(292) “We Were Like Them that Dream—God Keeps His Promises”

0:00 Whatever the promise is from God that's in your life, there's a promise that God is going to bring to pass. But do your contending and do your equipping so that when the fullness of time comes, then you'll be ready. God promises in Joel 2 .28 to pour out His Spirit. on all humanity. Welcome to Global Outpouring, where we contend for that promise outpouring, we equip for that outpouring, so that we may engage in that very outpouring. I'm Philip Buss. And I'm Sharon Buss.

0:42 Welcome to the podcast today. We're going to have a wonderful time talking about things that God has done in our lives that have to do with God keeping His promises, like we've just come back from Israel. And I tell you, we were like them, the dream. Thanks so much for joining us today. We're just delighted that we can be together again. And we want to encourage you, if you haven't already done so, to go to our website, globaloutpouring .net. Make sure that you're on our mailing list or lists. We have several to choose from so that we can stay in touch with you and you can continue to. get a hold of things that are available, good content that we have on our website, content that we have on our Facebook page and our YouTube channel, and also our app. We have a global outpouring app that you can download from your favorite app store, Google Play or Apple App Store. We want to just let you know that that's available and also that you should be putting it on your calendar, if you haven't already done so, to plan to be with us for our convention, 2026, May 21st through 24th. in St. Louis at the Hilton Hotel by the airport. So get it on your calendar so that you will be ready to sign up for it as

2:12 soon as we get the registration page up there and get the details on our website soon. That will be coming soon. So we just came back from Israel. And I tell you what, this has been an experience like we've never had before. I started going to Israel as the tour coordinator in training the first time in 1978, kind of a long time ago. Yeah, that is a long time ago. And so, you know, we were going every year for many years. We missed a few years, but not very many, and sometimes more than one time a year. And in recent years, we were going twice a year. And then we were planning a trip For March of 2020. And seven people signed up. And when it was time to give $300 per seat that we were holding to the airlines, it was like, you know, I don't think this is going to work. And that was an indication that something may happen. Well, but we weren't thinking that. Yeah. But we've never canceled a tour before.

3:25 We've never canceled a tour. It was just unheard of. And I was just so taken aback. I'd never seen such a thing. And then when March 2020 rolled around, we understood. God was kind to us. But we thought there was something terribly wrong that we should have to cancel. Well, it was terribly wrong. We didn't have the foresight to know what it was. So then we tried to reschedule for that fall. And of course, that didn't work either. And then the next November, we thought, well, surely we can do it. Surely this will be over by then? Yeah, and it wasn't. No. And then, well, let's skip a year. And then we're looking at 2023. And it was our 25th anniversary of our House of Peace in Jerusalem. And we were going to have a wonderful tour to celebrate that. And two people signed up for that one. So we knew something was going to happen. Well, I still wasn't that smart. Maybe you knew, but I hadn't put it together. The word bumfuzzled comes to me. I'm not sure exactly if that's the right word, but I was just, what is this that we have to cancel again? We've never canceled tours before.

4:42 And so we decided. Well, just you and I will go. And our friends Don and Catherine and James and just the four of us will go to celebrate this wonderful 25th anniversary. And we bought our tickets on October 4th, 2023. Yeah. And, you know, three days later, we know what happened October 7th. And I thought, oh, Israel deals with things really fast. Their wars are usually over in a week or two, and I thought, surely we'll still get to go. No. No. So we were planning, and I finally said, I'm just not going to do anything. And by that time, we had gotten to know Dean Braxton. And Dean was with us on our last episode talking about his experience with us in Jerusalem. And we recorded that in Jerusalem.

5:41 Yes, we did. In the House of Peace. It was wonderful. If you've listened to last week's podcast, then you know what was going on with Dean. But even leading up to this time, it was like, are we really going to get to go? Yeah. Are we really getting to go? Is this really for real this time? And when we took off. I kept having that scripture from the Psalms. We were like them that dream. And that's the remembrance of when the children of Israel began coming back after 70 years in captivity. That's Psalms 126. It's one of the songs of degrees. Oh, yeah. They would speak when they're going up the temple steps. Yes.

6:23 Yeah, when the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue was singing. Then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them. The Lord hath done great things for us, wherein we are glad. And we were glad. That's not the end of the psalm, but that's as far. But we were glad. It was just amazing to land on the ground. Now, when you've been going to someplace year after year, and then there's, you know, it's kind of like God kind of took our passport for six years. Yeah, six and a half. Like took our flying passport. We never flew in the States until, you know, just not long ago. So, you know, so some things, you know, when God does things, there's a reason behind it. Yeah. It was like he pushed the pause button. Yeah. Like sometimes, and you have to wait things out. Yeah. Some things don't, you know, you get a prophetic word and you want it to happen right away. Yes. Don't we all? You remember the... A day is with the Lord a thousand years. Yes, exactly. So, you know, so he takes a few minutes to answer you, you know, on his time clock. Yes. See, God runs on Kairos time, the opportune, you know, that's a set time. But we run on Kronos time, by the clock, by the calendar. Work starts at 8, get off at 5, and you get into this thing. And so we run, most of the clock runs on Kronos, but God runs on Kairos time. And we have to learn

7:53 to get into Kairos time so we can function in Kronos time. Yeah, it's true. It's the difference between walking in the spirit and walking in the flesh. Very well put. And that's the continual challenge in the Scripture, is that we learn to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh. Because the world will teach us to walk in the flesh. That's just the way it is. The world's doing a good job of it, too. Oh, my, my, my, my. Yeah. And you see the whole list of the works of the flesh in Galatians 5. We won't go there this time, but Galatians 5 is one of the places where it really challenges us. Are you going to walk in the flesh? Are you going to walk in the spirit?

8:33 So we have to stop looking so much at our circumstances and look at the promises of God, because God keeps his promises. earlier about what's a story that you can remember of our experiences that has to do with promises coming and sometimes taking a while. Yeah, and we needed to get another car. Our road is kind of, we live on a kind of a rough road. It's a steep road and it needs a good four -wheel drive. And we have some very good friends, you know, Rod and Ellie Hine down in Africa. They're in Zimbabwe. They were raising funds for a new car. It was a mid -1980s Land Cruiser. So we sowed some seed into getting that.

9:28 And we still didn't get our new car, didn't get our new car, didn't get a new car or a newer car even. Any kind of car. And so that was in the late 80s, probably like 1987, something like that. So that car they're getting is only like three years old. Right. So it was in 1997. We got a car. We got a four -wheel drive. I just picked Sharon up from, no, you flew in from China. I think so, yeah. Yeah, you were in China, and we're coming back, and I saw this four -wheel drive sitting up there, and I thought, I'm going to go look at that tomorrow. It's just about five miles down our road. I came back, and it's this beautiful 1984 Toyota Land Cruiser, and my jaw just kind of dropped. I thought, a Land Cruiser, wow. You know, that's one of the ultimate.

10:16 off -road cars they use in Africa and everywhere else in the world. Yeah. You know, and we were able to purchase this. And then some years later, and we've had it, it'll be going on 29 years now. We've had the same car, you know, and it still runs great. And I found pictures of the car that the folks in Africa that we helped to buy, and it was the same exact one as ours, the same color. And everything. Everything. You know, and this is like 20 years later, 25. So I took pictures of our car and I sent it to him, you know, and I said, you know, though the vision, Terry, you know, wait a long time for that seed to come to fruit, you know. We weren't really even, I mean, maybe you were, maybe you were thinking that you were sowing seed that eventually was going to give us a car. I was just. sowing seed. It didn't dawn on me to name the seed.

11:09 Maybe we did. We probably did at the time, I'm guessing, because we knew to. But it wasn't until later that we realized, oh, looky here. There's a promise. There's a promise fulfilled. It's so good. It's so good. Yeah. So, you know, we've been so blessed through these years, you know, being down here. And I remember the first time I went to Israel was 1981. Yeah. We were married in July, and so this is October. And we got to go. The money was there, worked out to get the trip. And so next year rolls around. I thought, you know, I really want to go again, you know. Plus, Sharon was going, you know. You know, when your spouse goes away, you like to be together, you know. But it didn't work out for me to go.

11:57 So the next year, so the tour was like 10, 11 days. So I fasted 10 days, you know, kind of twist God's arm to go on this tour. And that was in 1983. Didn't go. Didn't go in 84. Didn't go in 85, I don't think. But then I thought, okay, I'm not going to fast. Because I did this every year. I fasted to go to Israel. And it didn't happen. But you were sowing seeds. But I was sowing seeds. So then after we started going like in 85 or 86 it was, and we'd been going almost every year after that. So I've been to Israel probably over 30 times myself. So I just had to keep sowing some more seed. It just took it a while to germinate. There you go. There you go. So, you know, sometimes you have a promise from God. that you wonder when it's going to happen. You know, the one thing that I'm reminded of the most in that kind of a story is in 1976, I came for the first world convention of the end time handmaidens. That was the name of this ministry early on. And I was listening to our founder, Gwen Shaw, speaking. And I was so hungry for God. I was just front and center. I was on the front row right in the center like a little bird with its mouth open, feed me, feed me. And I heard the Holy Spirit say, you will take her place when she's gone. And I dropped to my knees

13:30 and I wept and I thought I understood what that meant. So I volunteered to come and Sister Gwen said, I don't think this is your time. And then it wasn't quite a year. later, maybe nine months later or so, I volunteered again. And I wanted to come after convention and serve for the summer. And I was told, no, I think we're going to have so many people here after convention that I don't think it'll be possible for you to come. And so I thought, oh, well, I thought I was hearing from God. Well, I got there to the convention, the second convention. I was immediately put to work, which was okay with me. You know, it's all about serving. And I was told by the same person, I guess it was Sister Gwen said to me in between meetings, she said, the girls are expecting you to come after convention. Are you coming? I said, well, I wasn't planning to because, you know, I'd been told that I couldn't months earlier. And then the same person who told me I couldn't come said to me, I really think you should come. Out of the mouth of two or three witnesses, let it be established. So I came.

14:43 Anyway, long story short, I came for the summer and I've been here ever since. And that was 1977. That's a long time. And the word, you will take her place when she's gone, came to pass 37 years later. How many people would wait that long? Well, you know, eventually I put it on the shelf because. Yeah. I didn't want Sister Gwen to leave us anytime soon. And if it wasn't God, I wasn't interested in having it happen anyway. You only want God's will. Yeah. So when you get a prophetic word that just seems way out of your box, that the circumstances don't look right, it's just you don't reject the word. You put it on the shelf and you wait for confirmation. Right, right.

15:31 And then when it comes, you'll have that knowing. You really have that knowing. It'll like lighten up in you. Yeah, it's true. And it could be at a time that would just totally upset your apple cart. Yeah. So there's lots of promises that we tend to look at circumstances and say it's impossible. Like look at Abram and Sarai, okay? Abraham and Sarah before their names were changed. He was 75 years old and Sarah was barren. When God told them to get up and go and do what I told you to do in the first place, you know, he went with his father for a while and they went a little ways and then they stopped. And when his father died, then God told him to go on and do what I told you to do. So go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation. There's the promise.

16:30 I will make of you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. And him who dishonors you, I will curse. Notice that the first part is plural and the second one is singular. Okay. Okay. Him who dishonors you will I curse. Not them. Him. Okay. It's singular. and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. So Abram went. God told him to go, and he went. As the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him, Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran. That's Genesis 12, 1 through 4 from the ESV. Then eight years later, eight years later, Genesis 15, Abram says, what about this son? You know, you promised me that... It's been eight years. Yeah. So why don't you read Genesis 15, 1 through 6. After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision.

17:33 Fear not, Abram. I am your shield. Your reward shall be very great. But Abram said, O Lord God, what will you give me? For I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus. And Abram said, behold, you have given me no offspring and a member of my household will be my heir. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him. This man shall not be your heir. Your very own son shall be your heir. And he brought him outside and said, look toward heaven and number the stars. If you are able to number them, then he said to him, so shall your offspring be. And he believed the Lord and he counted it to him as righteousness. Key, right there. Believe the Lord and accounted it to him as righteousness.

18:22 Exactly. It's the believing the promise. Even if it's going to take a while, it's the believing that helps you get there. It's the believing that gives you the faith. It's the believing that gives you the patience. And just put it on the shelf. and let God do it. You might say put it on the back burner and let it simmer. Let it simmer, yeah. That's better. And then in verse 13 it says, And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that your seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them four hundred years. But in the fourth generation, they shall come out here again. For the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. So the Amorites were a people group that were in Canaan. They were one of the descendants of some of the descendants of Canaan. And their iniquity was iniquity, but it wasn't complete. It hadn't gotten to that point where it's kind of like filling up the cup. You know, God gives, and I've seen this over and over in the scripture, God gives about 400 years for people to either get it together or they don't get it together and they don't.

19:47 So God doesn't take a deep breath and count to 10. Right. He counts to 400 years. And people who read the Old Testament don't tend to think in terms of how many years have gone by before God brings judgment. They just see him bringing judgment over and over again. But there's these 400 -year spans, 400 and something, 430, 416, whatever, 400 and something that that kind of a span happens. So here's a promise that God gives. to Abram, that his seed is going to inherit this land, right? And it's over 400 years. Now, Isaac hadn't even been born yet, okay? So there's Isaac, and then there's Jacob, and Joseph goes into Egypt. So I'm not sure how many years that is, but Isaac was 40 years old when he even married Rebecca, and she was barren for a while. I think he was 60 when Jacob and Esau were born, the twins. So there's another 60 years plus. Yeah.

20:59 Okay. And then Joseph has to grow up somewhat. You know, it's probably another, at least another 20 something years. So, you know, we're looking at 80 years before they even go into Egypt. And they're there for 400, 430 years, something like that. And then there are another 40 years in the wilderness. That's a lot of years. But the promise of God is still sure. It doesn't matter how long it takes, but there's a certain time. There's a certain time when it comes to that moment. It is the time for it to happen, and boom, it happens. Right? So, you know, you've got this. We kind of skipped over it. Sarah was 90 years old. Abraham was 100 years old. When they finally had Isaac. Yeah. So, you know, that's already 25 years from the time Abram gets told you're going to be a great nation before he has his first child. Well, actually, he had Hagar as a temporary wife. Concubine. A concubine.

22:11 And Ishmael came out of that, you know, when they tried to help God out. Yeah. Let's help God keep his promise. Oops. Yeah, because that has bitter consequences to this day. Yeah, to this day. Absolutely. You know, it's interesting to me, looking at the women in the Bible that were barren and the sons that came out of those barren women, because God gave them the promised child, but they were special children. Like, so you got Isaac. And I love that the name Isaac came because his name means laughter. Laughter, yeah. Okay? Sarah laughed when she heard God say that she's going to have a baby. And she's like, you've got to be kidding. But then when it takes place, you know, I kind of feel like that was sort of how we were when we got to Israel.

23:10 It was like I couldn't keep from laughing because it's like, oh, we're here. We're here. We're really here. It really hit. It finally happened. And there's a laughter. There's a joy. There's a happiness that comes when the promise comes. And it does come. So, listener, if you have a promise from God and you're wondering, is it ever going to get here? Yes, it is going to get there. But you've got to wait for it. And in the meantime, be doing something to get yourself ready for it. Yeah, it's like you get a prophetic word, you pray into it. Yeah, you pray into it. Sit around and wait for it to happen. And maybe if you've gotten a promise that you're going to preach. Maybe during that time you should be studying the Bible. Yeah. Yeah. Like, you might go to Bible school, you might do a course online, or just get in your Bible and read and read and read, and read and read and read and read and study and compare Scripture with Scripture.

24:12 So you'll be ready. So you'll be ready. You'll be equipped. Equipped. And you also contend for it. Like you said, you pray. You pray into your promise. Pray into your promise. Okay, so the next one after Sarah was Rebecca. Rebecca was also barren. And what was the difference for her? What made the difference in her situation that changed her barrenness? Genesis 25, 20 to 24. Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebecca. the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean, or the Syrian, of Paddan Aran, the sister of Laban the Aramean. Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife because she was unable to conceive children. There you go. Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife. She was unable to conceive children. And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah, his wife, conceived.

25:07 But the children struggled together with her, kicking and shoving one another. And she said, If it is so that the Lord has heard our prayer, then why am I this way? So she went to inquire of the Lord. The Lord said to her, The founders of two nations are in your womb, and the separation of two nations has begun in your body. The one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger. When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. Okay, so... Double portion. Double portion. Isaac prayed and God gave twins. And did you notice there was a moment in time that the days were fulfilled and she gave birth?

25:54 Days fulfilled. Yeah. So every pregnancy lasts approximately nine months. Sometimes it goes longer, sometimes it goes shorter, but there's a length of time. And that baby is going to be born in the right time. You know, I'm reminded of when our daughter was on the way. And, you know, we knew that the signs were there, that it's time to go to the hospital, right? And we got there, and the doctor checked me and said, I'll come back at lunchtime and break your water and you can have this baby today. And he left.

26:37 No, I guess he did that by phone call. And the contractions had stopped by that point. And I said to the nurse, I don't want him to break my water. And she said, well, why not? I said, because I know that if he breaks my water and I don't go into labor, then he's going to give me Pitocin. And if that doesn't work, then... He's got me set up for a C -section, and I don't want that. She says, well, I guess you know the ropes. And so he came back at his lunch. So any of you people listening, if you're pregnant, your wife is pregnant. Yeah, pay attention to that. So he came back at his lunchtime, and he said. Not happy. No, he was not happy. He said, I thought you wanted to have this baby today.

27:24 I said, I want to have this baby when it's time for the baby to come. And he said, well, you might as well go home now because you're not in labor. I said, I'm not? I mean, I was having a few contractions, but what had been pretty regular when we came had dropped off because they put me to bed with a monitor instead of letting me move around. So I didn't think that was, well, I mean, who am I? What am I? Anyway, so he wasn't happy. He sent me home. I think we were only about not even halfway home and the contractions started again. And I was tired and I was hungry. So I just had lunch and I went to bed and I slept until the contractions woke me up. And meanwhile, you went to... I went to the print shop. Yeah, you were printing a book cover or something. And so my sister was with me, thankfully. I guess it was about 11 o 'clock you came home, and I'm thinking, okay. And Sister Gwen had said, why did you bring her home? You should have stayed in Harrison and gotten a hotel room. I was just too tired to go there immediately.

28:38 So by the time you came in, I was having very regular contractions. Yeah, I took one look at you, and I thought, oh. Boy, I think we need to get you in quick. So I said, well, let's just go to the hospital and check and see how far along I am, and then we'll check into a hotel. Yeah, I had to stop three times going up the hill while you're having your contraction on this rough road until I got to the highway. And then we got to Dogpatch. which is... Still about 10... It's about 15 minutes from town, from the hospital. And I said, I can't keep from pushing. And, you know, it was my first baby, so I didn't know what... They always said... It'll feel good to push. But I didn't know that my body was going to start pushing without me. So anyway, we got...

29:32 So we flew there, ran some lights and... Well, don't confess that. Okay. But it was after midnight by this time. And we got to the hospital and the nurse checked me and said, you're 10 centimeters and bulging. So, you know, it was time. But the point is that we waited for the time. Instead of pushing the time like the doctor wanted to, she would have been born on a different day. Because it was after midnight when she was born. So there's something about the timing of the Lord, that he knows what he's doing in setting our time clock. So it's worth waiting to get the right result. Because I didn't want to have a C -section. That wasn't a good way to start, in my opinion. So here we have Isaac, whose wife, in the fullness of times, when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, she had twins in her womb. And so she had this promise from God that the elder is going to serve the younger. So when it came time for Isaac to say, Esau, go get me some venison and fix it the way I like it, and I'm going to bless you. Because I don't know how long I'm going to live. And by this time he was blind, so he's thinking he's going to go pretty soon. And he lived a lot of years after that. But, you know, sometimes you push the time, right? So she's thinking, okay, the elder is

31:06 supposed to serve the younger, so I'm going to help God. And I'm going to help Jacob deceive his dad so that he can get the double portion. Because the firstborn gets a double portion. Right? That's the way that it works. So that the firstborn takes care of mom and dad because he's got the double portion. He's going to take care of mom and dad until their end and inherit twice as much. So he becomes the patriarch of the family. You know, she helped him out. She helped God out. And well, you know, ultimately, I don't know that the Bible doesn't say, but it looks like maybe Jacob never got to see his mom again. Okay. Because don't help God out.

31:49 God probably had another plan to make that come to pass. But, you know, Rebecca had the promise, so she's going to push through. She's going to help God out. Well, we don't have to help God out. Let's just let God be God, and he will do the thing that he promises. Like, you know, you get Hagar, and you get Ishmael, and then you get... let's help God. No, we don't have to help God. Let God be God, right? So then Jacob goes off and he finds his uncle and he falls in love with the younger daughter, Rachel, and gets deceived.

32:30 So, you know, there's this deception in the family, right? It's just the way it is in the family. There's family traditions you didn't know. Yeah, that wasn't a good one. So then, you know, Jacob falls in love with Rachel, but the dad is saying, you know, you can't marry off the younger one without marrying the older one first. And the older one was, the King James calls it tender -eyed. She was probably, Leah was probably nearsighted. And, you know, so she was kind of like not the most, I don't know, attractive or... you know, Jacob fell for Rachel, but he got Leah. And so God saw that Leah was hated and he opened her womb and he gave her children. And she keeps thinking the more children she's going to have, she's going to earn Jacob's love, but he still just loves Rachel. He loved Rachel even though she never had the children. Yeah. And then there comes this point where Rachel says, give me children or I... die because she's desperate to have children.

33:37 Well, Jacob didn't do what his dad did. His dad had prayed for Rebecca and she conceived. But Jacob got angry and said, am I in God's place? I'm not, you know, I can't make this happen. Let me just read it from the Amplified. It says, Give me children or I'll die. Jacob became furious with Rachel and he said, Am I in the place of God who's denied you children? She said, Here, take my maid Bilhah and go into her. And when the baby comes, she shall deliver it while sitting on my knees, so that by her I may also have children to count as my own. So she gave him Bilhah, her maid, as a secondary wife. And Jacob went into her. Bilhah conceived and gave birth to a son for Jacob. Bilhah, Rachel's maid, conceived again, gave birth to a second son for Jacob. And when Leah saw that she had stopped bearing children, she took Zilpah, her maid, and gave her to Jacob as a secondary wife. Zilpah, Leah's maid, gave birth to a son for Jacob and then gave a second son. And God listened and answered the prayer of Leah, and she conceived. I'm leaving out some verses in between just to make the point. Leah conceived and gave birth to a fifth son for Jacob, and then a sixth son, and then a daughter named Dinah. And God remembered the prayers of Rachel, and God thought of her and opened her womb so that she would conceive. So after all this time.

35:01 This is some years here now. Years. Rachel finally conceives. and God gave her a child. She conceived and gave birth to a son, and she said, God has taken away my disgrace and humiliation. So she named him Joseph, which means may he add, and said, may the Lord add to me another son. So she was speaking faith that she wasn't only just going to have one child, she was going to have two. And she did. And of course, she died in childbirth in the second. with the second son. But, you know, the point is here that God grew a family for Jacob so that these were the patriarchs of the 12 tribes. And so here's this promise of, I will make you a great nation, God said to Abraham. And then all he gets is one son that has the promise, Isaac. Isaac has two sons. Jacob has 12 sons. Boom! Yeah. A population explosion, so to speak. You see, you have these special children. So what was special about Joseph? Well, he was the one that had the dreams. Right. He would have the dreams, which was the future for the, which would be the nation of Israel. Right.

36:19 And he was the one that, you know, the jealous brothers sold him into Egypt because, you know, here is this special son. The special son of Jacob. Has that coat, the youngest. Right. Not the youngest yet, because you still had, Benjamin was the youngest, but Joseph, well, he just had something that the others didn't. And I think his dad realized that. Well, yeah, but he didn't realize the jealousy that would, what the outcome would be because of what he did. That's true. That's true. But he was the son of his beloved wife. Yeah. And the fact that he was born of a woman that was barren. So he's got this something special about him. And he wound up becoming a savior. He saved not only all of Jacob's sons, but he saved all of Egypt and the whole region because God gave him the wisdom to do that. And then when the next son came along and Rachel died in childbirth, Jacob named him. the son of my right hand. In other words, he saw Rachel as his right hand. Rachel was his beloved. And so this is a special child too, right? He was the spoiled boy of the family, right? So there's something special about these children that come from a barren mother. Okay, so here's another one. In the book of Judges, there's a man named Manoah. And his wife, we don't learn his wife's

37:51 name, but she has a visit from an angel. And this angel says, you're going to have a child. And you need to not have anything from the vine. This child is going to be a Nazarite. This child is going to be dedicated to God. She was a barren mother, a barren woman. She had no children. So she's, you know. Especially in that culture. Yeah, it was important to have a son. Yeah, it's important to have children. It's important. And so the child that was born was Samson. And God used him. And he was a judge over Israel. Right.

38:32 And it wasn't the kind of judge you think. God used him to kind of mess their minds up and other things too. Yes. And people who have had a visit to heaven, and have seen Samson have said that he wasn't this big muscle builder looking guy. Yeah, we think of Samson as this seven foot tall with these rippling muscles. Right, but he wasn't. He was just an ordinary guy. Probably kind of like me, you know. 135 pounds or something. Right, right. Just not your big he -man kind of a guy. But when the Spirit of God came on him, he would have supernatural strength and be able to do things. Boy, that'll preach, won't it? Yeah, it will. And that happens in the anointing. Yes.

39:22 Things happen. Exactly, exactly. And so another one that you have that was a barren woman, remember the story of Hannah and Elkanah? Hannah was another barren woman, and Elkanah took a second wife because he needed to have children. Yeah, and that was up on Shiloh, which we got to go on this last trip. Yes, we did. Yeah. We sure did. And out of her womb came Samuel, the seer and the prophet. Exactly. So if you're out there, somebody listening out there, you want to have a baby, and you haven't been able to have a baby. Look for God's purposes and God's time. Okay?

40:07 The same thing happened with Elizabeth and Zacharias in the beginning of... of Luke, the book of Luke. You know, Zacharias was this godly man. He's in the high priest's line and he's doing the incense before the Lord. And Gabriel appears to him and tells him, you know, your prayers have been heard. You're going to have a son. And he says, come on, you got to be kidding. And so, you know, he gets struck dumb because life and death are in the power of the tongue. So, you know, you're going to be silent because you weren't, paying attention. You weren't listening. You just need to be quiet on this. And so John the Baptist came from that barren woman. Okay.

40:53 So if you are looking for a promise from God to come to pass, trust that it's going to come to pass, but do your part in the meantime. You know, Elizabeth and Zacharias were godly people and they were doing the godly thing. They were doing what they were supposed to do. But sometimes God puts these things off so that something can be accomplished in your life that wouldn't have been accomplished if you didn't get to that place of desperation. And you need to get to that place of contending. Contending. We're contending for the outpouring. We're contending. We're equipping so that we can engage in the outpouring, right?

41:40 So whatever the promise is from God that's in your life, there's a promise that God is going to bring to pass. But do your contending and do your equipping so that when the fullness of time comes, then you'll be ready. And that baby or whatever it is that you're expecting is going to come. I'm thinking of a brother that we know in Nigeria. After 27 years of marriage, 27 years, they did use in vitro fertilization, but they were able to have a child. And they wound up having three by the time they'd been married for 30 years. Isn't that remarkable? It's remarkable.

42:29 And so whatever it is that you're holding out for, whether it's a baby or whether it's a car or whether it's a spouse, maybe you've been waiting and waiting and waiting. Where is that spouse? Where is that spouse? Where is that one? God has, don't help him. Don't help God by making your own choices to help him out. Help God out by equipping. Help God out by preparing. Help God out by contending in the Spirit, by praying, by helping your own faith in God, by looking to Him, by building your relationship with Him.

43:09 Because He keeps His promises at the proper time. Like where it says in Galatians 4, 4 and 5, when the fullness of the time was come. God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And I like what the NIV says, but when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law. God keeps his promises. But there's a time for it. There's a time for it. And, you know, the same thing for Israel. Okay? We've just come back from Israel, so Israel is on our mind. And if we had lived 200 years ago, we wouldn't have the perspective that we have now, where we're seeing now the things that God promised come to pass in Israel. God has brought his people back to their land. And he promised, saying, Amos 9, 14, and 15, says, also, I shall bring back the exiles of my people Israel, and they will rebuild the deserted and ruined cities and inhabit them. They've done that. They've done that. Yeah. All of these many cities around the land are built in the places where the ancient cities were, many of them. And they're called by that name. They will also plant vineyards and drink their wine and make gardens and eat

44:41 their fruit. I will also. Plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted from their land which I have given them, says the Lord your God. Yeah, and we've seen that firsthand. Yeah. Wow. Firsthand. And then Isaiah 11 and 12. What does that say? Then it will happen on that day that the Lord will again acquire with his hand a second time the remnant of his people, who will remain from Assyria. from Egypt, from Patros, from Cush, or Ethiopia, from Elam, from Shinar, Babylon, and Hamath, and from the coastlands bordering the Mediterranean Sea. And he will lift up a signal for the nations and assemble the outcasts of Israel. And he will gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. That's exactly what he's done.

45:35 And that's just what he did. Yeah. And they're still coming in. They're still coming. And more will come in as politics change. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. It's time for a massive. Mass is Aliyah. Aliyah. Aliyah. They call it Aliyah, which means going up. Going up. You're ascending to go to the land that God promised. He promised it to Abram something like 4 ,000 years ago. Or maybe it's 3 ,500 years ago. 3 ,500 years ago, 3 ,600 years ago, something like that. You know, the point is God keeps his promises. And I love what Hosea 6, 1 through 3 says in the Amplified, Come and let us return in repentance to the Lord, for he has torn us, but he will heal us. He's wounded us, but he will bandage us. After two days, he will revive us. On the third day, he will raise us up that we may live before him.

46:34 So let us know and become personally acquainted with him. Let us press on to know and to understand fully the greatness of the Lord, to honor, heed, and deeply cherish him. His appearing is prepared and is as certain as the dawn. Happens every day. It's certain. And he will come to us in salvation like the heavy rain, like the spring rain watering the earth. And I love the fact that it says, after two days he will revive us. On the third day he will raise us up that we may live before him. Because Psalm 90 verse 4 says, for a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it has passed, or as a watch in the night. And Peter gives us a better clue as to what that means. In 2 Peter 3 .8, what does that say? Nevertheless, do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like one day. So Hosea prophesied that after 2 ,000 years, God would raise up Israel again. And it has happened. It has happened.

47:48 It is happening. It is amazing. And no matter what the angry neighbors round about try to do, They won't succeed. That's right. Because the scripture says, and that's as good as done. Yep. Because God keeps his promises. Yeah. Even if it takes two millennia. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. So let's pray for our listeners, shall we? Father, we thank you that you are good for your promises. You will keep your promises. You're a promise -keeping God. Help us to have the patience and the endurance to persevere. and believe you and let it be counted to us for righteousness that we believe you, that we believe what you said in your word. We believe that these things that you've promised us are coming to pass. We believe that Jesus is returning. We believe that you are sending your outpouring on all flesh, that you're going to pour out your spirit in a way like we have never seen before. And we're expecting that every person If you enjoyed today's podcast, please subscribe, rate, and review this podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

49:20 Your review helps the podcasting platform suggest this podcast to other listeners who are also looking for a great move of the Holy Spirit. Check out our website at globaloutpouring .org to find out more information, read our blogs, connect with us, and donate. You can also browse our web store for life -changing anointed books. Until next time, this is Sharon Buss. And I'm Philip Buss. God bless you with His overwhelming, loving presence.