Paul Daugherty - Believing the Promises of God Over Your Life
Summary
This sermon, titled «Good Things Are Coming Your Way» and based on Luke 1, focuses on the angel’s announcement to Zechariah that his long-abandoned prayer for a child would be answered, bringing joy and gladness despite their old age. The preacher emphasizes that God is relighting the flickering candle of hope in dark seasons, reminding us not to fear or speak unbelief but to hold onto the promise that good things—rooted in God’s faithful character—are coming. Ultimately, if it’s not good yet, God isn’t finished, and we can trust Him to bring a harvest of joy, breakthrough, and fulfilled promises.
Seed Time and Harvest
We’ve been talking about the harvest that God has for us. All throughout Scripture, God speaks about seed time and harvest—that everything we do is either a seed or a harvest from a seed. Everything in life, you coming to church is a seed, but you sitting in this building is the harvest of someone else’s seed. You’re sitting in the harvest of people who seeded sacrificially for the chair you’re sitting in, the lights you see, the stage—everything in life is either the harvest.
How many of y’all enjoyed a good Thanksgiving meal? That harvest, that Thanksgiving meal was the harvest of someone’s hard work cooking in the kitchen. We enjoyed a great meal at my mom’s house this past week; she cooked a great Thanksgiving meal. Then we went over to my father-in-law’s house, and he cooked a great Thanksgiving meal. But everything in life is either the harvest of someone else’s seeds, or it’s your seeds towards a future harvest.
Now, this goes both good and bad. Someone is sitting in prison right now because of either the harvest of their own bad choices or, unfairly, the decisions of a judge and a court in a system that maybe put them there, and it wasn’t right. But here’s the point: everything in life is either the harvest of the seeds we’ve sown towards, or the harvest of someone else’s seeds, or everything in life is the seed towards a future harvest.
So if you don’t like your current harvest, change your seed. If you’re frustrated with the current results in your life, you have to ask yourself, «What seeds did I sow to get where I am today, and what seeds am I sowing now to get me where I want to go tomorrow?» What seeds am I sowing? So we’ve been talking about harvest, and today I want to title this message «Good Things Are Coming Your Way.» Good things! I believe God’s got a good harvest that’s headed your way.
Expecting Good Things
How many of y’all believe it? That’s good! You’re like, «That’s my message right there.» Good things! Somebody say, «Good things are coming my way!» If you’ve got a Bible, go to Luke chapter 1. Woo! It’s December 1st—25 days till Christmas! How many of y’all started decorating three months ago? You started decorating in the summertime. You’ve been ready for this; you’ve been counting down.
December is a great month; it’s a month of honestly just all of the good things that I look forward to at Christmas time. For some people, maybe it’s a tough month; maybe it’s a month that brings back bad memories or difficult things you’ve walked through in your life. But December in the Bible, this time of year, this winter season, was the time when God delivered on promises that had been given for hundreds, if not thousands, of years leading up to this moment.
This would be a season where people were returning to their hometown, and there was all kinds of busyness going on. There was chaos going on; the Roman Empire was oppressing the Israelites. They felt so many unfair things had happened to them, and they were holding on to hope. Many of the Israelites would light a candle as a sign of hope in their house for a Messiah.
They had been told by Isaiah the prophet that a Messiah was coming: Micah, the prophet Nahum, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, Daniel, Ezekiel—even dating back to Genesis—there had been prophetic words spoken that a deliverer was coming, a Messiah, someone who would save people from their sins. The Israelites had prepared for this. What we call in the church calendar Advent was a time of leading up to the first coming of Christ.
Now we live on the other side of His first coming, which means that we celebrate that He fulfilled the promise that their hope and expectation were met. Advent, four weeks leading up to Christmas, is a time to reflect on the fact that He came, but also that He’s coming back again. So we live with hope fulfilled but also hopeful waiting that He will fulfill again, and His second return will be even greater than His first coming.
Come on, how many of y’all are expecting Jesus to come back, and it’s going to be better than ever? One day, we’ll be in heaven where there will be no more sickness, no more cancer, no more dementia, no more abuse, no more divorce, no more disease, no more addictions, no more darkness, no more sin, no more tears. How many are looking forward to the day that He returns and we all stand together with the saints of old? It’s going to be amazing!
But until then, we wait, we wait with hope. Everybody say, «Wait with hope.» Hope. And so this candle represents the hope. It was the flickering hope that the Israelites had that God would fulfill His promise.
Zechariah and Elizabeth’s Story
In Luke chapter 1, the story of Christmas begins with this interruption of darkness and it’s a declaration of good tidings. Good things. Verse 5: «There was in the days of Herod the King of Judea a certain priest named Zacharias.» Zacharias was an older man. He and his wife, at one time, used to dream and hope and believe that they would have children, but that dream had long passed the window of opportunity.
They had kind of given up on that dream and forgotten about it, but he still enjoyed worshiping the Lord and praising God, and thanking God for His goodness. Sometimes you get comfortable in life with prayers you prayed that never got answered, and you kind of stop praying those prayers. Maybe you change your mind and pray different prayers.
And so this is where Zacharias was at. At one time in his life, he had hoped to have children. He had prayed to have children, but his wife was barren and they weren’t able to conceive, so he kind of stopped hoping for that. He was worshiping the Lord, praising the Lord. It says in verse 6 that they were good people; they were righteous people.
Zacharias and Elizabeth had lived right with God. They tithed, they trusted in God, they worshiped God, they walked in integrity, they forgave people that hurt their feelings, they were nice to people that weren’t nice to them. They did good things for others. They lived with a light inside them.
In verse 7, it says, however, they had no children. Everybody has a «but» in this room in more ways than one. You have a «but»; you have the «but» that you came in here with, but you also have a hidden «but.» You have an invisible «but.» And this is what it was for them: their «but» was that they couldn’t have children.
Just flow with me for a second, alright? We might edit this out of YouTube later, but here’s the point: you never know what’s going to happen in the 11:00 a.m. service. Their «but» was that they couldn’t have kids. All of us in this room have something that we wish was different. Something we wish was different.
And it’s not that you’re discontent; it’s not that you’re mad at God or shaking your fist at God or unhappy or ungrateful. You are grateful, but you go, «I just wish they were still with us. I wish that person wouldn’t have passed. I wish we could have had kids. I’m good, I’m grateful; I just wish we would have been able to have a son. I’m good, I’m thankful; I just wish that relationship would have turned out better. I wish we wouldn’t have burned that bridge. I wish things could be better.»
There, all of us have something we wish was different, something we wish was better.
The Angel’s Announcement
Verse 8: «So it was, while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, according to the customs, it was his time to go into the temple to offer a sacrifice.» Next week, we’re going to bring our miracle offering down to the altar. It’s going to be a powerful time; don’t miss it.
And David, in the Bible, said, «I do not want to bring an offering that doesn’t cost me something.» In the Bible, these sacrifices were something that had to cost them something. And so Zacharias was going to make a sacrifice; he was going to bring an offering to the Lord. He was also going to worship God.
He was praying for people’s forgiveness for their sins, and all the people were gathered outside because this was still kind of the Old Testament, shifting into the New Testament. They didn’t have the opportunity for just anyone to go in there and talk to God like we do now. They had to go through a priest.
Aren’t you thankful that you get to talk to God by yourself? You don’t have to go through me to talk to God. You don’t have to go through a priest or a father in the Catholic Church. You get to go straight to God yourself. That’s what Jesus did for us.
But back then, the people couldn’t do it, so they were waiting for Zacharias to go for them on their behalf. While he was praying inside the temple, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. When Zacharias saw him, he was troubled. Fear fell upon Zacharias.
And the Lord said something to me this last week: that fear has fallen on a lot of people lately. There have been a lot of worries, a lot of anxieties, a lot of concerns about things in their life. And I feel like what the angel is about to say to Zacharias is what He wants to say to you today.
The angel says to Zacharias, «Do not be afraid.» «Do not be afraid.» That four-word sentence right there is spoken 365 times in Scripture. «Do not be afraid.» «Do not be afraid, ” Mary. „Do not be afraid, ” Gideon. „Do not be afraid, ” Joshua. „Do not be afraid, ” Abraham. „Do not be afraid, ” Isaac. „Do not be afraid, ” Jacob.
That’s 365; „Do not be afraid.“ It’s for every day of the year to just, every day of the year, wake up and go, „I’m not going to be afraid today. I’m not going to worry today. I’m not going to let fear blow out my hope. I’m not going to let worry blow out my faith.“
Hebrews 11:1 says, „Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen.“ Here’s what fear does: Fear comes in, it starts blowing the wind and the waves and the fears of tomorrow and the fears of your past and the shame of yesterday. The anger and the hurt, and the merciless world we live in can stir up a whole lot of anxiety.
But the angel says, „Do not be afraid.“ What was the angel doing? The angel was coming in, and he was relighting the candle. He was saying, „Zacharias, you have a burning altar on the outside, but on the inside, you’ve lost your hope. You’ve lost your flame, and I’ve come today to relight the fire of hope.“
And here’s what I’m relighting: he says this, „Your prayer has been heard.“ Now, Zacharias had been praying for years, decades. This wasn’t like a one-year prayer that was all of a sudden answered. This was like 40 years of praying. He goes, „Hey, by the way, your prayer has now been heard.“
And he’s like, „It took a little while!“ He’s like, „I’m old now; I’m like 80. I was praying that prayer 60 years ago when I was 21! What are you talking about?“ He says, „Your wife Elizabeth is about to have a child.“ And Zacharias, listening to this, is trying to hold on to hope, trying to keep the flame alive, but in his mind, he’s starting to reason.
He’s like, „What?“ The angel says, „Listen, your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will call his name John, and you will have joy and gladness.“ Everybody say, „Good things are coming my way!“ Joy and gladness come with new birth, new life.
Joy and Gladness Returning
Ashle and I have seen this now with five kids. We’ve got five kids! If I haven’t told you lately, we’ve got five kids! And I love them; they’re amazing. They’re watching right now, I think. But with each kid, more joy has come into our house.
I remember when we found out we were pregnant with Gian; that’s our fifth baby. We call her Giana Grace. We had to put Grace in the middle just to remind ourselves that grace is coming for the pace that we have. He’s given me grace, but she has brought so much grace and joy.
Doctors say that babies laugh up to 200 times a day in the prime of their babiness. But as we get older, humans, as we get older, we laugh less than 20 times a day. This is why I try to make you laugh at church on Sunday, because I want to help you remind yourself you still got some youthfulness inside you.
But this is the point: the angel is saying, „Zacharias, you’ve lost not just the flame inside you; you’ve lost the laughter in your house.“ And you’re a good, righteous man. You can be righteous but not be laughing. You could be living holy but still lose your laughter.
He says, „Joy is coming back to your house!“ Like you’ve been a good man; you’ve been religious; you’ve been going to church; you’ve been doing all the right things, but you’ve become a little stale, and you’ve got to get your joy back. So I’m going to give you a baby to break off the staleness of your grumpy old man attitude.
How many of y’all know some grumpy old attitudes? Don’t look at them right now; don’t look at them! But what he was saying was, „You need to get that innocence back. You need to get the baby in your house back. You need to get the gladness of a little child that just makes you want to change their diapers and all the stuff that comes with it.“
He says, „There’s going to be joy, not just in your house.“ But many people will have joy because of John, for he will be great in the sight of God. He won’t drink wine or strong drink; he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even in his mother’s womb. He’s going to be carrying something while you’re carrying him.
He’s carrying something for the future generation. There’s something inside you that the world hasn’t even seen yet. God has put something inside you that…what’s inside you? I came today to activate something that’s already inside you!
What the angel was saying is, „It’s in her, and what’s in her is only going to develop even greater into something more powerful and impactful for this generation.“ And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will go before Him in the spirit and the power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just and to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
In other words, good things are coming your way! Just speak that over your soul today: good things are coming my way!
Good News Declaration
Now, you might be here going, „Paul, I don’t believe it.“ That’s heretical; that’s not biblical. No, it’s all throughout scripture, from Genesis to Revelation. It is a declaration of good news. It is not a declaration of doomsday. It is not a declaration of depression. It is not a declaration of negativity and skepticism and cynicism and religiosity.
It is a declaration of glad tidings and great joy for all people. Good things are coming your way! If you got Jesus, you got something good in your future. You got something good over your past. You got something good in the present. Jesus said, „I’ve come to give you life, and life more abundantly.“ Jesus said, „I am the Good Shepherd.“
Jesus oftentimes referred to Himself as the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd…why? Because He wanted people to know, „You can trust me with your future. I’ve got good things prepared for you.“
Now watch this! After Zacharias listens to this announcement in verse 18, he says, „How in the world am I supposed to know that good things are in my future? I’m an old man, and my wife is well advanced in her years.“ In other words, this can’t happen!
And you’ve got to be careful because your words can curse your future. I remember driving up to our church during a season right after my dad passed, and it just felt like a dark season in my life. I was feeling overwhelmed and discouraged. I was supposed to preach that night, Saturday night service, and there were maybe five cars in the parking lot and I was like, „Ah, nobody wants to hear me preach!“
I was like, „God, you don’t even want to hear me preach! I don’t want to hear me preach!“ And I was cursing my future and I said this as I was in the parking lot on that Saturday in 2010, „I said, 'Man, our best days are behind us.'“ And I heard the Lord say, „Change your confession; change the narrative that’s going on on the inside.“
This is why I wrote the book „Mind Games, ” because everything out here starts in here. If you’re going to win out here, you’ve got to win between the ears. Oftentimes, what’s going on between the ears, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. So the mouth and the mind are tied together, and the Lord said, „You need to change what you’ve been meditating on, and you need to change what you’ve been speaking.“
And that’s when I wrote on the napkin, „I’m here on purpose because I have a purpose. My heart is open; my mind is ready to receive because God is not finished with me yet. My best days are right in front.“ What was I doing? I was relighting the candle.
Some of you need to relight the candle today; you’ve blown it out. You’ve blown it out with your words. This is what Zacharias was doing. And by the way, when you blow it out for you, you blow it out for somebody else. Men in the room, we have a responsibility; our words carry weight in our house.
When I curse my future, I’m cursing my wife’s future. I’m cursing my kids' future, my future kids' future. And maybe you’re single right now; you might think, „I’m not married, so my words don’t matter.“ Oh, they do matter! They matter over your future; they matter over somebody else’s future.
Zacharias was cursing it, and the angel catches him in the curse, catches him in the middle of his confession. Verse 19: „The angel said, 'Stop! I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and bring you glad tidings.'“
Just circle that if you’re taking notes—note-takers are history makers, world changers, culture shapers. He was saying, „Stop it! I was sent to you to actually announce that good things are coming your way.“ You know the word „glad tidings, ” good news? It’s just saying something good is coming to you today.
God’s hand is on your life. God’s not finished with your story. He who began this good work in you will be faithful to continue the good work in you. I can argue all day theologically how this declaration is absolutely true.
When Paul said in Philippians 1:6, „I am confident that he who started this good work…“ Why did Paul say it was a good work? Because anything God’s doing in your life is good. Every good and perfect gift comes from above.
So if God’s working good things, why would He change it, and go, „Now He’s going to do some bad work in your life“? No! I’m confident that the good work He started is the good work He continues, for the good work that He’s going to finish, and He’ll bring you to a good, flourishing finish before He’s done.
Come on! If it’s not good, He’s not done! If it’s not good, He’s not done with it yet! Galatians 6:9 says, „Don’t grow weary in well-doing. Don’t grow weary while you’re waiting for something to get good.“
So the angel says to Zacharias, „Behold, you will be mute.“ Sometimes, I wish I could do that to my kids for a second when they’re screaming in the car. „Behold, you will be mute for the next 30 minutes!“ I just want to pull out the mute button.
No, I love them; they’re great, just a lot of screaming going on. But he says, „I’m going to mute you because I don’t want you to curse you or your wife’s future. If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all.“
We’re living in a time where people want to say whatever they want to say. And we argue freedom of speech? Yes, and also freedom of consequences for your speech. You will be held accountable for every idle word you speak.
You go, „By who? The policeman?“ No, by God in heaven. So, I’m all for freedom of speech, but when it comes to cursing my life, that’s when I need to stop myself and go, „Hold on! This is not a freedom; this is a curse. This is not a blessing to speak these terrible things over my nation, over my children, over somebody else.“
Be careful what you say; you might be blowing out the candle in someone else’s life. Tell that person next to you, „Don’t blow it!“ Some of you are tempted to right now—keep the fire lit.
Waiting in Hope
Hebrews 11:1 says, „Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen.“ So sometimes, we have to wait in hope. Zacharias had been waiting and hoping for a while. Galatians 6:9 says, „Don’t grow weary; for at a due time, ” everybody say, „a due time!“
That means there’s an appointed time on the fulfillment of prophecies. Did you know when Christmas showed up, when Jesus showed up, when He was born in Bethlehem, it was the fulfillment of prophecies that had been prophesied for hundreds of years? And the people, the children of God, had been living in darkness for 400 years.
Bring the lights down a little bit—400 years it had been dark in the land. The other day, I was at one of my kids’ wrestling matches and right in the middle of the wrestling match, all the lights went out. And I was like, „Is this normal?“ The lights just went out in the entire gym.
I mean, wrestling matches are just chaotic; there’s just so much going on. Anyone ever been there before? It’s just wild! So the lights go out and I’m like, „What’s going on?“ And I hear someone yelling, „Keep on wrestling! Keep on wrestling! Don’t stop wrestling! You know, don’t stop! Keep driving! Keep driving!“
And the lights came on about 15 seconds later, and somebody won the match because they didn’t stop. Some of us stop when the lights go out. I hear the Lord say, „Don’t stop even when it’s dark! Keep the light on inside you!“
What is the light? It’s the hope that we have in Jesus Christ! In our house, we light these candles and our kids, we come around it and we’ll eat a meal together and we’ll say, „Christ is light. Christ is light.“ But Christ also is the light in you.
So the light in me is the reminder that the goodness of God, the hope of God, the expectancy, the dependence on God, the trust in His character is a light itself to shine bright in a world that’s become negative and cynical.
A few weeks ago, we were flying on a mission trip going to Africa. I was going there to preach, and we had flown from Chicago to Brussels and then from Brussels to Accra, Ghana. But on that long flight, 10 and a half hours over the Atlantic Ocean, it was dark outside and all of a sudden, the plane started shaking.
The stewardesses were walking down the aisle, and all of a sudden, their stuff starts shaking and the plane’s kind of going like this. The pilot comes on; he’s like, „Ladies and gentlemen, buckle your seat belts! Turbulence! Turbulence! It’s about to get rough right now so everybody needs to sit still; do not get up from your seat!“
And we’re all getting stressed; we’re like, „Stop talking! You’re stressing us out!“ My son had said right before I left, „Daddy, I really pray you don’t get in a plane crash!“ I was like, „Don’t say that! Don’t say that!“ He was like, „I know! I just really pray it doesn’t happen.“
So then I’m thinking about it; guys, pray for us, okay? It’s on my mind and thankfully the turbulence finally stopped after 10 minutes, but we still had 5 hours left to get over the ocean. I was like, „I just want to land on solid ground and just be okay!“
Sometimes, life is like that. Sometimes, you’re in the middle of a turbulent season and you’re going, „Lord, when is the turbulence going to stop? When are we going to get to the other side?“ And you got to hold on to hope!
James chapter 5 says, „Wait like the farmer waits for his crops; be patient.“ Patience is a virtue in hope. Hope and patience go hand in hand. Patience is that waiting and trusting and believing it’s going to turn around.
And when you’re tempted to throw in the towel, you just stick with it. Patience is like perseverance. You just keep moving. When Mary and Joseph had to walk 70 miles to their hometown to register, they had to go through all kinds of things to get there, and it was this patient perseverance to see the fulfillment of a promise over their life.
How to Know Good Things Are Coming
So how can I know that good things are coming my way? Number one, I need to believe the promises of God over my life. Everybody say, „Believe!“ Believe is to trust that God knows what He’s doing, that God will do what He said He would do. If He said it, that settles it! I believe it; it shall be!
Throughout the Scriptures, it says believe, believe, believe! When Jesus was getting ready to do a miracle one time, He was in a person’s house, and there was a group of people that were laughing, crying hysterically, and some who were negatively cynically putting down Jesus saying He can’t do it.
What were they doing? They were trying to stop the belief in the house. You need to be careful what voices are speaking into your future. You know what Jesus did in that story, if you read it in all the gospels? He actually put the people out of the house.
He wanted to protect the…He wanted to protect the candle; He wanted to protect the hope; He wanted to protect the belief that good things were coming! So He said, „If you’re not in agreement with this future miracle I see coming, you need to step out of the house.“
Sometimes you need to remove some voices of negativity out of your life and politely show them the door. And so Jesus shut the door, and He began to pray, and the miracle came to pass!
And I think about how Zacharias was trying to stop something from happening with his words. It’s not that he didn’t want it to happen; he just didn’t believe it was possible! The opposite of faith is not just a negative spirit; it’s unbelief.
Unbelief, like, „I just—I don’t know if God can do that. I don’t know if we’ll ever get pregnant. I don’t know if I’ll ever get married. I don’t know that I’ll ever find someone that I’m looking for. I don’t know that we’ll ever see a turnaround in that relationship. I don’t know that we’ll ever be really blessed and abundant where we can actually employ people and give a big offering at church and help support missionaries. I just don’t know that will ever happen!“
Stop cursing your future! Believe! Jehovah Jireh is my provider. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. Jehovah Rapha—He is my peace. Jehovah Shalom! I need to get my belief not in my character—not in my person, but in God’s character right now!
In the world right now, there are a lot of people talking about manifesting. Manifesting, which is kind of crazy; we don’t know what they’re manifesting. They’re manifesting some weird spirits—that’s for sure! But what we need to do is be focused on the manifestation of God’s promises in our life.
My hope is not in my ability to manifest something with my words and actions and thoughts and vibrations of the universe; no! My hope is in the Word of God that was spoken like a seed planted in the soil of my soul! Lord, let it be! I believe You can do it!
Number two: receive the words of God in your heart. Receive it! In that same chapter, right after the angel announced that Elizabeth was getting pregnant, he was busy! The angel goes to talk to another woman about pregnancy.
Now, in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel in verse 26 was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And when he came into the house, the angel says to her, „Rejoice, highly favored one, for the Lord is with you, and you are blessed among women.“
We need to start believing that we are highly favored by God! If you’re a woman, you were born a woman, you are a mighty woman of God; you are highly favored. You are blessed among women. You need to start believing the same promise He spoke over Mary; that God is speaking that over you!
If you’re a man, a mighty man of God, you are a highly favored mighty man! Receive God’s word over you! God says, „I know the thoughts I have for you; there are good thoughts, thoughts of good, not of evil.“ Jeremiah 29:11. „The plans I have for you are good plans, plans to prosper you, to give you hope.“ I need to receive it!
Don’t just believe it; receive it by faith! This is what Mary did to receive it. She said this in verse 38: „Then Mary says to the angel, 'Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word! '“
What was she doing? She was receiving it by faith. She was receiving the seed of God’s word, and the angel was saying, „Mary, things are about to change for the better in your life!“
It’s About to Get Better
I was watching a movie with my kids a couple of weeks ago, and it was a movie that I had seen growing up. I couldn’t wait to show it to them because I knew how it was going to go. So we’re watching the movie, and in the middle, things start to get kind of crazy.
I mean, it looks like it’s getting bad for the main character that everybody’s rooting for. It looks like it’s going to get worse—in fact, it does get worse! And the kid actually got upset; they asked me to pause the movie. They said, „Dad, why would you show us such a bad movie?“
They were like, „This movie is not; this is so sad! Is this how it ends?“ I said, „It’s not over yet! I know the ending! Your father knows the ending! It’s going to get better!“ In fact, it’s about to get better in this next scene.
They were like, „This is so sad! Is she going to end up with this guy?“ Because she does not need to end up with this—a bad situation! And I won’t tell you what the movie is because I want you to see it. But the point is, I don’t want to ruin it for you.
The point is: your dad knows the end of the movie; your dad knows the end of the story. And when things look rough, it’s about to get better! Tell someone, „It’s about to get better!“
I think about the story of Ruth: she gets married, her husband dies; then her mother-in-law loses her husband; then her sister-in-law loses her husband. All these deaths and funerals, and then she decides she’s going to live with her mother-in-law.
Well, her mother-in-law goes crazy, changes her name to Mara, says, „I’m bitter. God hasn’t been nice to me, ” right? Blowing out the hope for her future. But Ruth still has hope! She goes out into the fields of a nation that isn’t even hers, and she begins to harvest the grain in the fields of Boaz when God starts orchestrating things!
And just when it looked bad, something good was about to happen! I just believe that’s the case for some of you in this room—when it might look bad, something good is about to happen! Don’t be afraid; something good is about to get better in your life.
When I was in Africa two weeks ago and I was calling the kids to tell them I landed and I didn’t die in a plane crash, you know, I FaceTimed them. It was about 12:30 in Africa so the sun was shining bright, but it was 6:30 in the morning here, and they were all awake; you know, but it was dark outside, and there was a big fog across Tulsa.
It was just very foggy. They told me, „Daddy, it’s so dark and foggy here!“ They’re like, „Why is the sun shining so bright there?“ I said, „Well, I’m in your future!“ And they were like, „What?“ And I said, „I’m in your future!“
I’m six hours ahead of you! And they were like, „Dad, stop saying these crazy things. What are you talking about? How do we get to your future you’re in? We don’t want to be in a different universe!“ You know they’ve been watching Spider-Man, so they were like, „What?!“
And I was like, „I said no! I’m in your future!“ And they were like, „Stop saying that!“ I said, „I’ve already seen how today’s going to go. The sun’s about to start shining. I know you’re in a dark time right now; I know there’s fog out there, but it’s about to get better!“
Somebody say, „It’s about to get better!“ It’s about to get better!
So Mary received it; she received it! There was a story about this pastor who pastors the largest church in the world. His name is Dr. Cho in Seoul, South Korea. He was born in a very impoverished home; no one in his family had any kind of wealth.
And as he started getting older, he got saved, gave his heart to Jesus, and he wanted to be a pastor. But first, he needed to start a Bible study, and he walked everywhere. So, he started praying and asking God for a bicycle.
And as he was reading through these scriptures and seeing all these announcements of pregnancy and that there were, you know, people carrying something inside them for their future, he started telling his friends, „I am pregnant with a bicycle!“ And they were like, „Dr. Cho, that is nonsense! Men cannot get pregnant!“
Men still can’t get pregnant, by the way!
And they were like, „Especially with a bicycle? This is weird!“ But Dr. Cho was like, „No, it’s just a matter of time. God has spoken to me. I’m going to have transportation; I’m going to start Bible studies across Seoul, South Korea, and then a church.“
Well, sure enough, he got a bicycle. Then he started praying. He’s saying, „I can see it by faith! I’ve received it by faith!“ There’s a vision inside me of a church, building a church building.
That’s kind of how my dad and mom dreamed of this building. This church was mobile for 25 years before this building was built. This was not built when the church started; this was built 25 years after Victory started!
For 25 years, we rented out the Mabee Center every Sunday until 2007. What was inside my dad’s Spirit, my mom’s Spirit finally had a due date! Your dream has a due date! The prophetic words over your life have a due date!
And you got to receive it by faith, saying, „I’m carrying something inside me. I’m carrying a dream inside me!“
Surrender and Surround
Number three: surrender your plans to His purpose. Everything God is about to do will require surrender from you. The thing about pregnancy is it changes people. Not only does it change the way they look, but it changes the clothes they wear; it changes what they eat because now they’re eating for more than one person.
When I think about how Elizabeth and Mary were going to have to surrender their plans in that season of their life, they were going to have to give up some comforts. They were going to have to give up some things. You can’t drink whatever you want to drink; you can’t do whatever you want to do because you’re protecting something that’s inside you.
There’s something precious that you’re holding onto, carrying that’s inside you. I remember hearing this story of a former president of the United States of America. He said, „In the 1970s, I got pulled over for drunk driving, and I was arrested for it.“
And he said, during this same time, it was all kinds of chaos in my life; all kinds of just bad behavior I was doing—all kinds of stuff. He said, „When I first started drinking, it was just occasional drinking. Then I started drinking every day; then I started drinking heavy every day, and it took over my life. It stole my energy; it stole my vitality; it stole my dreams for any aspirations of my future.“
But he said, „The day that I got arrested and I was sitting in that jail cell for drunk driving and knowing that I had just been reckless with my life, something shifted.“ As he was writing this book, the autobiography, the book was called „Decision Points“ by President George W. Bush.
He said, „I knew I had something inside me for the future that was requiring me to give up something that was hindering my destiny.“ See, here’s what happens: all of us in this room have potential. We all have a harvest in our future that God has promised.
But our own decisions, our own little seeds that we’re sowing are either blowing out the candle of hope for the future or they’re coming back in. Like you coming to church today is this right here. You opening your Bible today is this right here. You lifting your hands even when you’re in a valley is this right here!
You saying, „No! I am giving up that addiction! I am walking away from that toxic thing! I am getting ready for the destiny God’s… You’re relighting the candle!“ How do I know good things are coming? Because God has promised it, and I’m getting ready for it! Somebody say, „Get ready for it!“
Number four: surround yourself with others who are pregnant with hope! Surround yourself with people who believe good things are coming! Stop allowing negative voices to fill your life.
David said it like this in Psalm 23:6: he started inviting some stalkers into his life. We’re always trying to get rid of stalkers, but he had two: he had two stalkers—he said in Psalm 23:6, „Surely goodness and mercy are following me.“
They’re stalking me! They won’t stop chasing me all the day! You need to invite some better voices to follow you into your house! Goodness and mercy! Somebody say, „I’ve got two stalkers: goodness and mercy! They follow me every day of my life! Goodness is about to chase me down! Mercy is about to show up on Monday and Tuesday!“
How many of y’all need some mercy this week? Some favor? Something you didn’t deserve? For God to do? You need to invite that into your life! Surround yourself with goodness and mercy! People in your life that will speak towards the future!
When Mary found out she was pregnant, the first thing she did was run to Elizabeth’s house because she knows Elizabeth has something in her too! And when she knocks on the door, it’s almost like the light was getting even brighter when she started knocking!
The baby inside Elizabeth started jumping and doing all kinds of little twirls on the inside! And Elizabeth opens the door and she said, „I knew it was you, Mary! I knew it was you! You’ve got something inside you too! You’ve got something inside you too!“
What’s inside of me was speaking to something that’s inside of you! Why do we come together at Victory? Because there’s something in me that needs to speak to something in you, and there’s something in you that needs to respond to something in me! When we get together, sparks fly!
Come on! We were made for each other! Victory, we were made for each other. Tell that person next to you, „We were made to be together!“ It just got weird for someone in the room that was single sitting next to another single.
Praise Before the Breakthrough
Number five: praise God! This is the last point! Praise God before He brings the good things to pass. We’ve got to learn to praise before it happens!
I come in this room, before I preach in the middle of the week, and I’ll just start praising! I’ll start imagining the altar filled! I’ll start imagining God speaking through me before He’s spoken through me!
When I was 19 years old, I used to run around this field as a college student at the University. I would go out and take jogs. I would jog from my dorm all across the U campus, around the Mabee Center, then I’d come over here before this building was built.
When they just laid down the foundation, the concrete—before the concrete was here, it was a soccer field. I remember playing soccer out here. I remember when it rained; it rained hard out here and it turned this whole field into a pond.
But when I was 19, I’d run around this building and I would start to see these visions and dreams of me preaching from this stage. And I would just give thanks to God! I would worship God! I’d say, „God, I don’t know what You got in store, but I know it’s good. I don’t know what the future looks like, but I know it’s good!“
„God, I don’t know what You’re doing right now because college was wild, it was tough, it was difficult; all kinds of drama! But I said, 'God, I know You’ve got something good in store! ' And I would just begin to worship Him!“
I remember during that same time, I watched a movie with my family called „Father of the Bride“ part one and two. And I had this dream of this one moment of throwing the baseball with my son and playing catch in the front yard!
I don’t know if I got it from the movie or the Lord was giving it to me, but I had this dream that one day I was going to have kids and I was going to be married and our family will be hanging out together, throwing the baseball and football together, and we’ll be happy!
We’ll love each other! We’ll want to be around each other and hang out together—together a healthy family! And around that same time, I had a dream that one day I would write a book and the book would go into bookstores across America and maybe even around the world!
And it got me thinking this week as I was working on this message: I was like, all three of those dreams that I had when I was 19 are fulfilled today! The book is out; the family’s together; and I’m preaching to a church that I dreamed of preaching to 20 years ago!
And it reminded me—come on—stand to your feet all over this place! He who started this good work in you, Paul, will be faithful to continue it! He who started this good work in you—something good is about to happen in your future!
How do I know it? How am I confident? Because the same One who started the good work is continuing the good work, and He’s going to finish the good work!
Closing Worship and Altar Call
Zacharias, I know you’ve been waiting for a long time, but that prayer you’ve been praying has been heard! And Elizabeth, I know that the doctor said you couldn’t get pregnant, but the same God that opened the womb for Hannah and Abraham and Sarah is about to open the womb for you, Elizabeth!
And Mary, I know you had plans of your own, and Joseph, I know you were going to divorce your wife, but what’s inside you is about to change the world! Don’t walk away from this!
Paul and Silas, I know it’s dark out there and I know you’re in chains—go ahead, just turn the lights out in the room. I know you’re walking through a dark season, but if you’ll begin to sing, if you’ll begin to praise, if you’ll begin to worship even while you’re waiting for the miracle—worship while you’re waiting; worship while you’re waiting; worship while you’re waiting!
There’s something about worship that changes the atmosphere! There’s something about praise that breaks the chains in the dark prison cell! There’s something about singing to an empty dry well—"Spring up a well within my soul!»
There’s something about worship that makes a way where there seems to be no way! There’s something about praising God that changes your attitude, your soul, your mindset, your disposition!
So today, let’s just worship! Go ahead, lead us in that song. «I trust in God; He never fails! He never fails! He will never fail! I trust in God; my Savior, the One who will never fail! He will never fail! He will never fail!»
He’s never going to fail; He’s never going to fail! Trust in God; He’s got the provision you need; He’s got the protection you need; He’s got the deliverance you need; He’s got the miracle that you need! He’s faithful to do it; He can multiply the loaves and the fishes; He can multiply what He’s put in your hand!
I trust in God! He’s my Savior!» Keep on worshiping in the dark; keep on wrestling in the dark; keep on pressing in the dark! Don’t you throw in the towel, in Jesus’ name!
I trust in the Lord and He heard and He answered! I trust in the Lord and He heard and He answered! I trust in the Lord and He heard and He answered! That’s why I trust! That’s why I trust!
I want to pray for anyone today that’s holding on to hope, that good things are coming. And if that’s you and you’re in the middle of a valley or you’ve just kind of been wavering a little bit like Zacharias; you want to believe it; you want to hold on to it! But this message was for you!
If that’s you, I want you to leave your seat! You don’t even have to raise your hand; just come down to the altar. Come down to the altar like a seed towards your harvest! It’s a seed of humility saying, «God, I want to get my mind and my mouth and my heart in alignment! I want to get my prayers and my praise in alignment with where you’re about to take me, and where you’re about to take me is good! And what you’re about to do is good!»
And so I want to prepare the way of the Lord. That’s what John the Baptist did. When Zacharias and Elizabeth had John, that baby not only did he bring joy, he was preparing the world for something better. He was preparing people for something better than him; something better than Moses.
So I just feel like God’s saying, «Prepare the way of the Lord. Prepare your heart for what He’s about to do!» What’s He about to do? Something good. Something good, in Jesus’ name!
Lord, I just speak it over every person. If you’re here today and you need to surrender, maybe you need to get saved; you need to repent of your sins; come and join us! This is the day of salvation; this is the day of repentance; this is the day of revival!
These are the days of refreshing! God is not finished with America! God is not finished with Tulsa, Oklahoma! God is not finished with Victory Church! God is not finished with your family!
So if that’s you, prodigal sons and daughters, calling all the prodigal—come on down! Calling every person that’s lost and unsaved! Today is your day! In Jesus’ name!
Lord, I thank You that salvation is here; freedom is here; hope is here; peace is here; the promises of God are coming to pass! I speak over every barren woman in the room that’s been told she cannot have children! God, I pray in Jesus’ name that You would open the wombs that have been called barren!
I pray for the young couples in the room and the older couples that have been holding on to promises, holding on and praying: the Zacharias and the Elizabeths, the Hannahs, the Abrahams, the Sarahs—all those that have been praying for a miracle! God, I thank You that You can do it! Lord, that You will do it! That You are able to do it!
Come on, let’s just begin to worship Him again! «Jesus, I trust in God; He’s my Savior! The one who will never fail! He will never fail! He will never fail!» I trust in God; He’s my Savior! The one who will never fail! He will never fail! I trust in God! I trust in God; my Savior! The one who will never fail! He will never fail!
He’s more than able! He’s more than able! God is more than able! You are more than able! Lord, I pray God for faith! I pray for hope in Jesus’ name! You are more than able!
Now, to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all! Yes, You are! Yes, You are! You are more than able! You are more than able!
Who am I to deny what the Lord can do? What the Lord can do? And it’s going to happen just like the way they said it would! It’s going to move; it’s going to move!
Come on, church! God is more than able!
Testimonies of Harvest
I want to just share something with you. Last night, as I was preaching this message, after service, a guy came up to me that I haven’t seen in 10 years. He moved to California several years ago and he came up to me; he’s like, «Pastor Paul!» I was like, «Jose!»
Jose Rodriguez walks up! I think I got a picture of him. Jose and I went to church together as kids and teenagers! I said, «Jose, where you been?» He said, «I’ve been in California.» He said, «I moved there right after college.» I said, «Tell me your story.»
He said, «Paul, I just want you to know, I’m a harvest on the seeds of this church!» He said, «I’m Victory’s harvest!» All of you in this room are a harvest on someone’s seeds! God brought you in as a harvest! God’s bringing harvest in on your seeds!
Someone else—he said, «Paul, Victory sent buses to my apartment complex in the early 1990s: Apache Manor, Mohawk Manor!» He said, 'Man, I was a bad kid.' And the first time I rode a bus to Victory’s church service, he said, 'I punched the bus captain in the face! '
He said, «That’s the way I grew up, though; domestic violence was just part of our upbringing. Everybody hit each other; it was abuse everywhere!» And he said, «You know, I was in trouble—gangs, in and out of stuff; but Victory kept picking me up on the bus, bringing me to church, sowing seed in my life, telling me good things were in my future!»
He said, «I had to hold on to that because I would be the first one in my family that would graduate college!» He said, «I went to Victory Bible College and graduated!» I said, «I remember, I was in school with you!»
He said, «Then I went to U. First one of my family to go four years and get a degree from a university!» I said, «Jose, it gets better!» He said, «I walked through some hard stuff! I walked through some hard stuff! You’re probably aware; I walked through some hard stuff!»
But he said, «Through all of that, God used what the enemy meant for harm for something good!» He said, «It became the breeding ground for some powerful things! It was in the season of Covid that when I lost my job, God gave me an idea—strategy!»
He said, «When I was a teenager at Victory, God gave me this dream that one day I would save kids like myself, that I would reach kids and teenagers in public middle schools and high schools the way that I was reached by Victory!»
He said, «I started writing a curriculum when I was down, when I was out! God’s about to give you strategy when the enemy tries to destroy you!» He said, «I started writing strategies and plans in a curriculum for middle schools and high schools.»
He said, I went and met with some principals and told them I come and do these speaking motivational seminars to middle schoolers, high schoolers, elementary schools to your school and they said, 'Well, how much do we need to pay you? ' And he was like, 'I need a job! So I’m going to tell them a number on the top of my head--kind of a faith number! '
He said, 'When I said it to them, they said, ‘We’ll do it and we want you to come to every school! ’ We got 29 schools! '» He now goes to 29 schools across Southern California! He gets paid to share character, values, integrity, good choices, and he’s led 500 kids to Jesus Christ in the last year because after school, he gives them an invitation to know who Jesus is!
Come on! Jesus! Good things are coming! Good things are coming! Good things are coming!
I gave Jose a big hug! I was like, «Are you kidding me, man? I want to sow seed into that!» He was like, «You can! You can sow seed into that!» But I said, «Man, thanks for telling me this testimony. I got another one for you!»
Tim was talking to me this last week. He said, «You know our Thanksgiving feast? You know who the chef was, right?» And Tim said, «Where are you? Is Tim still here?» No, he had to step out.
He sends me this picture. I didn’t get to send it to the people in the back, but I got it on my iPad! There we go! Just zoom in on this! Tim is standing with this guy in the middle! He said, «Let me tell you who this chef is.»
He said, «He grew up at the Dream Center, and he used to come every day after school to get tutoring!» «It was his place of hope! He would come all day and stay all summer, summer after summer! He fell in love with cooking!»
And it was the cooking team that served him meals. And today, now he’s the sous-chef at the food bank of Tulsa, Oklahoma, serving meals to kids off the streets! Good things are coming!
Some of you have walked through so many hard trials, and the enemy thought he had you! The enemy thought he had you! But I’m telling you: you’re about to praise your way through! Hold on to hope! Hold on to hope that God’s going to use what the enemy meant for evil. God’s got something good in store!
Somebody say, «Good things are coming my way! In Jesus’ name!»
Lord, I pray that today over every person! God, I thank You that Your plans will come to pass! Your purpose will be fulfilled in every man, every woman, boy, and girl in this room!
And I thank You, God, that every setback, every adversity that they’ve walked through, every difficult thing, every trial, God is going to be a part of the testimony! If it’s not good yet, You’re not done yet! If it’s about to get good, it’s about to change for the better! In Jesus' name!
God, I thank You, Lord, that they’re going to see Your light! Just say this with me: «Say Jesus! I receive Your light in my life! You died on the cross for my sins! I repent! I receive Your forgiveness! I confess You as my Savior, my Lord, my way-maker, my promise keeper, my light in the darkness! And I’m going to carry that light every day of my life! I refuse to let the darkness overtake me, 'cause the light lives inside me! So my best days are right in front of me, and I have victory in my future because Jesus lives in me!»
Come on, if you believe it, say amen and amen!