Sermon Notes  

POSSESSING THE PROMISES

By R.W. Shambach


You and I are privileged people. We have been chosen by the God of the Universe, the Lord Most High, to serve Him and make His Name known on the earth. God chose you and me—He has anointed us—appointed us as His special representatives with the Gospel of Christ. We are handpicked to do great exploits for the Kingdom of God.
All that we need: wisdom, knowledge, strength, guidance, resources, finances, ability—have been made available to us for the important call on our lives. In fact, He “has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises..” (2 Peter 1:3b, 4a).
In addition to the promises, God has given us the power to get the job done. When Jesus left this earth after completing the work on the cross and rising from the dead, he told His disciples to go to Jerusalem and wait for the “promise of the Father.” Of course he was referring to the great outpouring of the Holy Ghost, our modern day anointing for the great task at hand: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
The call; The promises; The power. In God’s eyes not one thing has been left out—we have everything we need to get the job done. Why is it, then, that so many people are stuck with an idea about the promises, but they haven’t moved into possession of them?
You may be one of those people. Years ago God may have placed a desire in your heart for ministry you knew you were God’s anointed. Now, when you take inventory of your life, you find yourself in a spiritual rut, trapped in a nine-to-five lifestyle, in debt, multiple family problems, physical ailments setting in—rather than spending your time doing the will of God, all you can think about is the mess you’re in.
Well, it’s time to turn the tables. God handpicked you to get a job done—now is the time to make it happen. You have put up with status quo too long—Jesus is coming and you are going to be found working when He comes.
In order to illustrate this truth, let’s look at the stories of two different kings: David and Ahab. First, we will look at a familiar story about David when he had just been anointed king of Israel:
“Now when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David..The Philistines also went and deployed themselves in the Valley of Rephaim” (2 Samuel 5:17-18).
Pay attention to the details of this story. Just after David was anointed king, he found out there were Philistine enemies who wanted him dead. If you go back and study David’s story, you will find that David at one time enjoyed an amicable relationship with Achish and the Philistine community. Eventually the lords of the Philistines became jealous of David, but it wasn’t until he was anointed king that they rose up against him to destroy him.
Think how that parallels our own lives. Before we fully committed to Jesus when we were living for the devil, hanging out with the world’s crowd—it seemed we had no enemies. I’m sure there’s truth to the old saying “misery loves company.” The same is true if Christians “play church.” They could just coast along in their spiritual lives, not doing anything significant for the Lord and the devil seems to roll over and play dead.
BUT, just let a little fire start in your heart. Allow God to work with your desires and stir your thoughts about ministry. Watch what happens when a new anointing is poured out upon you with new strength—suddenly it seems as though the enemy has surrounded you on all sides. It never fails—when the enemy recognizes the anointing, he will do everything he can to rob your strength and keep you from possessing what belongs to you.