Restoration 2012: Restoring Power

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Restoration Ministry

John Bradshaw

Promises of Power

Our Heavenly Father, thank you that we can be here tonight in your presence.

We come to you again in the name of Jesus, asking for your blessing.

We pray, dear Lord, that your Spirit, who we know is here, would be able to reach us and touch our hearts.

Father, there are people watching around the globe, I pray bless everyone.

I ask you, Heavenly Father, that you would break any hardness and give us a soft, malleable heart.

I pray that you would allow us to be focused now and Please, somehow, help us to understand the great value of the things of heaven and the very transient, perishable nature of the things of earth.

Guide us, please, O great Jehovah, we pray.

Now we pray these things of you in the name of Jesus, your Son, our Lord and Savior.

1988 was an election year like this year, an election year.

And you know by now what election years are like.

During election years, politicians make as many promises as they deem necessary in order that they might be elected.

And I don't mean to sound cynical, I just am.

Building towards the Republican Party National Convention, and at that convention a gentleman by the name of George Bush, this was George Bush Sr., accepted his party's nomination to be the Republican candidate to run for President of the United States in the year 1988.

Bush, in fact I really ought to call him Vice President Bush, was getting ready to speak to the delegates to the assembled throng at the convention.

He had to say something that was going to get them.

Peggy Noonan had written a speech for him that reinforced 1 of Vice President Bush's key campaign promises.

The idea was that he would not increase taxes for citizens of the United States of America.

Vice President Bush, I beg your pardon, was authoritative.

And he spoke and he said during this speech, Read my lips, no new taxes.

The speech went well, and Vice President Bush became President Bush.

But times change, at least that's what politicians want you to think.

Times changed and 2 years later the nation was facing a serious budget deficit.

President Bush came under some serious pressure from people on both sides of the aisle.

So, as part of the 1990 budget agreement, several taxes were raised.

Now understand I'm not trying to criticize former President Bush any more than I try to criticize anybody else.

The truth of the matter is in politics and in many walks of life, but certainly in politics sometimes certain promises can be very difficult to keep.

But whether it's Pete Rose suggesting again and again and again and again and again and again that he never bet on baseball, or whether it's the father of Balloon Boy assuring the news media that in his heart of hearts he believes that his little son is in this helium-filled balloon scutting across the Colorado sky.

You remember that just a couple of years ago?

Wasn't it remarkable that in the interview, the little fella on TV looked to his dad and said, but dad, you said it was all about the show.

What are you going to do when your kid springs you like that?

Poor fella, trying hard to get his 15 minutes of fame.

He got it, just not the way he was hoping for it.

Whether it's Pete Rose, whether it's Balloon Boy's dad, whether it's whoever it is, There's something about a broken promise, isn't there?

The Bible does weigh in on the subject of promises.

The truth of the matter is, God stresses that a person ought to keep his or her word.

It says in the commandments, thou shalt not bear false witness.

That means that when you testify to a certain thing, when you make a statement or a claim, you better be able to back it up or hold it up.

That means that the statements you make ought to be proved in the fullness of time to be truthful and correct.

God wants people to be people of their word.

Oh we're going to give this much to the church.

Is this the amount that you said you'd give?

Before the sun had set, they were both 6 feet under.

God could not smile upon their untruthfulness.

He wished and wanted that they would keep their word.

Whether it's a politician promising to end poverty or a dad promising to bring home ice cream at the end of a warm summer's day.

In the Christian faith, a lot of people make promises that they just cannot keep.

Right when New Year's Day rolls around, you're going to say, well, I will read my Bible through from start to finish.

And sometimes you might pull it off, but the majority of the time, you get to about the middle of February and you get distracted.

People say, I'm not going to eat M&Ms or candy anymore.

I'm not going to eat, I'm not going to eat burgers anymore.

And the minute your back is turned, they're eating them because they made the promise and they meant the promise.

I'm gonna lose weight this year or I'm gonna put on weight this year or I'm gonna, I'm gonna quit drinking coffee this year or I'm gonna start exercising this year.

Whatever it is, a lot of promises get made.

I am gonna control my temper, but you know something these resolutions are made these Promises are made and it's they're not bad promises good idea to swear off liquor and and and caffeine and and and and and bad tempers good idea to lose weight if you need to or put it on if you need to, exercise if you're not getting any exercise, good intentions and nothing wrong with that but what happens is people find out that their promises are sometimes just too much for them.

And even though they made the promises in sincerity, we discover that sometimes we just cannot keep our promises.

And you know what's worse is when we make these promises to God.

Lord, I know I should read my Bible every day.

Oh, I know there are certain things I shouldn't do, Lord.

But I want to tell you something tonight that I believe if you allow it to will be liberating in your life I'm gonna tell you tonight.

You don't have to make God 1 more promise ever You can tell You can tell yourself no more promises.

In fact, let me take it a step further God Doesn't even want you to make promises to him.

He just doesn't So what does he want then?

Let me tell you God simply wants you to believe the promises that He has made to you.

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