends with a call to faith, generosity, repentance, and expectation of miracles, declaring «It’s harvest time!» in the church and nation.
Harvest Series: Get Ready for Your Harvest
All right, we are starting a new series called Harvest. Everybody say, «It’s harvest time!» You know I love the weather outside; it truly is the harvest season. It’s getting colder, the leaves are changing colors; you can see and feel that Thanksgiving is coming. Christmas is coming. Some of y’all started putting your Christmas stuff up already, like a month ago. You’ve been ready for it, waiting for it.
If you have a Bible, go to Isaiah chapter 9, verse 3. Yeah, we shout for the word of God! I want to title this message, «Get Ready for Your Harvest.» Turn to the person next to you and say, «Get ready for your harvest!» God has a harvest that He’s about to pour out on the church like never before: a harvest of mercy, a harvest of grace, a harvest of His kindness, a harvest of victory, a harvest of increase. Somebody say, «Get ready!»
Speaking of the harvest, we get to experience a harvest of freedoms in our nation because of the sacrifices of men and women who have served in our military. This is Veterans Weekend. Veterans, would you stand up? I want to honor all the veterans in the room. Come on, this is a weekend to give honor where honor is due for all the men and women who have sacrificed and served our country. We get to experience freedom, protection, safety. Come on, we can do better than that, church! Veterans, thank you! Thank you to all of our veterans. We want to give you a special gift in the Victory Cafe right after this, just as a token of our appreciation. We want to bless you with something, so stop by to pick it up. If it’s too late after the service, get it next week; that’s on us. We love our veterans! How many are thankful again for all the veterans in the room? Come on, Jesus!
Isaiah 9:3. Are you there? This is what the prophet Isaiah said: «You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy.» God’s about to increase the joy in the nation again! God is getting ready to stir joy up in this nation and the nations of the earth. How many of you believe in just for a harvest of joy? You know, I was talking to people who were getting baptized, and they just said, «Man, I feel like I’m coming out of a depression. I’ve been coming out of just a foggy season, a mental fatigue season. I’ve lost my sharpness. I’ve lost my feelings of laughter and joy.» The psalm says, «Those who sow in tears will reap a harvest of joy.» This is what Isaiah prophesied: there’s joy coming! You’ve got a harvest of joy that’s on the way.
Then he says, «They rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest.» You know, harvest has a sound of joy. Harvest is not a sound of sadness. It’s not a sound of complaining. I know most of us in this room aren’t farmers, so we’re like, «I don’t know what the sound of harvest is.» It’s the sound of excitement! It’s the sound of, «Oh my goodness, we’ve got a harvest on the seeds we’ve planted! The seeds that we have intentionally sown, the seeds that we have been waiting for—the crop we’ve been waiting for—it’s here! It’s harvest time!» There’s a shout with it.
In the scripture, before God brought harvest, oftentimes He would lead His Israelites through a season of drought, dry valleys—seasons where there was no rain, seasons where there was famine. So when it came time for harvest, there was a sense of celebration; there was a festival, there was a shout of victory. I think about stories where God brought a harvest of victory for His children out of slavery in Egypt when He brought them to the Red Sea, and they walked through on dry ground. Then He led them up to Jericho. Before the walls came down, those walls coming down were like a harvest on a promise for 400 years that God had been telling them, «Get ready! Harvest is coming! Get ready, Israel! You’re about to take possession of the land! Get ready, Joshua!»
And when they shouted…sometimes you’ve got to shout before you see the harvest. Sometimes you’ve got to get a sound of hope. You know, as a dad of five kids—Ashley and I—we’ve got five kids, if I haven’t told you, and we’re always having to check the sound that’s coming out of our kids' mouths and our mouths to challenge ourselves that we’re not just putting out a sound of complaining, a sound of negativity, a sound of criticism, but a sound of joy, a sound of gratitude, a sound of thanksgiving, a sound of praise. You’ve got way more to praise about than you do to complain about! We’ve got way more to shout victory over than we do to feel defeated and critical over! Come on, let’s make a sound of harvest in the room!
It’s harvest time in America! It’s harvest time in Tulsa, Oklahoma! It’s harvest time in the church! Some prayers you’ve been praying for a long time—God says there’s a harvest coming on those seeds of prayers you’ve been praying. This is what Isaiah said: «There’s a rejoicing as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder.» When I think about dividing the plunder, I think about how they were taking something that God had blessed them with.
There was a moment in David’s life in 1 Samuel 30 when he came back to his hometown in Ziklag, before he was king, and everything had been stolen from him and his men. They had lost their wives, their children were kidnapped, their houses were burned down, and all of their gold and treasure was gone. David encouraged himself in the Lord; he began to pray and strengthen himself in the Lord. The Bible says he asked the Lord, «What should I do?» The Lord said, «Go get it all back!»
It’s time for the church to take it all back! What the enemy’s been stealing from you. When the enemy came into the harvest and tried to steal some of your wheat, some of your joy, some of your peace, some of your financial prosperity to be a blessing to others—it’s time to get it all back! When David went and got it all back, he brought it back to the hometown, and there was a celebration. They began to divide the plunder; they began to pass out all the things.
This is a time for the church to bring the harvest back in for what God has called us to do. Hebrews 11:1 says, «Now faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not yet seen.» How many in this room are believing God for a harvest on something that you need in your life? Maybe you need more peace, more joy. Maybe you need more financial victory, just want to be free, want to be able to pay some things off. Maybe you’re believing God to have children; maybe you’ve been told by a doctor you’re barren, you can’t have children. I believe God’s about to bring a harvest on some prayers you’ve been praying.
Oral Roberts used to say it like this: «Expect a miracle!» He was trying to stir the campus up. «Expect a miracle!» Stop expecting the worst! See, faith and fear both ask the same question: to believe in something that hasn’t happened yet. Some people wake up and they go, «Man, it’s going to get worse. Things are going to get darker. It’s not going to be great. We’ve got to just bunker down.» Then some people wake up and go, «My best days are right in front of me! God is not finished with America yet!»
We’re about to step into a harvest of mercy like never before. We’re about to step into a harvest of revival in the church life. There are going to be cars lined up down Lewis coming into the house of God. People are about to get saved! Good things are coming; best days. But that comes from a spirit of faith. Oral Roberts used to say this across the street: «Something good is going to happen to me today!» And people would say, «How can you say that? How can you know that? Nobody knows what’s going to happen in the next hour.»
But what was he doing? He was exercising his faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things that I don’t see. So you can keep calling the future dark and cursing your future and speaking— Or you could start to speak life. Harvest is coming! In Jesus’ name, a good harvest is on the way!
I think about how, 10 days ago, we saw a physical sign of a harvest, even in our own city, when we hadn’t had rain for 50 straight days. The entire month of October, there was no rain in the state of Oklahoma; almost the entire month of September we had no rain. We went 50 straight days, and it got dry, and it got hot. We had 100-degree days in the month of October, and people were going, «What is going on? Why is it so hot in Oklahoma?» How many of y’all remember what I’m talking about from just a month ago? Sometimes you go into another week and you forget what happened just the week before.
But it was hot; it was dry. There were wildfires breaking out in our state, and we were praying for rain. In fact, our church started praying even more for rain. The week before, on the night of October 31st, when the world would celebrate demons and ghosts and witches and warlocks and darkness and Halloween, we had a prayer meeting in here—a 24-hour prayer meeting. As we were praying, rain started trickling into Tulsa, Oklahoma. The trickling started to turn into a little bit more, then a torrential downpour, then a heavy rain. For the next four days, we saw eight inches of rain in the state of Oklahoma. It wouldn’t stop raining, and the wildfires went out! Farmers started thanking God for that rain.
I’m telling you right now, it always rains right before the harvest! It’s always a flood right before the harvest! Even the flood in North Carolina was a sign that God’s about to bring a harvest like we’ve never seen before. They started saying on the news, «Flash flood! Flash flood!» One of the news anchors said, «I know we’re nervous about the tornadoes and the floods, but this is an answer to a lot of people’s prayers, 'cause our state has needed rain!» We’ve been in drought; we’ve been in a dry season. Somebody say, «Get ready for rain!»
Here’s the interesting thing: after the rain, the trees looked greener; they started changing colors. The cold air came in, and grass that hadn’t been growing started sprouting up. Flowers started spreading! I was driving down the road, and I saw flowers I hadn’t seen in a while. I started thinking about how in the world stuff is growing in the fall like it normally grows in the spring. But when there’s a heavy rain like we saw the other day, sometimes there can be supernatural blooms that happen.
I looked up this word «super bloom.» This happens in deserts when deserts haven’t had rain in years—even decades—in areas where there’s been drought and dryness. When a heavy rain comes, they call it a super bloom! When the rain pours so hard that inches of rain can be poured out in 24 hours, all of a sudden a rare botanic phenomenon can sprout up where wildflowers and grass start growing, and soil germinates seeds faster than ever before. The phenomenon is connected to a wet season. God’s getting ready the nation for an increase of seeds that have been lying dormant in the ground for years and decades.
They say that seeds that people thought couldn’t sprout—old seeds—still sprout! Everybody say, «Old seeds still sprout!» Now here’s an interesting thing: they found seeds in the tombs of King Tut and Pharaoh’s tombs under the pyramids. They pulled these seeds out, and these seeds were 2,500 years old! They tried something out; they planted these seeds in wet soil, and the seeds sprouted!
Here’s what I know: prayers that have been prayed by your grandmother, who’s in heaven now, that weren’t sprouting in her generation are about to sprout in our generation! You’re sitting in a harvest that your dad, who’s in heaven, sowed seeds for 40 years ago. We’re about to step into harvest that we didn’t even sow toward! Even the prayers that Jesus prayed 2,000 years ago—those seeds still sprout!
If you’re taking notes today, notetakers are history-makers: old seeds still sprout! God uses prayers like seeds in the ground for future generations. Harvest will come even for your kids one day and your grandkids one day. Every miracle in the Bible starts off with a problem. Every harvest season starts off with a dry season. You can’t have a harvest season until you walk through a drought season. The drought then brings the rain, and the rain then brings the harvest. It’s a process. Everybody say, «Process.»
I think about the process of seed germination. I was sitting in a coffee shop the other day with one of our kids, and he wants to start drinking coffee. I’m like, «You are too young to drink coffee!» But not too long ago, we were in a coffee shop, and there was a picture of beans on the wall. He said, «What’s that?» I said, «That’s coffee.» He said, «That’s not coffee; your cup is coffee.» I said, «What’s that?» I said, «Well, that’s the beginning of coffee! It has to start in a small form before it turns into this.»
Everything goes through a process! Before you can have a harvest, you have to go through the process of planting a seed. Some of you right now are in the seed process, but I’m telling you: you ain’t seen nothing yet! Turn to the person next to you and say, «I’m in a process. You ain’t seen nothing yet!» You might be in seed form, but God says you’re about to produce a wheat field of harvest like never before! Some of you have dreams inside you, businesses inside you, books inside you, miracles inside you. You haven’t seen your greatest miracle yet!
The seeds that are inside you—but this is what Jesus said in Mark chapter 4. He said, «When the word is sown, like a farmer throwing seed out…» I like to throw seed out! The other day, I was throwing grass seed out on a patch of dirt where we hadn’t seen grass, and I was throwing seed by hand. I didn’t have one of those fancy machines that spreads it for you; I was doing it by hand. I was intentional about the place I was putting it! God is intentional about the seed He’s planting in Victory.
Jesus said there are four types of soil: there’s good soil, fertile soil—soil like Mary in the Bible, who as soon as God spoke a word to her, she said, «Be it unto me according to your word.» Her heart was fertile for a harvest! She was saying, «God, if you said it, I believe it! If it’s in Your word, I believe You can perform it! God, nothing is impossible for You!» We need to get our hopes up!
But then Jesus said there’s soil that’s thorny; it’s bitter, it’s jaded. It’s going, «I can’t trust this Bible preacher! I can’t trust these scriptures! I don’t know if I really buy it! I don’t know that good things are coming.» He said that thorny soil filled with bitter, cynical thoughts chokes out the word, and so the seed never sprouts. And then there’s shallow soil; shallow soil is, «I get excited, but I have no roots. I’m not really planted.»
By the way, there’s power in how you plant yourself! The Bible says those who are planted in the house of the Lord will flourish in the courts of their God. I was at a wrestling practice not too long ago with our kids, and we brought this new coach in. We’ve got good coaches here at Victory, but we brought a guy in who’s like a wrestling champion. He coaches at Broken Arrow, and he came over here to give our guys some wrestling lessons.
I need some help—Jason, where are you? Come up here! We’re going to wrestle each other for a second. You know I’m always in for a good illustration! I’m sitting in the wrestling practice, and my brother John is there with his boys. Me and my brother are 13 months apart; we used to wrestle each other growing up, and now our boys are wrestling each other!
So, my kids—we’ve got two kids that are in wrestling class, Benah and Mac—they’re wrestling against John’s sons, Monty and Jude. The coach is telling them, «It’s all about your planting. It’s all about getting your feet in the right plant, because if you’ve got your feet in the right plant, you can handle getting pushed around.» Everybody say, «Get a good plant!» He’s talking about his footing! It’s all about being lower to the ground.
See, when you’re standing tall, you’re an easy target. But when you’ve got a good plant…so my brother starts shouting, «Go low, Jude!» And I was like, «Go low, Benny!» And he was like, «You just repeated what I said!» I was like, «Well, it was a good word!» He heard it from the Broken Arrow guy, so he’s like, «Go for his feet!» I was like, «Go for his feet, Macky!»
One of the boys goes for the feet. Go for the feet, Jason! We don’t want to rip my pants! Okay, so my boy goes down to the ground, and then he gets back up. The Bible says, «Though a righteous man may fall seven times, he will get back up.» If you don’t quit, you win! If you don’t quit, you win! If you don’t quit, you win! If you don’t quit, you win! I said, «Come on, son! Get back up!» You know I’m a preacher, so I’m finding sermons in all the moments with my kids, and I’m thinking in my mind: you just got to get back up! Tell someone next to you, «You just got to get back up!»
You just got to get back up! So I’m like, «Go get your cousin!» You know, I’m competitive with my brother—we want our kids to win! So he goes after him! I said, «Go low! Go low!» He comes under, grabs him, flips him to the ground, pins him down. I was like, «Let’s go!» John’s in my face; we’re about to have fun. No, John and I are good. But I’m watching as our sons are wrestling, and I’m thinking about how so often the battle is won in the low place. You can’t have a harvest until you get low.
We walk into a harvest field, and we see the wheat up here. Yeah, give Jason a big hand; go to the Victory College booth in the lobby. We see the harvest of wheat up here, but we don’t understand that the farmer was with the seed down here! Before Joseph was promoted in Pharaoh’s house as number two in command of Egypt, he was like a seed planted in the dungeon, accused of crimes he didn’t commit. Sometimes you’ve got to go through adversity, like fertilizer, before you can grow into the harvest God’s calling you to grow into. Sometimes you’ve got to walk. Everybody say, «Get low!»
I was watching the news this last week, and one of the news anchors said something: he said, «Regardless of who you voted for, one thing is for sure, this election was won through a grassroots movement.» He said, «It doesn’t matter who you voted for; you just have to study the science of what just happened. This wasn’t won by a celebrity on a stage. This wasn’t won by a famous person up here. This was won through a grassroots community of people that were in the ground level, trenches, and ditches with the common folks.»
God’s about to bring a swell of a grassroots movement in His church, and it’s not going to be led just by a preacher on a stage, but it’s going to be believers in the marketplace, in the universities, in the campuses, in the middle schools, and high schools. It’s going to be children. There is no junior varsity Holy Spirit! He’s moving, and He’s moving through all the people. There’s about to be a swell in the nation!
I just felt it! Man, I was watching the news; I was like, «This is prophetic!» Because so often our eyes have been on a stage, and we’ve been listening to celebrities. There are no celebrities in the kingdom of God! The only celebrity is Jesus! You come to Victory—we’re here to worship Jesus. We’re here to focus on Jesus, and when the church rallies with the spirit of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit, I’m telling you, no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind could perceive the harvest that God has for the church in this hour!
You have a harvest on your life. God has a harvest for your future, and it’s good things! Every miracle, every harvest starts off with a need. Think about when Jesus was in the crowd of 5,000 men and not including all the women and children—probably 10,000 people—and the disciples came to him. They said, «People are hungry. They’ve been listening to you preach all day, and you need to send them home.»
Jesus says, «No, we’re going to feed them!» Everybody say, «Need!» That need represented a problem, and Jesus was looking at the church to meet the problem. You know what? I’m not looking at the White House to fix the problems in our nation. We’re going to be the house that fixes the problems in our nation! Instead of cursing the darkness and complaining about what’s wrong in the nation, what if we were on the front lines of saving babies, saving moms that are in dangerous situations, giving them rescue homes to help raise their kids, finding good families to adopt children, getting behind people that are walking through hard seasons and difficult things?
This is what Jesus was telling His disciples. He says, «You presented me with a need, and now you’re telling me I’ve got to send them home? Let’s give them something to eat!» The disciples said, «We’ve got nothing, except for we did find a boy who has five loaves and two fish.» Everybody say, «Answer!»
The disciples didn’t know that the answer was in their hands. They said, «What good is this for all these people?» Jesus said, «Bring it to me!» There’s something powerful when we bring our small, broken seeds to Jesus. You might think it’s not enough! «Paul, I got five bucks! All I am is a college student!» All I am is single; I don’t even have kids! I’m not married! What are you talking about? I can make a difference in my…I don’t have what you have!
I don’t know! No, no! God says, «You bring your broken small seeds and watch what I’ll do!» See, God has a harvest when we bring our seed to Him. How do we position ourselves for a harvest? Number one: surrender your seed to God. Surrender your seed to God! Watch what God will do when you bring your seed to Him. What am I talking about? I’m talking about the seed of your heart saying, «Lord, if You can use anyone, You can use me!»
God, you can use my broken pieces! Bring the seed of your testimony! God, I’ve been through a lot. I think about someone who was in the baptism tank today, walked through all kinds of terrible situations in their life, been shot at five times, should have died, worked jobs that, looking back, going, «Man, that wasn’t the right job to take. I shouldn’t have done that.» And yet today, God used that testimony to bring glory to God!
God’s going to use every kind of test. God’s about to use every kind of person in these last days! I’m telling you, we’ve got to break the religious box of Pharisees that have put up that God can only use these cookie-cutter perfect people! God’s about to use people with tattoos from the top of their head to the soles of their feet, earrings pierced everywhere, people who’ve walked through all kinds of transitions in their life, but they’re transitioning into the child of God that He’s called them to be, into a mighty man of God who God created her and him to be!
God’s about to use people that have a past that the church said you can’t talk about that kind of—God’s going to use testimonies that will bring glory to Him and will turn future generations to Jesus! It’s time to break the religiosity off of Tulsa, off of Oklahoma, off America, off the church! It’s time to get ready for Jesus, the fresh, raw, real Jesus! And a harvest is coming!
And so Jesus took the seed; He took the bread; He took the fish, and He blessed it, and it multiplied and fed everybody with baskets left over. I think about a story in 2 Kings 3:9 when there were people in need of a harvest. They had been waiting and praying for a breakthrough, and it says in verse 9 of 2 Kings 3, «So the king of Israel set out with the king of Judah and the king of Edom. After a roundabout march of seven days, the army had no more water for themselves or their animals with them.» They had been in a drought, a dry season, a need, a problem!
What exclaimed the king of Israel? Has the Lord brought us kings together just to deliver us into the hands of Moab? But Jehoshaphat asked—now Jehoshaphat was the only king that was fearing God. All the other kings had bowed to Baal; they had all left really the fear of the Lord, and they had stopped worshipping God. But Jehoshaphat still sought the Lord and he said, «Is there not a prophet of the Lord here through whom we may inquire of the Lord?» An officer of the king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, «Elisha, son of Shaphat, is here! He used to pour water on the hands of Elijah.»
So Jehoshaphat said, «We will go at once; for the Lord is with him.» The word of God is in him. So they went down to see Elisha—all these kings, their chariots and their horses, and they pull up to Elisha’s house. He comes out the driveway in front of his house, and he says, «Why do you want to involve me in your problem? Why do you want to involve me now that you have a need? You haven’t been seeking God!»
He says, «Go to the prophets of Baal—the prophets that you and your mom and your dad have been worshipping.» I love Elisha; he just calls it like it is. He says, «If it wasn’t for Jehoshaphat, I wouldn’t even listen to you! Yeah, God should deliver you into the hands of Moab! You should get what you’ve sown seed for! In other words, Elisha was saying, 'This is karma! This is the boomerang effect! You’ve been worshipping false gods; you should get what’s coming to you! '»
Now here’s the good news: all of us in this room have probably sown one bad seed or more in our lives with our words and our actions. But here’s the good news: just like Jehoshaphat stood with them, Jehoshaphat said to Elisha, «Elisha, they don’t realize all that they’ve done!» They don’t realize! All of us in America doesn’t realize how bad we’ve all missed it.
The Bible says, «We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.» But the Bible also says, «If we repent, He will forgive us of our sins and remember our sins no more! He’ll cast them as far as the east is from the west!» So the seeds we sow that we should have a bad harvest on, God says, «I can remove that bad harvest, and I can bring a good harvest!» If, from this day forward, we repent and we start sowing good seeds! Everybody say, «Start sowing good seeds!»
That’s my second point: How do we position ourselves for the harvest? Start sowing seeds in God’s soil! Start sowing seeds! Plant your seed in His soil! In other words, get your life in connection to God’s word! Start sowing the good seed that God’s called you to sow!
And so Elisha looks at them, and he says, «As surely as the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, if I didn’t have respect for Jehoshaphat, I wouldn’t pay any attention to you! But, nevertheless, ” in verse 15, he says, „Bring me a harpist!“
Now this is kind of funny. He’s like, „I’m not preaching till I have music behind me.“ So I need some piano! We don’t have a harpist, so bring the keyboardist! Israel, that’s our guy back there. Isn’t it cool that our guy is Israel, who plays the keys? Y’all like, „Who’s Israel?“ Israel is one of our worship leaders—mighty man of God! Israel, give us some good music!
So Elisha says, „Bring me the harpist! Bring me the music!“ Yeah! Give me something in a minor chord for a second! Yeah! So Elisha started to feel the music. You know the presence of God can flow with music! God inhabits the praises of His people! There’s something about music that can change the atmosphere; it can shift the atmosphere.
And so Elisha starts praying on it. Now switch to a major chord; go to something that’s more hopeful. Give me some hope, like a one, two, three, four—just build with me and go high on the keys! Yeah! Elisha started feeling God—saying, „There’s hope; hope is coming! You’ve been in a dry season; you’ve been in a dark season, but hope is on the way! Your best days are right in front of you! God’s not finished with your story yet! God’s not done with your story yet!“
Galatians 6:9 says, „Don’t grow weary while you’ve been planting seed, for at the proper time you will reap a harvest if you don’t give up!“ In other words, a delay does not mean a denial! Just because the harvest isn’t here yet doesn’t mean that God won’t bring a harvest! Just because you’ve been in a dry spell, a weary season, a difficult season, you’ve got a due season coming up! You’ve got a proper time harvest that’s on the way! A delay does not mean a denial!
So Elisha starts feeling, and he says, „Listen, I know you’ve been wandering around; you’ve been in a dry season, but harvest is coming!“ Somebody say, „Harvest is coming!“ Harvest is coming! There’s a process, right? The seed’s been in the ground; it’s about to sprout! The due time harvest! Sometimes we want to harvest too soon.
I heard someone say this last week: „Had this person gotten the victory sooner, they would have faced a lot more hardships and difficulties!“ It’s almost like someone above them was writing a script. Because sometimes we want something sooner than we should, and when we get it, it’s not what we want; it’s actually not what we need.
Everybody say, „The right timing!“ I think God’s writing the script for some of you in this room. It’s like you’ve been through delay after delay after delay, and closed door after closed door, and you’ve wondered: „Why didn’t we get married? Why didn’t this happen? Why haven’t I had kids? Why haven’t I gotten the promotion?“ God says, „This is about to be a script like you could never— not even Hollywood could write this script! They’d corrupt it! They’d mess it up! But God says, 'I’m about to write a testimony that the world will know it had to be God! It had to be God! It had to be God! There must have been some supernatural power! There’s no way you could have gotten through that; there’s no way that could have happened! '“
God’s about to show His glory in some people’s lives today who are willing to believe that He’s able! And so Elisha looks at the kings, and he says this in verse 16. He says, „God’s word says dig ditches!“ Dig ditches! Daniel, will you hand me that shovel? Everybody say, „Dig ditches!“
What was Elisha saying? He was saying, „I want the band to come out! We’re about to worship!“ He was saying, „It’s time to start digging ditches!“ And they’re looking at him like, „We’re tired! We’re weary! We’ve been waiting in a drought! We’ve been waiting through a hard season! It’s hot out here; we haven’t seen water!“ And you’re telling us to dig ditches? Elisha says, „Dig ditches across this valley! Here’s what’s about to happen: you won’t hear the wind; you won’t see the rain, but this valley is about to fill up with water! And every ditch you dig is about to be filled with water! Every seed you sow, God’s about to bring a harvest!“
There’s about to be a super bloom on the harvest! You see, here’s what I want us to do right now before we close out. I want to give you a chance to partner with God. Every time God does a miracle, He invites people to partner with Him. So we’re going to give to God today! If this is your church, I encourage you to consider giving today—maybe a tithe, maybe an offering! Maybe you’re here today and you go, „I don’t want to give.“ Okay, you don’t have to! God does not want anyone to give out of a place of anger or bitterness or compulsion, but if you’re here today and you go, „I want to trust God in this! I believe there’s a harvest coming financially like never before in believers who are willing and ready to partner with God!“
God gave me this message a week ago; I didn’t have this message as a result of this or that. I just felt in my spirit, seven days ago, when I started seeing the rain pour out after Halloween, I started going, „God is getting His nation, His church, His Israel—God’s getting the whole world ready for a harvest!“ I believe that harvest is souls coming into the kingdom of God, but I also believe it’s a harvest on seeds and people’s businesses, their finances!
What is a tithe? It’s 10%! Malachi said, „Bring the tithe into the storehouse!“ In other words, dig the ditches, and God will pour the rain! It’s not my job to bring the rain; it’s my job to dig the ditches! If I dig the ditches, God says He’ll pour out the rain! If I’ll plant the seed, God says He’ll bring the harvest! If I’ll pray the prayers, God says He’ll be Jehovah Jireh; He’ll be Jehovah Nissi! It’s not my job to be God; it’s my job to be me! It’s my job to do what God’s called me to do!
Everybody say, „Dig ditches!“ We can’t control the clouds; we can’t control the rain, but we can control what we do with our shovels! Some of us have done this, and we’ve just said, „It’s not working, Paul! I tried this! I dug ditches ten years ago!“
Old seeds still sprout! Paul, my grandma dug ditches eighty years ago, and she’s in heaven! What happened with those seeds? Old seeds still sprout! Don’t give up on the harvest! Habakkuk says, „Though it tarries, wait for it!“ Though it seems long and slow—nothing in the Bible is microwave; nothing is fast! We’re an Instagram generation serving a Crockpot God—serving a God who lets it simmer and lets it slow cook, and it’s a slow burn. And after a while, all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit was poured out in Acts chapter 2! Everybody say „suddenly!“
What happened? Suddenly took thousands of years of waiting and praying and believing! But when this suddenly came, everyone who had been sowing seed knew this was an answer to prayers! I believe there’s about to be some suddenlies in your life in this next week! I think in the next 30 days, God’s about to pour out rain like never before! I believe there’s going to be an increase!
Elisha said, „Dig ditches and get ready!“ Because you won’t see the wind; you won’t even see the rain, but these ditches are going to be filled with water. And he says, „By the way, this is an easy thing for God to do!“ What Jesus did that day with the five loaves and the two fish—it’s an easy thing! What God wants to do in your life—it’s not difficult! God can do it! But the question is, will you partner with Him?
In verse 20, it says, „The next morning—watch this, the next morning! About the time for the offering—“ We’re about to do offering right now! Normally, we would do it early in the service, but I felt in my heart this message goes right into an opportunity to partner with God.
So if you’ve got your seed ready, there are three ways you can give: you can text to give, you can put it on the envelope, you can do it online at victory.com. I don’t want anybody to give that doesn’t want to give! If you’re like, „No, I’m not giving nothing. I don’t want to do nothing!“ If you’re here today, and you go, „I want to partner with God! I want to help reach people! I want to minister! I want to sow into His soil! I want to trust Him with His word! I want to not just sing a good worship song; I want to live a good worship song!“
I want to partner with God! I only do it if you believe that God’s your God, and if you’re ready to do that. How many of y’all got your seed ready? Okay, we’re going to give to the Lord, and we’re going to worship, and we’re going to have an altar call. If you’re here today and you just say, „Man, I just need to repent, get right with God, ” or maybe you’re here today and you go, „I need a harvest! I need a harvest in my life! I’ve been sowing seeds; I’m believing for a harvest of joy! I’m believing for a harvest of financial prosperity to be a greater blessing to my community.“
By the way, someone said, „I don’t think God wants to bless the church. I think God wants to keep us in poverty.“ I said, „How would the church build hospitals, orphanages, rescue homes, be able to adopt children, raise children, be able to partner with moms that are thinking about abortion and help minister to them and have the money to stop the abortion and help them raise their—how could the church be a blessing to the world if we have nothing?“
God wants to bless His church to be a blessing to the nations of the earth! The same blessing that was on Abraham is on the church of Victory in Tulsa, Oklahoma! We are heirs of the same promise—the same covenant that God made that was pre-Moses, that was pre-law! Some people say, „Well, that’s the law!“ No, no, no! That was before the law! That was with Abraham in the book of Genesis!
So, Lord, I thank You! I’m going to believe it right now! I thank You for a blessing in this house! I thank You that You’re raising up multi-millionaires in this house, God—people that will go on to start businesses and companies that employ people—that the homeless rate is going to completely go to zero in our city, that poverty is going to be eradicated in our city, that people who don’t have a home are going to have a home, that people who don’t have cars are going to have a car!
I believe You’re going to use the church, God, to bring healing and hope to the nations, to bring justice and righteousness and peace and freedom! And God, I thank You, Lord, that You would prosper us to be a blessing to the nations of the earth! That we would help not just people in our city and our state, but people that are in the hard seasons, God, all around the world—people that are walking through famine and drought, people who’ve lost everything! God, that You would use Your church to show up and be Your hands and Your feet, not just to say, „God bless you!“ but to show, „God bless you!“
Lord, with our generosity, with our compassion, with our prosperity, that we can help other people prosper! In Jesus' mighty name! So, it said, „About the next morning at about offering time, sacrifice; there it was!“ Everybody say, „There it was!“
Water flowing from the direction of Edom, and the land was filled with water! It’s harvest time, church! It’s harvest time! How many of y’all need a harvest of mercy in your life? Ten of you? The rest of y’all are perfect in all your ways! Anyone need mercy in your life?
Hey, you can’t receive a harvest of mercy if you don’t sow seeds of mercy towards people that have hurt you! If you’re offended at anybody in this room or anybody outside this room, I dare you today to sow a seed of mercy—to say, „God, they didn’t ask for my forgiveness, but I choose to forgive them!“ Because Lord knows, I need a harvest of mercy in my future!
I think some of us are to experience an abundance overflow because the vessel’s been clogged with bitterness and hurt and offense. God says, „If you’ll get that offense out, if you’ll start forgiving people even if they haven’t apologized, God says, 'I’m about to start pouring out a blessing where there’s been a clog-up! '“
That the enemy came in, and he planted the bitterness and the thorns and the weeds, but God says, „I’m going to let it both grow, and when you’re ready, I’m going to start pulling out the weeds of offense and bitterness, and I’m going to bring in a harvest of joy and peace and mercy and grace!“
Real quickly, four things. Four things: Number one: surrender your seed to God. Number two: plant your seed in His soil. Number three: get rooted in His word over your life! God says you are a champion. You’re a mighty man of God, mighty woman of God! You are made in His image—wonderfully and fearfully made! You are no longer a slave to fear! Let the redeemed of the Lord say, „You’ve been redeemed! You’re forgiven!“
Number four: turn your adversity into fertilizer! Some of the best harvests come when you’ve walked through some of the worst stuff. If you’ve walked through pain, criticism, if you’ve been treated wrong, if you’ve walked through some difficult situations and you’ve just been through some stuff, God says, „Turn it into fertilizer! Turn it into praise!“
What the enemy meant for evil, Joseph said, „God used it for good!“ Just stand on your feet all over this place! Ushers, go ahead and pass the buckets! We’re going to put our offering in! As soon as that offering bucket passes, if you are here today and you want to get down to this altar to surrender to God, to believe for a harvest in your life, to stand down here at this altar for prayer, to believe God has a miracle for you… If you’re here today and you just say, „Paul, I’m not right with God; I need to get right with God; I need to repent of my sin and receive His forgiveness!“
Today is the day of salvation! Today is the day of healing and redemption! So I’m not going to ask you to bow your heads, close your eyes, and raise your hand. I’m just going to say, „Leave your seat and come find a spot at this altar!“ Leave where you’re standing and come down to the altar!
If you’re here today and you say, „I just need to get my hope back in the Lord! I need to get my faith back in the—I need to start digging ditches again! I need to start preparing for the harvest that God wants to bring!“ Come down to the altar, and we’re going to worship God. Go ahead, Lamar! Let’s start singing to the Lord!
Let’s get our worship out in front of us. Get ready for your harvest! In Jesus' name! Get ready for your harvest! In Jesus' name! And I’m going to see a victory! I’m going to see a victory! For the battle belongs to You, Lord! The battle belongs to the Lord!
I’m going to see a victory! I’m going to see a victory! For the battle belongs to You, Lord!
I thank You, God, for faith! In Jesus' name! Lord, I thank You, God, for grace! In Jesus' name! Mercy! In Jesus' name! Healing! In Jesus' name! Let the weak say, „I am strong!“ Let the poor say, „I am rich!“ Let the blind say, „I can see!“ He’s turning it for good! He’s turning it for good!
Lord, I thank You for a breakthrough! Let the river flow! Let the river flow! Those who sow in tears will reap a harvest of joy, in Jesus' name! God says, „I see every tear you’ve cried! I’ve watched every bad thing that’s happened to you!“ And God says, „I’m about to turn things around! God says I’m about to bring you into your harvest season!“
It’s a harvest season!
It’s proper time for a harvest in Jesus' name! Mercy! In Jesus' name! You’re going to see a victory! I’m going to see a victory! For the battle belongs to the Lord!
It’s a new day! It’s a new season! You take what the enemy meant for evil, Lord! You take what the enemy meant for evil, and You turn it for good! You take! You take what the enemy meant for evil, and You turn it for good!
Harvest season! You turn it for good! Harvest season! Take the enemy! You turn it for good!
I hear God saying, „Believe for greater things in your life! Believe for greater things!“ God is pleased with audacious faith! God is not mad when we dream big dreams with Him! You know Joshua prayed for the sun to stand still, and it did! That’s a crazy prayer to pray! That’s audacious! It’s bold!
Elisha prayed for double the miracles than his predecessor! He said, „I want double the anointing! Double the impact! Double the miracles!“ That’s audacious! That’s bold!
Moses prayed for a Red Sea to part. Joshua prayed for walls—60 walls in Jericho that were 15 ft wide; two chariots could drive on the top of the walls together! That’s how wide those walls were; that’s how thick they were! Joshua said, „Lord, I’m praying You bring the walls down!“
I hear God saying, „It’s time to believe for greater things!“ There was a king 30 years ago—the king of Saudi Arabia—he invited Phil Mickelson, a famous golfer, to come and golf and teach him a golf lesson in Saudi Arabia. He came, and the king said this: „I want to do something for you!“
He said, „You flew me here on your private jet! You already took care of me! I ate the greatest meals in the palace!“ He said, „No! I want to do something for you! What do you want?“ He said, „I don’t want anything! I’m good! I’ve got what I need! I live in a good house! I’m fine!“ He said, „What do you want?“
He said, „Do you collect anything?“ The golfer said, „I collect golf clubs. I got golf clubs! I’ve been collecting for a long time since I was a kid!“ He said, „Okay! You can give me a golf club!“
Months went by, and nothing came in. That’s how sometimes it feels. Months go by; years go by, and there’s no harvest on what you asked for, what you prayed for, what you told God you needed. And then he received something in the mail! It said, „From Saudi Arabia.“
He thought, „This is interesting!“ So he was opening it! He was thinking maybe it’s going to tell me to go to a certain place to pick up a club that the king sent me. It’s going to be gold with diamond studs on it! I don’t know. But when he opened it up, it was a 500-acre deed to a golf club that the king gave to him!
'Cause the king was thinking on a higher level than the golfer! The golfer was thinking of a small club, but the king was thinking he met an entire golf course! An entire club! Multi-million dollar! The golfer laughed! He was like, „I wasn’t even thinking on this level!“
I hear the Lord saying, „I’m thinking on a higher level than you’re thinking, Paul! You’re asking me for 10,000 prayer warriors in your church! God says, 'I’m about to bring 100,000 people to Tulsa, Oklahoma to rally for revival like ever before! '“
I feel like there’s a surge growing, and sometimes I risk preaching things that I know someone might get offended or misunderstand me, but I just feel the Holy Spirit saying, „It’s time to stop apologizing for who God has called you to be! It’s time to rise up in boldness and declare the word of God! It’s time to call people to a place of contending for revival!“
The one thing that brings us all together in this church is that I pray that this brings us together—that we believe Jesus is king, that because He’s king and because He is greater than anything that’s in this world and because He wants to partner with us, that nothing is impossible! No dream, no prayer is too big for God’s outstretched arm of compassion and mercy!
God said, „Did I not part the Red Seas? Did I not drown the Egyptians in the water when Moses looked back and saw them coming for him? Did I not bring the walls of Jericho down? Did I not make the sun stand still? Did I not raise my son from the dead on the third day? Did I not—“
I hear God saying, „If you saw me do what I did in the word, don’t doubt what I can do in your world right now in 2024!“
So, Lord, I pray for every seed represented at this altar—seeds of tears asking for freedom, asking for victory, asking for a miracle, believing for a breakthrough! I pray for the man in the room that’s battling cancer! I pray in Jesus’ name that that cancer has to go! By His stripes, you are healed!
I pray for the young woman in the room that’s been told by doctors she’s barren, and she’ll never conceive a child! She’s been weeping like Hannah in the Bible, like Sarah in the Bible, like Elizabeth in the Bible! The same God that opened the barren womb in the Bible can open her womb today!
So, Lord, I pray for fertility in Jesus’ name—that those who’ve been told they could never have kids will have children in Jesus’ name! I pray, God, for the young college student that’s looking at all the college bills and the debt! God, I pray in Jesus’ name for miracle supernatural provision!
God, I pray, Lord, for those that have been praying to get married—that You bring in the right person on their path! I pray for those that have been standing for reconciliation in their family, restoration in relationships! God, that nothing is too difficult, nothing is impossible!
Lord, we are getting ready for harvest in Tulsa, Oklahoma! We are getting ready for harvest at Victory Church! We’re believing for a harvest on seeds that we have sown and seeds that were sown before we were even born!
Lord, I just thank You! In Jesus’ name, God, we’re expecting a miracle! I pray for every person in this room and those watching online, still with us right now! God, I thank You, Lord—they’re going to see Your goodness in their lifetime! They’re going to see Your favor!
Just say this with me: „Jesus, I surrender to You! I believe You died on the cross! You rose from the grave! You are my Lord and Savior! I repent of my sin! I receive Your forgiveness! Thank You, Jesus!“ Jesus, that harvest is coming! A good harvest is in my future! My best days are truly in front of me, and I have victory in my life because You live in me! In Jesus' name, amen and amen!