When the Waiting Comes Part 1 | Jentezen Franklin

Thank you for joining me today. I believe today's message is going to speak to your heart. We all need encouragement. We all need to feel our faith getting stronger and being built up. And today I have a message for those of you who might feel like you're just stuck and you've been put on hold. What do you do during that waiting season when you've prayed, you've asked, you've obeyed, you've done everything that you know to do? When God calls you and He gives you a vision, that can be very exciting at first, but then comes that time in your life where the promises of God seem to be on delay. And it's in those times that I wanna encourage you to not give up. I'm gonna teach you today what to do when the waiting comes. When you're in that moment where it feels like you've been put on hold, God has some specific things that His word teaches we should do when the waiting comes. Together, we're inspiring people to live for Jesus. If you're looking for more in life, to live with purpose and peace, to make a difference for your family and those in need around the world, Jesus is the answer. And our mission is to simply point you to Him. You're watching Kingdom Connection with Jensen Franklin.

Genesis chapter 12. Now the Lord said to Abram, get out of your country from your family, from your father's house to the land I'll show you. I'll make you a great nation. I will bless you. I will make your name great. You shall be a blessing. This is the beginning promise of the nation of Israel that would bring the Messiah through the line of the tribe of Judah, Jesus Christ. It was all in this God speaking to a man. And you shall be a blessing and I will bless those that bless you. And I will curse those that curse you. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. And Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him and Lot went with him. And Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran. I wanna go to the 14th chapter of Genesis quickly. Verse 12 says, they took Lot, Abraham's, he calls him his brother, but he's saying he's my blood. He was actually technically Abraham's, Abraham was his uncle. He was, Lot was the nephew in the family relationship. And when Abram heard this, that his brother was taken captive, he armed 318 trained servants who were born in his own house

and went in pursuit as far as Dan. Verse 16, they brought back all the goods, brought back his brother, Lot, his goods, all the women and the people. Notice verse 17, the king of Sodom came out to meet him. King of Sodom came and he, it tells us in a moment that he made him an offer. And we also have the king of Salem, which was Melchizedek, is our first introduction of him. I'm gonna make sense out of all of this in a moment. And he brings him wine and he brings him bread as the priest of God. And he accepts what he offers. He doesn't accept what the king of Sodom offered, but he receives the bread and the wine. We know in the first few chapters of the Bible is the very communion meal that we just celebrated that Christ would enter into in Passover with his disciples. Beautiful types and shadow. How can anybody doubt the truth of God's word? Writers writing centuries apart and yet hand in glove. It's just amazing to me, the prophecies. And verse 18, then Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought the bread and the wine. And he said, blessed be Abraham. Blessed be God, most high, who delivered your enemies into your hand. This is interesting. First time tithing is mentioned

and he gave him a tithe of it all. This is Abraham, there was no law, there was no Moses. This was Abraham, something in him said of the portion that I have received, I wanna give this man a tenth who is the priest of God. It's very powerful. Now, the king of Sodom said to Abraham, give me and take the goods for yourself. And Abram said, listen to that, give me and take, give me and take. See one voice, the voice of this king of Sodom is give me and you take. But the other one is bringing the bread and the wine. And Abraham said to the king of Sodom, I've raised my hand of the Lord God, most high, the possessor of heaven and earth, and I will take nothing, not even a shoestrap. I will not take anything from yours, lest you should say, I have made Abraham rich. In verse 15, or verse one of chapter 15, now, after these things, he just turned down incredible riches and wealth. Verse 15, and after these things, the word of the Lord came saying, do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceeding great reward. And I'll notice this next verse, and Abram said, Lord God, what will you give me, seeing I go childless? I wanna stop there.

I know I read a lot, I'll sum it all up in this message, and I'll give you my title in just a moment. But this is a text that deals with, especially chapter 12, the calling of Abraham. What a powerful thing it is to be called of God. I remember when his calling voice found me, I trembled. I knew God had spoken to me to preach the gospel. It's a powerful thing when God calls you. And Abraham heard God call him. It's even more astounding that he was not in a home of faith. His father was an idol worshiper. There was no sacrifices. There was no teaching of Jehovah God. There was none of that in his life. And yet, he heard God clearly call him. And when God called him and gave him a ridiculous, seemingly over-the-top demand to leave him, his family, to leave his friends, to leave everything that was familiar, everything that was secure financially in every other way, pack it up, get your family, and move. And he didn't even tell him where he was going. Move in the direction, and I'll let you know when you get there. And this man of extreme devotion, Abraham, the father of faith, Hebrews calls him, the father of us all, he began to follow that voice. He walked away to follow in obedience to God. He put the world behind him that he had come out of.

He heard a voice call him, and he came out of the world that he was in. Everything changed for him at the calling of God. If you ever encounter Jesus Christ and he calls you and he saves you as he will if you'll call on him, he will call you out of the world that you're in. You do not stay the same. You do not just continue now after praying a prayer in the same lifestyle. He calls you out. It's a beautiful picture of the world that you were in. You're into a brand new life. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away, and behold, I live now for you. I'll give up everything I have for you. I'm selling out to you. This is not some casual Christianity that you just kind of love the Lord and do your own thing all week long. This is this extreme devotion, this heartfelt faith that says, I believe in you more than anything I can see, and I will chase after you. And the Bible said he began to build altars. He built seven altars. I preached on all of those altars one time, and he built altars. Every place God took him, he would build an altar and offer a sacrifice,

and he kept building them all of his life. And then something happened. Lot was with him. God didn't call Lot, but Lot was a smart man because he said, if I don't have the favor of God, I'm gonna get around somebody that does have the favor of God. If the blessing is not on me, I'm gonna get around somebody. Blessed if you're the smartest one in your group, you need to get a get a new group You need to get around somebody who knows something. You don't know in lot to his to his it You know, we need to give him credit. He he followed this guy He knew this guy and he got he wasn't spiritual But you know, sometimes you can only walk with somebody who's walking with God so far and then you'll miss it You got to have your own walk. It's good See a lot was a man that was following a man who was walking with God and there's a difference between that and you having Your own walk with God, but it'll help you until you get your own at some point My I can't I can't take you on the journey If you don't start walking your own walk and talking your own talk with Jesus No, my mama's prayers can't get you there. You've got to pray yourself You walk with people that walk with God, but God wants to walk and talk with you and And a lot reached a point where he really missed it because the scripture said as Abraham went alone I didn't have time to read it in the next chapter in chapter 13 it said God blessed him and and he was had cattle and he had wealth and and and His lot his nephew just because of association I'm telling you check out the kind of people your friends are a photograph of your future Who are you hanging out with? What kind of people do you run with? Do they love God with all of their heart? Are they are they honoring God with their life with their substance? Are they good people? amen, and

And the scripture said a lot began to prosper so much that there was a fight between the herdsmen of lot the nephew and And the uncle Abraham and Abraham being a peacemaker Said Hey, we're brothers Let's not fight. Let's not have a family squabble Over material things you choose It should have been the lesser making being told what to do by the elder and and the guy Abraham That God had called but instead this this young Little fool named lot thought he knew everything Watch him now he doesn't have a walk with God and he looks at the green pastures that were headed towards Sodom and Gomorrah and he says I'll take that land to feed my cattle and you take that way which was the desert and It looks like Abraham's gonna lose and lot is going to win But watch lot goes towards Sodom and Gomorrah and Temporarily, he prospers and for a little while he does well and man it looks like he's on top of the world and he ends up in Sodom and Gomorrah and His family does too and Abraham's out in the desert But while he's in the desert God says come out of your tent and he walks out of his tent and he says look up into the sky and see The stars as the stars are in heaven So will your seed be and the sand pick it up in your hand and can you count these numbers? There's natural Israel and spiritual Israel. There are two things on God's mind always. I don't care what you hear I don't care what podcasts you listen to. I don't care what the news says I don't care what the United Nations says there are two things on God's mind all the time Number one natural Israel the nation of Israel the Jewish people number two spiritual Israel the church the stars of heaven those of us who have been born again and Engrafted by the cross and the blood of Jesus Christ and anytime you separate from either one of those two Things you I will bless those that bless you I will curse those that curse you true of the church true of the nation of Israel

Not that we condone everything everybody does and every leader of course not but the right to have the land and The right to be a people that has the right to exist is given by God It's prophecy When you see all nations turn against them it's being fulfilled right before your eyes every day Now watch this While Abraham is hearing from God the Bible said that an evil king and his soldiers Attacked Sodom and Gomorrah and guess who was there? Lot and his family and they kidnapped them They kidnapped a lot and his family and when Abraham heard the news The scripture said he assembled his servants, his greatest fighting men. He took 318 and he said, we're stopping everything. We're putting down, I don't care how busy we are because we have a family member who is being held hostage by hell and we're going to get him out of that situation. The first recorded battle in the Bible was when a man was willing to go to battle for his family. It is not a coincidence. It is not a happen chance. It is not an accident that the first battle in the Bible is not over real estate, over land, over borders. It is not between nation and nation. It is a man who saw one of his relatives who had been taken hostage by evildoers and something in his heart said, I must go fight for my family. I'm telling you today that there's no battle more important than the battle and the first time it's mentioned

in the Bible lets you know the priority. There's no battle more important than the battle for the family. You have to fight for your family. You have to fight for your marriage. You have to fight for your children. You have to fight for your babies. When the enemy thinks he's gonna hold them hostage with alcohol or drugs or some horrible situation, we don't just hope for things to get better. We are to go to war spiritually and we are to pray and we are to call on God because we have a promise. He's the God of our family. Our family should mean more to us than our own hurt feelings. Your family should mean more to you than being offended and who won't call first and all the nonsense. I tell you who's gonna call first, the one that's got a prayer life because if you pray, God will say, forgive. If you pray, you can't pray long until you bump right into that situation and you recognize God won't hear another thing I have to say if I don't do right. I'm preaching better and y'all letting on this morning. The first battle in the Bible was about the need to stop fighting one another and fight the devil for our family's fight. Hell, the spirit of Sodom wants to take them but hell can't have them, hallelujah. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord

and I just want the enemy to know that if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall be saved and your house. So let's go down to the enemy's camp. Let's take back what he's stolen from us. Let's claim the sons and the daughters. Let's claim those on drugs. Let's claim them. Let's get serious about it. Let's reach out. Let's go for it. Let's recommunicate. Let's get involved with it. Get a burden for it, hallelujah. I want God to do something in our families today. I want God to touch our kids today. I want God to have men and moms and dads and grandparents that are ready to go to war today and say, I'm not gonna be casual about eternity and salvation. I need a burden for my family again. I've almost forgotten that God made me a promise concerning my seed, just like Abraham. Go to war for your family, for your marriage, for your children.