FREE.CHURCH - FREE CHURCH OAK PARK
FREE.CHURCH - FREE CHURCH OAK PARK
Priming the Promise II // Pastor Chuck Colegrove // March 4, 2025
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So the year was 2005, and we were living in Houston at the time and I had been driving a 1986 BMW 318, old classic BMW. It was one of the funnest rides and I had so much fun driving that thing around town, and my pastors and I from our home church, grace Church in Houston, we took a little day trip and so I drove one of my pastors to meet the others and then we took off and we were actually gone for a couple of days. We toured all through Texas and met pastors and experienced some great stuff together. And then we got home and so I was going to give my pastor a ride back to his house they live not too far from us and so we jumped in the old 1986 BMW 318 and started it up, started just fine, started driving and got around the corner from where we were leaving to where we were going, and I realized we were out of gas. Now, to my defense, it's not because I let it get so low on purpose, it's because on that old vehicle the little gas gauge was a little temperamental, so it looked like we had a quarter of a tank of gas when in fact we had zero tank of gas.
Speaker 1:So here I am with my pastor trying to be, you know, good impression, good leader, and we're running out of gas on the side of the road. So we call his brother, my other pastor, and say, hey, we need some help. And so he shows up with a little tank, little gas can, full of gas. And so we put the gas in the car and I go to start the car and it won't start. I'm like, oh man, I thought it was. It says still says a quarter of a tank, by the way. And he's like well, it's got gas in it. I said, yeah, I know. He's like well, pop the hood. And I'm like, come on, ain't nobody want to be in a car where you have to be on the side of the road and pop the hood. Come on, because you know you're just going to look in there and not know what you're doing. I'm just going to look like I know what I'm doing. So I'm in there and I'm pointing and he says, hey, like, take off that little, let's open up the get ourselves to the distributor. I said, I mean to the carburetor. I said, say what he's like open up that little spot, let's get to the carburetor. I said okay, and he said is there any gas in that gas can? I said, well, I mean a few drops. And he says come, come on, he pours a little bit of that gas into that carburetor. He says, now try it. Man, that thing started right up. It sounded like a dream. I was like what's the deal? He said, well, you ran it out of gas dry, ran it dry out of gas. We put gas in the tank but there's nothing near the motor. You got to prime that motor a little bit so that you can get it running again. It's the year I learned if you're ever stranded on the side of the road on the journey from where you are to where you want to be, you've got to prime the promise. Prime the motor, prime the promise. Come on, leave your neighbor and say, hey, we're about to prime the promise. And then the one you've been ignoring, all service just kind of bump him and go hey, let's start that thing up. Let's go, let's get it started. Let's get it started in here. That's what you should have said here.
Speaker 1:We are the second week of our series Prime the Promise, prime the Promise. And just in recap, we talked about faith for a little bit, that this journey of following Jesus is a faith experience. It's not a one-time faith situation. It's not like you just say yes and then that's it. Although man worship team brought me back to church camp singing yes, lord, yes, lord, that was circa 1990, early 2000s. Come on y'all, we used to have some. You think it's electric? Camp meeting used to go another level. Yes, lord, yes, lord, yes, lord. Everybody was doing like yes with their fists. Come on somebody. But faith is a journey, it's an experience, it's a day-to-day and we came up with this philosophy that faith is actually the gateway to access the grace, to live out the promise, to walk in the promise, to work, the promise to prime the promise and remember. We spent a lot of time talking about Moses last week and we're going to keep talking about Moses.
Speaker 1:If you ever want to read the story of Moses, you start in the book of Exodus, chapter one, and you read through. You can read all the way through Exodus and even into Deuteronomy, and you'll read about the story of Moses, his leadership, his call of God on his life. And we know that Moses was a man of destiny. Moses was raised in an Egyptian home, but his assignment or his destiny was to be an Israelite. He was raised with the best of education and the best culture had to offer at the time the best environment, the best financial practices, all of that. But he was destined to be an Israelite. And there came a point when Moses was getting older, he knew he was raised in the Egyptian home, but he knew he was an Israelite, and he was.
Speaker 1:One day he saw his Israelite brother being oppressed and persecuted by an Egyptian and he literally took matters into his own hand. You see, he knew the destiny on his life and he took his destiny into his own hands and he actually took the life of that Egyptian because he thought this is how I'm going to break the oppression, by my own strength, by my own strength. And after that day, the next time he saw two Hebrew children, two Israelites fighting. They asked him well, you gonna kill us too. And he realized. He realized he had the right intention, but he had the wrong timing. See, moses, this is what I wanna tell you. Moses knew he wasn't Egyptian, that was not his DNA. But he wasn't yet being accepted as an Israelite either. It wasn't his timing.
Speaker 1:And it makes me remember the story of the wedding in Cana, when Jesus shows up on the scene to the wedding and Mary, his mother, comes and says hey, they've run out of wine for the party, which, really, socially, is probably one of the worst things that you could do Is not be able to satisfy the requirement for completing the celebration of the wedding feast. And Jesus responded to his mother. What did he say? He knew he's the miracle worker, but it's not yet his time. He's like Mom, it's not my time yet. And watch what Mary does. She presses and she primes the process and says just do whatever he tells you to do. And she walks away. She had that gas can out, she had that gas can out and everybody's looking around at the empty bottles and empty containers. And she just poured a little gas up on Jesus and said whatever he tells you to do and Jesus, we know, turned water into wine that day.
Speaker 1:You see, priming the promise, learning to understand the DNA and the timing is a part of maturity and I would tell you, a mark of maturity is just as much what you choose as what you will refuse. And because of the dynamic of being out of time and out of order, moses is chased into the wilderness, into the desert, and I'm going to let you know that there are going to be times where you get to feel like you're out in a desert situation. Now I would say corporately, at Free Church, we are not in the desert. Can somebody agree with me today? This is not a desert that we've entered into. But maybe, personally, you feel like you are in, or you have been in, a desert, and I'm just going to tell you it doesn't mean the promise changes or the destiny changes. You just got to learn to mature in what's happening around you.
Speaker 1:See, because the desert is known for a couple of things. One thing we know. We know the desert is known for a lack of water or a lack of moisture in the air, and it's moisture in the air that pulls the rain down and the desert lacks that. But we also know the desert is known for extremes. By day it can be too hot, so hot it'll kill you, you might say too hot to handle, but by night it's too cold to hold. It's so hot in the day it'll kill you, but it's so cold at night it might freeze you to death. Extremes and doesn't it seem like when we're following Jesus? There's this space in our life that feels like extremes. We go from being on fire for God to the next thing the devil's meeting us right where we're at and we feel like so far from God. But it's just an extreme and you gotta know. It's maturity to know how to handle it. And we feel like we're on fire for God but nobody's noticing we're not getting any high fives. Nobody knows the prayers we're praying, nobody knows the promises we're priming, nobody knows the work we're doing. I'm gonna tell you it's gonna be a mark of maturity in how you handle that. Oh, not enough accolades. Well, they just don't know how gifted I am. Well, you know what? Maybe it's not your time yet. Or the other extreme You're doing so good, doing so much, and you man Crickets.
Speaker 1:Back in 2012, when our family moved here to plant this church. We got here in January because I knew if we would move in January, we would split our first winter in half. If we're going to have a first winter in our life, we just want a half a winter. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I'm not really the dullest either. So we get to Oak Park and we put our boys in school the first couple of days we're living here and then we're like let's get to work, let's get to planting the church Around the world. Our friends are doing incredible things and their social media is blowing up and there are like thousands and thousands on the weekend and miracles and million dollar offerings.
Speaker 1:And we're watching all this and I literally had a friend call me and say hey, how's it going Chicago? I'm like it's okay, it's good, it's great, we love it. It's snowing and um, he's like well, I'm just a little concerned about you. And I said well, what are you concerned about? He's like you're not posting anything. I'm like what's to post? We've lived here like a week and a half. We're just trying to figure out how long it takes to get a train downtown. That's like we're trying to get our kids to like the city. He's like well, you need to start posting more wins.
Speaker 1:I was like you know what we've learned in the first two weeks? If somebody just smiles at us, it's a win. If somebody just nods their head and looks our way and says that sounds pretty cool, then that's a win. Nobody was lining up at our door to go to Bible study, but you know what, if they just were like, hey, how you doing today. That was a win and it was in those seasons where we seemed like it was a desert situation we had to mature ourselves to understand. It's not by the accolades of men, it's not by what they say or what they do not say. It's all for the glory of the Lord, and sometimes just a smile is just enough drop of a water in our life to sustain us until the next moment. It's a mark of maturity and we know that in the desert.
Speaker 1:We read this last week but I'm going to bring it back to our attention in case you missed it. But we know, in the desert Moses is leading the sheep and he's on this journey and he's walking on the backside of the desert and he knows he has a destiny to lead God's people. But he's in the middle of nowhere and has no one. And he looks over and he sees a bush that is burning with fire but not being consumed. Let's pull that scripture up in Exodus, chapter three, verses three and four. We read it last week, but let's read it again, chapter three, verse three. There we go.
Speaker 1:So Moses, thought, sees the burning bush. He says I will go over and see this strange sight, why the bush does not burn up, and we talked about it last week how sometimes you're waiting on God to do something and God's just waiting on you to notice him, just waiting on you to notice him. You're waiting on God to pour out something, establish something, build something, explode something, show you something. And God's just saying maybe he'll notice this, maybe he'll notice this, maybe he'll notice this. Moses says I'm going to go look at what's going on. I got to go see what's going on and look at this next verse.
Speaker 1:When the Lord saw that Moses had gone over to look, god called to him from within. The bush Now I've heard this preached all my life. I don't know that I've ever heard somebody take the moment to say this. God did not call out of the bush until Moses stopped to look to see what was happening. Moses turned aside and then God called out. And I just think in some of these moments, whatever you were doing last year, hey, we're on our way to our best year ever. And the reason why I can say this is because I know there's enough of you that have stopped doing what you've normally been doing, expecting the same results, and you started to notice something. Something's happening on Sunday. Something's happening in a small group. Something's happening through the freeway, something is happening amongst the dream team, something's happening in witness, something's happening in monastery. Something is happening at 6 am, wednesday prayer. Something is happening at Saturday first Saturday, 9 am prayer.
Speaker 1:And I'm just going to stop what I've normally been doing and pay attention. And when you stop, god speaks, god calls him and says Moses, moses. And Moses says here I am. And what God unpacks next is the word, is the promise that's going to get Moses to his destiny. And I'm just going to tell you you may know a get Moses to his destiny. And I'm just gonna tell you, you may know a little bit about your destiny and it probably is great in what you've seen so far, but you're not gonna even come close to that destiny until you get a word from God. And you're never gonna get a word from God until you stop and turn aside and listen to what God is about to say. And I'm going to tell you in this house today is a day of the word of promise for your life, for those of you in the desert situation, just your willingness to stop and turn aside and God says oh, I've got a word for you today. It is a word of promise and I'm going to let you know the promise maker, the promise keeper, the way maker, the miracle worker, has moved in this house with a word for your life that is going to change your moment from what you thought to what it should be. Thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus. So Moses turns to see, god speaks.
Speaker 1:And now Moses doesn't just have a destiny, he's got a promise Jeremiah 29, 11. For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, a plan of hope, a plan for a future not defeat and not calamity. And we love to use that verse and run with that verse. You know, but I'm going to tell you God has a defined purpose for your life. But you know what. That purpose will be hard to achieve without the promise.
Speaker 1:You're going to have to gather yourself, hear the word of God and then, once you get that promise that links you to your purpose, you don't ever let go of it, no matter what it looks like, no matter what it looks like, no matter what it feels like, no matter what everybody's doing around you, no matter what's happening to the people that you're assigned to you, don't let go of that word. Well, what you doing today? I don't see anything happening. That's all right, I gotta promise. I gotta promise, I gotta promise. Let's think about this and let me just tell you. This is why I want to encourage you. If you feel like you're in the desert, it's okay. If you're coming out of the desert, it's okay. If you've had a season around you where everything feels quiet and you're not getting enough high fives or maybe everybody's giving you too many high fives, I don't know. It's a season of extremes. Listen, you just got to learn how to handle it, because something good is happening in the desert.
Speaker 1:Moses spent 40 years in the desert 40 years. He went into the desert 40 years old. He's coming out of the desert 40 years old. He's coming out of the desert 80 years old. But he's not just only coming out older, he's coming out more mature. And look what he learned in the desert. Look what God was doing in the desert.
Speaker 1:Chapter four, verse 19. Now the Lord said to Moses in Midian go, return to Egypt, for all the men who sought your life are dead. See, you thought there was the delay in the destiny, but God was just protecting you. Why is it taking so long. Well, there's a few people where you're about to go that need to be taken out. Why? Why I gotta do this tour one more time because there's an assignment that's on your life up there that I gotta go take care of for you. You thought the delay was to slow you down, because there's an assignment that's on your life up there that I got to go take care of for you. You thought the delay was to slow you down. No, it was to protect you. Oh, you thought you having to serve in coffee or serve in kids or greet at the front door was just you having to play second fiddle. But maybe God's not using that to help you play second fiddle. He's helping you get prepared for where he's taking you. You thought the quiet season is a waste, but actually it's a time of preparation, because the desert is growing you up and getting you ready All right. So let's jump ahead of the story. Let's jump ahead.
Speaker 1:So Moses gets back to Egypt and if you've ever been in Sunday school ever before or you've ever been to any kind of church camp, you know the message that Moses is about to walk into Pharaoh with. He's about to say Pharaoh, pharaoh, oh, oh, let my people go. Anybody Y'all don't even know. Y'all didn't grow up in the youth group. I grew up in man. We would be like Pharaoh, pharaoh, oh, let my people go. Uh-uh, uh-uh. You got it. See Exodus 5-1.
Speaker 1:Afterward, moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh look it, here comes the word, the promise. Thus says the Lord, god of Israel let my people go. He thought I made that up. It's actually what happened in the Bible. And look what Moses could do could not do. What Moses could not do in his own strength, he's about to do by his voice. See, you've been trying stuff on your own strength, under your own power, by your own hand. I know the destiny God's had for my life. I'm going to just go do it. I'm going to just put yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But until you get a promise it ain't going to happen on your own strength. But what does the scripture say? Not by might, not by power, but my spirit says the Lord and Moses had a promise. And Moses, because Moses had a promise, he could go into that courtroom and he could look at Pharaoh and say God says let my people go. I don't have to beat anybody up, I don't have to fight anybody about it.
Speaker 1:God's word declared it and I got to thinking about that. I've read that story of those 10 plagues. You know, if you've read the story before, read it this week through Exodus those 10 plagues I started to think about that. I said it must have been really frustrating for Moses to have to keep going back and say let my people go. You know what? I don't think it was. I think he knew he had a promise. I'm not really worried about the outcome because I know who's got the outcome in order and I'm just going to keep going back and declaring the promise. Listen, that gets me to my first idea of the things I've learned as I've read through this story over and over again over the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 1:Number one is it doesn't matter if somebody doesn't hear the promise. As long as you got the promise, you can work the promise. Pharaoh didn't hear that same word. Pharaoh didn't hear that same word. Pharaoh didn't hear God say, oh, they're going to have to go out to the wilderness to worship. No, it was Moses' responsibility to deliver the word. It is your responsibility to hold the word, to prime the promise and deliver it in every situation you can get Well. Well, and it wasn't just that Moses was good with words, because if you read through the story, he really didn't want to go in front of Pharaoh and say anything, because he's like God.
Speaker 1:I'm just not good at talking. I'm just not good at delivering communication. I'm not good at saying it. Well, I can tell you this, moses, you're not great with your hands and you're not good at delivering communication. I'm not good at saying it. I just well, I can tell you this, moses, you're not great with your hands and you're not great with your words. But when God is with you and when you have a promise, you can declare it boldly and without reservation and know that it's gonna come to pass. So that's why I would just tell you to speak the promise over your situation Again and again and again and again.
Speaker 1:Listen, parents, for those of you whose children are not in this room today and you want them desperately to be in this room, there's a promise you've been given. There's a promise you've been given that if you raise them in the way they should go, they will not depart when they're older, and you need to just declare that promise again and again. They're not in the room. Well, you know what? Not yet. And if it takes one year or 30 years or 50 years, I'm not letting go of the promise, because I know the promise keeper delivered that promise. Keep speaking the word over situation. Keep speaking that promise over your children. Speak that promise again and again and again. If you have to go in front of Pharaoh 10 times, just say it again and again and again. Let my people go. And here's another thing let's skip ahead. If you're going to prime the promise, you're going to have to understand the people you're assigned to are not always going to like you. See, you thought you had a promise and that meant everybody would like you.
Speaker 1:Look at Moses. Pharaoh doesn't like him and neither do the children of Israel. But Moses' promise is to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. And if you look in Exodus 5 and 20 and 21, it says then this is the people of Israel. They know they're about to be delivered out of Egypt, but because of all that's happening, the workload has been. They've been given a greater workload. They go to Pharaoh and say we don't know who this Moses guy is. We don't want to go anywhere. Don't make our burden heavier because he's got a big mouth, big mouth. And here's Moses speaking to Pharaoh the promise. So Pharaoh doesn't like him and the children of Israel don't like him. Look, it says.
Speaker 1:Then, as they came out from Pharaoh, who the children of Israel, the leaders of Israel, came out and they met Moses and Aaron, who stood there to meet them and they said let the Lord look on you and judge you, because you've made us abhorrent that's a terrible word in there. You've made us look terrible that's what it basically means In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us. And here's Moses with the promise that's about to lead them out to freedom. Listen, the reason why the people you're assigned to may not like you is because when you speak the promise of God, it has to disrupt the system that they're living in. May not like you Is because when you speak the promise of God, it has to disrupt the system that they're living in. It's not that they hate you and it's not that they hate God, but there's a stirring and a fight To break that system and people won't change until the cost of staying the same becomes greater than the cost of change and if you just drop it, then they're going to just settle back in and be comfortable in their broken system. But don't let go of God's word and keep speaking it over them again and again, because that word is going to break that system and get them out of where they are and lead them to the promised land.
Speaker 1:Last one, last one. Let's see Number 15, number 16, number 17, number 18. I'm joking, listen. This is the word I have for you. This is it Stop For anyone who feels like their system is being disrupted and for anyone who feels like they're speaking a word to disrupt systems and you don't like the feedback and the call and response Is not working for you. This is a word for you. Stop complaining about who's holding you back and start connecting with the ones You're leading out. Stop complaining. Stop complaining about who's holding you back. Well, I would be on my way to the promise, but it's this group of people right here. Stop complaining. Oh, I would get out of this situation if just God would show me the way he is showing you, the way there's a person and there's a promise that's trying to lead you out. And here we are. We're about to go out A little sneak ahead to next week.
Speaker 1:When the children of Israel finally figured it out and decided to follow Moses out the door of Egypt. They left carrying so much of the wealth of Egypt on their shoulders they had to give it and let their kids help carry it. I'm going to tell you, you're priming the promise. It's not just going to be a little trickle. It's not just gonna be a little trickle. It's not just gonna be a little sprinkle. It's not gonna be like okay, there you go. That should no. No, when you prime the promise and the word of God is delivered over your life and you're getting ready to walk out of your Egypt, there is gonna be an outpouring and a blessing that will be so much greater than just your own shoulders can bear. It's going to start. You're going to have to get the people around you to help you. The next generation is going to carry. Listen, listen, listen, listen. I feel the word of the Lord telling me this. Last week we presented an opportunity for you to help our young adults and our students go to Puerto Rico for a mission trip in July. And just in that one single moment of that service, about five minutes in the service you gave, almost, I'm going to just call it. You gave $5,000 to help them go and because you were obedient to respond and be generous, there was another. There was a match of another 10,000 to go towards that. But this is what I feel like the Holy Spirit just told me, as we're doing this for the next generation.
Speaker 1:But guess what? There's a group of children that are like from the zero age, the infant age. They're being rocked downstairs but while they're being rocked, our teachers are reading the word of God over their life. They're singing songs of God over their life. They're singing songs of salvation over their life. They're singing songs of worship over their life. They get to that little crawler stage and they start crawling around and they start putting Bible verses in their hands. They start telling them God's word over and over again. They get to the next stage, that little jump stage, and they're a little bit more activity, but they're getting the word of God in them. And then they get to that first through fifth grade age, that Zoom age where it's moving. Life is moving fast and they're walking every single Sunday out of here with a verse to memorize and to work on. And God just showed me that as we pour out blessings in one area, he is gonna supersede and multiply into that next generation. The blessings of God will flow through generations.
Speaker 1:Some of you, some of you need. Your first responsibility today is just turn aside and say God, I'm done trying it at my own strength and my own timing. I just want to hear a promise. I want to hear the word of God for my life. Listen, I'm going to ask our prayer partners to come to the front quickly. Prayer partners, come to the front quickly. Nobody may come to this, but I feel like the Holy Spirit wants to speak a word. Come on, come quickly. Some of you, this whole moment is a word. Come on, come quickly. Some of you, this whole moment is a setup for God, just to see. Are they gonna turn aside and listen? Do they really wanna hear the promise? The promise, everybody stand together. So, some of you, your very first responsibility is to turn aside and just listen.
Speaker 1:Some of you, you might need to just connect with one of these prayer partners to just seal the word that God's been speaking, because I know, as I've been speaking, the Holy Spirit has been whispering to you and has been encouraging you and has been prompting you, and some of you just need to come and stand with a prayer partner and say, listen, I'm going to prime the promise. I'm going to prime the promise the Bible says when two or three agree in my name, touching anything, asking anything in the name of Jesus, it shall be accomplished. Some of you need just to grab hands with somebody in agreement and say listen, I think this is the word God's speaking over me. I just need somebody to agree with me on it. Or some of you have that promise already. You know what it is and you just need agreement for that salvation of that wayward child, that wayward son. You need agreement for that financial breakthrough. You need agreement for that marriage to be restored, whatever it is.
Speaker 1:Find a prayer partner. Listen, we're going to open up this altar and you might just need to come down and have a moment where you just talk to God and say God, listen, I'm going to follow you, your timing, your plan, my destiny, your promise. I'm going to prime the promise. We're just going to stay for a moment. If you have to leave you can? I just feel like the Holy Spirit's here. I don't know who's going to be the first one to step out of their seat and come find somebody to pray with. Who's going to be the first one to find a spot on the altar, call out on God. Who's going to be the first one to take a step and say you know what I'm tired of doing, what I've always done. I'm ready to see what God wants to do in my life.