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Priming the Promise I // Pastor Chuck Colegrove // February 23, 2025
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The year was 1982, and as a young lad, 12 years old, spending the summer up in northern Michigan, I've told you a few times, if you've heard me tell stories, about our time in Michigan my parents, my dad and my grandfather, his father. They purchased land up in northern Michigan. It was a part of the whole family and we would go up there during the summer and cut wood, cut down some trees, dead trees, chop the wood. It was hard work and then we would bring that wood back to our house in Grand Rapids and we would burn that wood for heat. In our home we had a furnace. But you know, dad was like no, we're going to save money. And he's like you're going to carry wood. And so in the summer we would chop wood, stack wood, move wood from up north down into Grand Rapids, and in the winter I'd carry wood up and down the stairs into our house to burn for heat over the winter time. And this one summer of 1982, we were there working and I was.
Speaker 1:You got to imagine me. I'm like 60-pound, 12-year-old, okay, I mean, I was not the biggest kid in the room and my dad would like stack me up with as much wood as I could carry. And then he would teach me how to use the axe and to split wood. And you know, you got to imagine I think the axe weighed more than me, but I would with know. You've got to imagine I think the ax weighed more than me, but I would, with all everything in me, I would get and slam that into the wood. And he would always tell me hit the same spot twice, hit the same spot twice. And then I guess he decided my dad always trusted me, he always gave me responsibility at a very young age. And so he says all right, now I'm going to teach you how to use the power saw, the chainsaw, and I was like, come on, somebody, come on, I have arrived, I'm not just carrying with, this summer I get to actually cut down the tree. This is going to be fun.
Speaker 1:And so he said all right, the only way you can use it is if you start it. He says so, go, start it. I was like, yeah, yes, sir. And so I got over to that chainsaw and I pulled that chain. Nothing happened. I pulled the. He said pull again. I pulled again, nothing happened. He said, pull again. I pulled again, nothing happened. He says all right now. Let me tell you something, what you didn't do. I said okay. He said see that little button on the very edge of that motor. It looks like there's a little bubble in there, right. And I said yes, sir. And he said push that three or four times. I said okay, so I pushed it three or four times.
Speaker 1:He says now, what you just did is you just primed the engine. You put a little gas into the engine, so when you pull that handle, it will spark and then it will start. So he said, prime it three or four times. I prime it three or four times, push, I pull it and, man, that thing went. And then it was no Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but you gotta imagine a 12-year-old wielding this chainsaw all over trying to figure out which tree I'm gonna cut down. But it is the year that I learned if you don't prime it, it ain't gonna start. Lean over to your neighbor and say you better prime the promise. And why don't you just lean back to the one you've been ignoring and just say I am so ready for this, I am so ready for this.
Speaker 1:Today we're going to start a little series that may be a two-week series, that may be a five-week series that may go all the way to Easter. It literally is called Prime the Promise. Now, arshana did not know what the title of this message was when she got up here and began to talk about the promises of God being yes and amen through Jesus Christ, and I leaned over to Pastor Ben, I was like she doesn't even have a clue what I'm preaching about today. In fact, I had a title all week long. I was going to preach a different title to this message and this morning I woke up and I switched it. I was like I felt led by the Holy Spirit and then that was confirmed through Ursh's flow time.
Speaker 1:So we're going to talk about this idea of priming the promise Because guess what church? Hey, we are continuing our journey on our best year ever, and can I just give you about 30 seconds worth of faith building that, even if it doesn't look like your best year yet, keep going, don't give up, don't throw in the towel yet, don't decide it's not working yet. Come on, keep on pressing, keep on believing, keep on declaring, keep on holding on, because God is about to do in your life what he has promised. So we're in this series declaration and really begin to take these deliberate steps into this momentum that God has established around our lives. How many can feel the momentum? It's like when you used to ride your bike when you were kids and you would have to ride up the hill and it would really suck. Sorry, stink, that's all right, that's the wrong word. I'm sorry, mom, I'm sorry it would really. Riding uphill was terrible, but when you got to the top of the hill and began to ride down the hill and you would pedal as fast as you could, starting at the top of the hill, going down, and then soon enough you couldn't pedal fast enough for as fast as your bike was going, come on somebody. That's why I feel like it's happening in the Holy Spirit, in our lives right now, that there's a momentum taking over that's propelling us into something that God has in store for us better than you could ever ask for or imagine. So we're in this idea and what I can tell you is that if you keep operating in the addition side of things meaning what you can do because we're good at adding, it's step-by-step addition If you'll keep doing the addition side of things, god will get involved in the multiplication of things. You do your part, god certainly will do his part.
Speaker 1:So, with this idea of priming the promise, it has to start with faith right, what we do as a follower of Jesus is a journey, a lifetime journey of faith. And faith is not just a one-time event. It's not like I one time hear the word, believe the word, and then I don't have to worry about that any longer, because I did, I took care of that one time. This is, this is a continual process and and it's a continual step-by-step moment it is a daily process of hearing God's word. We know that faith comes by hearing God's word. If you want to build your faith, you've got to be in God's word. We know that faith comes by hearing God's word. If you want to build your faith, you've got to be in God's word. If you're like, oh, my faith is struggling, I can tell you why because you're not in God's word.
Speaker 1:And get into the faith chapters of the book of the Bible. Get around Hebrews and start reading through the book of Hebrews when it talks about, by faith, all of those champions of our faith and what they did by faith. Were they perfect? No, but they kept walking by faith. And so faith is this daily process of hearing God's word, of believing God's word.
Speaker 1:Like every time you say amen when somebody's preaching when I'm preaching with Pastor Ben or Pastor Matthew, pastor Ursch, whoever might be preaching, pastor Robbie when we're preaching and you say amen, what you're saying is so be it. I affirm the word of God that I'm hearing in my heart and I believe it in my heart. So when I believe it in my heart, it can take seed, it can process and it can produce a result. And the promise is this the word of God never returns void Never. So I can plant a seed in the backyard and hope that I get flowers, but if I don't take care of it properly, it's not really going to produce anything. But God's word will produce what he promises. So when you say amen, you're saying yeah, so be it. And so you can say it as an amen, you can say it as that's right, you can say it as preach it. You can say it as. Say it again. You can say it as that's good, you can say it as so good, you can say strong word. However you agree with it. Say it so that it produces the seed in your heart to fulfill the promise you got, because you got to what Prime the promise? What are you doing over there? Oh, I'm just, I'm priming the promise. You haven't seen the promise yet, no, but I know it's coming.
Speaker 1:So faith is the process of hearing God's word, of believing God's word and then living God's word. You might say it's hearing the truth, believing the truth and living the truth. That is the faith process in our life. And faith is paramount because we know that we walk by faith and not by sight. Let's go ahead and skip ahead a couple of verses. I'll come back to that Exodus 3 story in just a minute. We walk by faith and not by sight, and we know that without faith it is impossible to please God. So faith is paramount In this journey. We also know that we are saved by faith Through grace. So faith, then, is the gateway To access the grace, To do the work, to see the work and to receive the work. To see the work and to receive the promise.
Speaker 1:Faith is what primes the promise and there's this tension In faith between what has been promised and how it will be delivered. In what has been promised and how it has been delivered, you know, there's this idea that when there's a promise, we kind of get the idea of what well we know exactly how God's going to fulfill that promise. God promises Abraham that he will be the father to generations. Abraham, look at the stars in the sky, and as many as stars in the sky will be the number of sons that you'll have. Oh, go by the sand, by the sea, and count all of those sand little crystals and that's the lineage that will come from you. Abraham Great, how many sons do you have, abraham Zero, how old are you? Abraham, 99.
Speaker 1:Because there's the tension of faith between what has been promised and how it is received. Abraham I'm guessing at about 32 would have been like let's go, let's start lining them up. But no, god had a different opportunity, a different timeline than what Abraham did. And I'm going to tell you you're looking at this best year ever in your life, and it's only going to be the best year if you'll keep priming the promise, because if you've not received it today, it doesn't mean you won won't receive it, it just means it's not here today, it might be tomorrow. You keep living in that tension between what's promised and when or how it will be delivered. And so, from here to there, from where you are to where God wants you. Is this level of faith that is your responsibility, to be in God's word, to believe God's word and to live God's word. And you just keep acting like it's already happened for you.
Speaker 1:I felt like that was going to be a better amen because we know the promises. I felt like that was going to be a better amen Because we know the promise is yes and amen through Jesus Christ. We know the promise, according through scripture, will not delay, as some count slackness or delay, like we think the promise is being delayed, and it's actually not delayed at all. It's just God's timing, not ours. And because we live in a microwave world no, no, that was. We used to live in a microwave world, now we live in an air fryer world. Come on, young people. Can I get a better amen for air fryers? Change your life. Best homemade chicken nuggets. Go ahead and put a little cinnamon roll up in that thing. You don't even like Brussels sprouts unless you have an air fryer. The brussel sprouts I grew up on are not the brussel sprouts these boys are growing up on.
Speaker 1:So when you live in an air fryer world, it's hard to have the kind of faith it takes to wait for God's promise to be delivered. But we know it's not slack it's according to some calling it slackness we know it's just God's timing and if you're not ready for it, you don't need it. If you're not ready for it, you would spoil it, you would misuse it, you would think it was all you, you would think it was your gifting, and your gifting will make way that your character can't keep you. So you better work on your character before the promise gets here. And I've always said this that a thought, you better work on your character before the promise gets here. And I've always said this that a thought becomes a word which becomes an act, which becomes a habit, which becomes a character, which becomes a destiny.
Speaker 1:But we really would like to skip from the thought to the destiny. It's my destiny, I know, but you didn't get prepared. Well, god doesn't just call the prepared, he equips the, he prepares the called. Yeah, that's true, but there's a timeline to get from where you are to your destiny. And I'm gonna tell you, if you do it outside of the timing of God, it's not gonna go well, man.
Speaker 1:So that's why, as followers of Jesus, we need to keep our focus on the promise and not the problem. Be focused on the promise, don't focus on the problems around you, because we know if the promises are yes and amen through Jesus Christ, we know that he is not only is he the promise maker, he is the promise keeper. So I'm going to just keep my eyes on the promise and the problems. We'll get through those as they come, because we're working our way to the destiny. Alright, I don't have time for this message, that's it. We're going.
Speaker 1:This message, this message, all right, so listen, are you ready? Let's prime the promise, let's lean in, let's go. All right, I have in my notes 11 o'clock. It literally is 11 o'clock right now. So we can all agree. Church, can we agree? Agree with me on this. We can all agree that Moses was a child of destiny. Why do you say that, pc? Well, if you read in the book of Exodus, start in Exodus, chapter one, read verse chapter one, read that chapter. Then read chapter two. Not there yet? Let's not get ahead Like chapter 2, read through chapter 2. And we find out Moses is a child of destiny because Moses was protected from the evil plan of Pharaoh. Trust me in this. You can read it later this week. Trust me in this. You can read it later this week.
Speaker 1:Pharaoh had a plan After Joseph. Remember, joseph is the son, the dreamer of Jacob, one of 12. Joseph gets sold by his brothers into slavery and winds up in Potiphar's house, who is the second in command to Pharaoh, and Joseph is given divine wisdom. And the Bible says that Joseph prospered in everything. He prospered when he was sold and thrown in a pit, he prospered when he was in the palace and he prospered when he was in prison. And so he prospered. And because Joseph prospered, the people of God prospered.
Speaker 1:And when Joseph dies and you pick this up in Exodus, chapter 2, when Joseph dies, it literally says that the people of God, the Israelites, they prospered and they multiplied in great number. They were reproducing at record speeds. Number, they were reproducing at record speeds. And as they're growing in population and they're living in the area of Egypt, pharaoh says listen, there are so many of them and if they keep multiplying, god's math, if they keep multiplying, they're gonna take over all of us.
Speaker 1:And so the evil plan that Pharaoh came up with and it's been the device of the enemy of our life ever since is he said listen, we're gonna kill every boy that is born. When he's born, we'll have a midwife there and if it's a girl, she lives. But if it's a boy, we take him out and kill him, we throw him in the river. We're gonna kill every boy that's born. Every Israelite boy that's born will be killed, because if you have no boys, you'll have no men, and if you have no men, you'll have no army. And if you don't have an army, you don't have any way to advance or protect. And if you don't have an army, you don't have any way to advance or protect. And if you don't have any way, any men. You also have no seed, and it will just take a very short amount of time to take a nation and wipe it out and multiply it for another purpose. Does that not sound like what's happening in our culture?
Speaker 1:But Moses was a child of destiny Because he was protected from that curse. In fact, the Bible says when Moses was born, the mother, she birthed Moses in secret. The mother, she birthed Moses in secret and instead of allowing him to be thrown into the river like all of the other boys, she actually made an ark or a little boat, a basket. She weaved a basket, filled the inside with tar, pitched it with tar. The Bible says, put Moses in there and set him in the calmest spot of the river, where actually Pharaoh's daughter came not too long after that to bathe and when she saw the basket she looked inside and said, wow, this is a boy. Somebody's put this boy here and she picked him up. And Moses's mother was smart enough to have his bigger sister be there and see the moment and say I know somebody who could raise this child. So Moses' mother not only saved him, but she got to raise him and teach him all about God's word, all the commands. The word wasn't written yet, but she knew the articles of God's word, she knew the blessings of God's word, she knew what God had promised and she would share that with Moses while he was growing, before he became of age and actually went to live with Pharaoh's daughter.
Speaker 1:A lot of story, a lot of story. But we can agree that Moses was a man of destiny because he was protected from that evil plot. Can I just say in this room if you're a man in this room, you're a man of destiny. If you're in this room, you're a man of destiny. What the enemy has tried to take you out on it hasn't worked and it's not going to work. There's no assignment that will work. The weapon may be formed but it won't prosper. And if you're sitting in this room you are a testimony to God's grace and God's design that there is a destiny, that God has made you for something greater a time as this man.
Speaker 1:I thank God for the men of this church Men that are praying men, men that'll come work on this building and put their time and labor and sweat equity into this building. Men who will lead their families and give generously and faithfully. Men that are involved in God's house. Men that are involved in small groups, men that are coming to freeway, men that are involved in what God's doing in this house. I thank God for the men. What about you, church? Thank God for them, but we can't forget the women. Moses' mom Come on somebody. If it weren't for our praying mom, I don't know if any of us would be here For the praying grandmother, for the mom that wouldn't just let us go do what we wanted to do, just actually stood a standard in front of us and was like you're going to have to go through me if you're going to go there again. You know the miracles that Jesus performed, that he performed for men in the New Testament. Half of those were done because a woman brought it to Jesus. Come on, we love the ladies of the house, we love the moms of the house.
Speaker 1:What I'm telling you is, if you're in this room, you are a person of destiny, but you can't get your eyes so far ahead on the destiny that you forget about what it's gonna take to get there. You might be thrown in a basket and put on the river. You might be raised in an environment that you didn't expect. You might have to spend a lot of time with the people around you while God's preparing you for the people he's assigned you to. Don't get out in front. Come on, sean, you can come help me close. You see, there's a group of people you're assigned to, but you can't get there until you figure out how to manage with the people that are around you.
Speaker 1:So Moses is protected and we know that Moses is a person of destiny and we know that according to God's word, if you read back through the story of Joseph, god promises that, although the people of Israel will be enslaved, now there's something God knew what was going to happen to his people. God promises that, although the people of Israel will be enslaved, now there's something God knew what was going to happen to his people, but didn't freak them out. God knows where you're at in your life right now. And even though he knew they were in this spot, that was not the promised land. In fact, to this point, outside of Abraham being a man of promise and his seed living as men of promise Until this point, we haven't arrived in the promised land yet. But guess what? We're going to keep priming the promise, because God's not going to fail, never failed, never did, never will. So we know the promise is that they won't be enslaved. In fact, if you read it, he said for 400 years. 400 years, you're going to be slaves in Egypt and then I'll take you out of there. And then I'll take you out of there. Well, right about 398,.
Speaker 1:Moses, who's beginning to understand the destiny part of his life, knows he's an Israelite, being raised in Pharaoh's home, knows he was born and raised on the wrong side of the river, being raised now and educated in the very finest of math and science and politics. The Egyptian government and kingdom it was the establishment for that day and he's being educated in all of that and he knows it. I'm an Israelite being raised in Egyptian culture. And one day he sees an Egyptian attacking an Israelite and he thinks not on my watch, this is what I came, this is it. This is what I came to do, this is my destiny, this is my moment. And he steps over there and he breaks the fight up and he kills the Egyptian. It. And he steps over there and he breaks the fight up and he kills the Egyptian. A couple of days later he sees two Israelites fighting and he's moved with compassion. Brother fighting brother, he's like man. I had to stop the Egyptian from beating the Israelite, but I don't want my brothers to beat one another up. And so he goes to break them up and one of them says what are you over us? That you're going to kill us too? And he knew what he had done would be talked about and was known. And from that moment he runs to the wilderness.
Speaker 1:How many of us can relate with having the right intention but operating in the wrong timeline? God, I know where my destiny is. I know where I'm headed. If I could just go ahead and take it, let me just get there. You're not ready yet. If I could just go ahead and take it, let me just get there. You're not ready yet. That 400 year promise became 480 years because Moses had to spend. He was at that point 40 years old. Another 40 years Moses had to go into the wilderness, and that's where we pick up the scripture Now.
Speaker 1:Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. Time out Midian. Where's Midian? At? Well, abraham had a wife, keturah, and Abraham and Keturah. They had a son named Midian, and Midian became the priest. Midian and Midian became the priest, or. Midian built this city and Jethro became the priest of the city. What's incredible to me, to just kind of lean into here, is that the promise God has for your life is always going to be linked to the generations before you. You see, midian was in the lineage of Abraham, the father of promise. We say he's the God of Abraham, isaac and Jacob. Well, guess what? He's the God of Midian. Midian builds this city and this city is linked to the promises of God.
Speaker 1:And Moses gets to Midian tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And there the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. But guess what? We're getting ready to start linking our destiny with our promise. And Moses saw that, though the bush was on fire, it did not burn up. Though the bush was on fire, it did not burn up. And what he thought was this I'll go over and see this strange sight, why the bush does not burn up. I'm going to stop here today. Listen, listen what God is trying to get us to do on this journey. I know we feel the momentum, we feel the breath and the wind of God behind us. We know we're headed to our best year. Yet God said listen, don't get so far ahead. Prime the promise, because without the promise, the destiny is not gonna be attainable. And this is what I wanna get you involved in church. Right here is this moment. Moses sees the bush on fire, but not burning, and he stops and he looks at it and he says I need to go check this out.
Speaker 1:And so many of us we get so intent on getting to the destiny, we overlook what God is trying to get our attention, what God is using to get our attention. If you missed the word of the promise. Good luck getting to the destiny. If you could see a chain with each individual link from where you are to where God's promise is. You see it. You see that destiny Working the promise, priming the promises, one of those links at a time. Just take one link at a time. You don't have to race forward. Just take one link at a time and when God moves in a miraculous way, you stop and say what am I listening to, what am I seeing?
Speaker 1:When we have moments, like we just had in worship service, where the presence of God moves in a powerful way and there's this notable pause. There's this notable pause where we know well, there might be another song, or maybe Pastor Priscilla or Pastor Ursch or Pastor Ben, they have something they're going to lead us in. It's a song we're going to recognize. There's a notable pause. Listen, don't get so fast to get through the service. Stop and say well, what's this bush burning over here? Let me just, what are you trying to? What are you trying to show? Because it's in that moment God's gonna speak the promise to you. Now, listen, read down chapter four. I think right about verse 19. This is what God says at the burning bush.
Speaker 1:Now the Lord said to Moses in Midian, linked to the promises he's spoken to generations before Go, return to Egypt, for all the men who sought your life are dead. Now it's time to go, moses, now it's time to get there. Now you're gonna walk into your destiny of saying Pharaoh, let my people go and guess what? There's a promise coming down a dusty road for you. There's a promise being ready to deliver to you a word that's going to take you from where you are to where God wants you, and all I can say is are you ready to prime that promise until it comes? Like hey, I'm just going to lean into God's word. I'm. I can say is are you ready to prime that promise until it comes? Like hey, I'm just going to lean into God's word.
Speaker 1:I'm going to lean into worship. I'm going to lean into Sunday service. I'm going to lean into small group. I'm going to lean into serving. I'm going to lean into generosity, because I know what God is about to do. In my life, I've seen him move. He's moved the mountains. I've seen him move. He'll do it again. I've found a way. He's made a way where there seemed to be no way. Come on church. Can you believe that in your heart? Can you lean in for a minute? Let's all stand together.