Pumpkin Spice Season
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Introduction
Introduction
It has happened.
Not soon enough according to some.
Too soon if you ask me
Pumpkin Spice Season has descended upon us.
“But, Pastor, it’s September, the weather is a little cooler. It’s time for some fall-ish flavors.”
Really?
Starbucks premiered this season’s Pumpkin Spice Latte on August 24th...
It was 101 degrees...
With a heat index of 115.
That’s t-shirts and lemonade weather.
Not wool sweaters and lattes.
I started seeing these memes in August
{Memes slide}
It’s in everything.
Coffee, and cookies, and muffins; Oh My!
Of course I can stand up here and make fun of all the pumpkin spice people all day long.
But........
I have a dark secret....
I did Pumpkin Spice before Pumpkin Spice was cool.
When I was a kid I discovered that I liked Pumpkin Spice with a particular dish.
Well, of course, back in ancient times… we called it “Pumpkin Pie Spice.”
I don’t remember when… or how I discovered this concoction, but I LOVED Pumpkin Pie Spice sprinkled on to of...
wait for it...
Spaghetti.
And I ate Pumpkin Pie Spice on my spaghetti all year round.
Hey, Don’t knock it until you try it.
However, for MOST people Pumpkin Spice is the harbinger of the Autumn season.
Not football, or colorful foliage or chilly evenings.
Spices.
Cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and sometimes allspice.
Of course we have signals for all four of our seasons, like crocuses and hyacinths in the spring.
God has created everything to run in seasons … cycles.
The moon goes around the earth every 27.3 days.
The earth goes around the sun once in 365 days, 6 hours and 9 minutes.
The solar system takes 230 million years to spin its way around the galactic center.
Plants: sprout, grow, produce seeds and die.
God planned it that way.
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
Some of you, I know have been through a bad season.
deaths of loved ones.
loss of jobs.
your health getting worse.
As we were pacing around the sanctuary yesterday morning, I was praying for you.
Praying for a new season.
Praying for a better season.
This morning you just thought you were coming to church
You got out of your car and walked into the sanctuary.
You set-up your phone or your computer and connected to our Facebook livestream.
You were just coming to church.
Not from where I’m standing.
As you settled in whether in person or online...
you were moving into a new place… a new level… a new season in the Spirit.
Look at somebody and say, “I just stepped into a new season.”
God is a God of seasons.
But He doesn’t always measure seasons with clocks and calendars...
God also measures seasons in anointing and revelation.
Whenever God gives you a fresh Word, you’ve just stepped into a new season.
Yesterday morning someone received a word from the Lord.
That’s a new season.
Like our text verse says: “to everything there is a season.”
Every part of our lives belongs to a season.
And there is a purpose for those seasons. (even the bad ones.)
If there wasn’t a reason for the “stuff”, we wouldn’t have to go through the “stuff.”
Many times when we go through the rough seasons, it’s easy to feel like God has abandoned us.
Just the opposite
There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.
Philippians 1:6 MSG
Nobody wants to go through the bad seasons… but they are necessary.
Part of your spiritual growth would be stunted without them.
You learned some things
Gained some things
Let go of some things
But today...
Today is a new season.
This morning we are going to take a look at the life of Peter.
It’s fairly easy to watch Peter shift through some seasons in his life.
And as we look at Peter’s life, we’re gong to find some concepts about stepping into new seasons.
1. New Seasons bring New Changes
1. New Seasons bring New Changes
Change is inevitable. It’s going to happen.
Someone a church I once served told me.
“We did want to change. We wanted you to change us back to how we were 30 years ago.”
That’s. Not. How. Change. Works.
Change takes you forward
If you’re looking for revival the way is was when you were young,
you’re probably not going to find it there.
Seasons REQUIRE change.
Looking at Peter, he entered into a new season when Jesus called him to follow.
While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.
And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
Jesus tells Simon Peter and Andrew:
“Hey, this season in your life was important, and we’re going to adapt some of the lessons you learned here...
but your life is about to move into a new season.”
One day Peter is an ordinary fisherman, until....
until...
Jesus walked up and SPOKE into Peter’s life.
Jesus said follow me and I will MAKE you.
Peter stepped into a new season, and was changed.
He was transformed, from the person he thought he was into the person that Jesus knew he would become.
This wasn’t just about a job description.
Jesus was talking about Peter’s inner man.
Peter already had the makings of a leader.
Jesus planned to refine this.
It was going to take years, through scripture we see Peter become:
assertive not agressive
decisive not bossy
compassionate not pushy
Let’s go back to the phrase:
“I will make you fishers of men.”
The word “make” in the Greek can also be translated “sprout forth”.
There is a miracle in you.
And the seasons that you have gone through in your life have served a purpose: nurturing that seed.
Now, today, you have stepped into a new season in which that miracle is about to spout forth.
Look at your neighbor and tell them, “I’m ready to sprout forth”
2. New Seasons bring New Challenges
2. New Seasons bring New Challenges
There is no doubt that when Peter was called to follow Jesus that he was faced not only with many changes in his life, but many challenges.
His faith was challenged by stepping out of a storm battered boat to walk on the water.
His feelings were challenged when one minute he was proclaiming Jesus the Son of God, and the next minute being rebuked by Jesus, and being called Satan, and having Jesus turn his back on him telling him to get behind him.
His traditions and prejudices were challenged when he followed Jesus into Samaria.
His humility was challenged when the Son of God, the Light of the World, the Alpha the Omega, the Beginning and the End, lowered Himself to the point of a servant to wash Peter’s feet.
But in all these instances, Peter stepped up to the challenge.
However, there is that one particular time when it seems as if Peter stepped into a season of failure, and he went from a follower of Jesus to one who followed Him at a distance.
And in the courtyard Peter denied knowing the Lord three times.
And when he denied knowing the Lord the third time, the rooster crowed and the words of Jesus returned to his mind and Christ’s eyes and his met, “before the rooster crows you will have denied me three times.” And he ran off and wept bitterly.
And that is exactly what happens to us when we are in seasons where it seems as if your world is falling apart.
You feel dry and empty.
If you aren’t careful, you find yourself pulling away from God, and… like Peter:
you are following at a distance.
But remember, there is purpose for every season.
What Peter didn’t know, and many of us today fail to realize is, that Christ’s love is greater than our failures.
When we fail to meet the challenge, there is grace and a mercy that is far greater than our shortcomings.
Sometimes people in Peter’s situation get… stuck.
They give up.
They stop seeking closeness with God.
They stop seeking answers from God.
And…sometimes...
They just stop seeking God.
Thankfully Peter encounters the risen Jesus and the seasons get back on track.
Jesus told him to go to Jerusalem and wait, because there was something coming.
He told Peter not to leave Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit descended.
And there in an upper room Peter and 119 others began seeking God.
Having their hearts fixed on one thing, and only one thing.
They waited it out, sought it out, and prayed it through,
and then the Holy Spirit enveloped that place.
In the same way He desires to envelope those who get together in one heart and one purpose, like we are today.
People who will wait it out seek it out, and pray it through.
In Acts chapter 2 Peter walked into a new season.
3. New Seasons birth New Champions
3. New Seasons birth New Champions
Peter was transformed from a fisherman into a preaching powerhouse.
I am certain that those who knew Peter before were amazed to see the new champion that he had become.
God is making YOU into a champion.
God is making ME into a champion.
This morning we are stepping into a season of Power and Anointing.
We are stepping into a season where all the peoples of the earth shall see that we are called by the name of the Lord
We are stepping into a season where the Lord is going to open up His good treasure to you and bless you,
where we’re gong to lend and not borrow,
where we will be the head and not the tail,
where we will be above and not beneath
We are stepping into a season where God is about to tear back the veil off of the heavenlies to release some things
Those who were once held under are now going to be coming over
Those who were once forgotten are now going to be remembered
Those who were depressed will once again begin to rejoice
Those who were once rejected are now accepted
Those who are down trodden will have their heads lifted
Those who grieve will have their joy made manifest
Those who were once poor will say I am rich
Those who are afflicted will once again walk in wholeness
We are stepping in to a new season where those things that have been taken from you will be restored 100 fold.
I believe I’m talking to some people this morning who have been through some seasons
Some of you had to learn how to praise God all by yourself
You had to praise God through a lot of tears
Some of you had to learn how to lay hands on your own head
Some of you had to hold up your hands while you were praying for somebody else, hoping somebody was praying for you.
Your new season is upon you right now. Look at somebody and say with a shout of triumph, “My season is here. There is a fresh anointing flowing my way. I am a champion!”
Conclusion
Conclusion