19th July 2026 Sunday 2nd Service - Today Problems and Tomorrow Promises - Bishop Claude Richard Alexander Jr

I want to direct our attention to the book of Habakkuk, chapter one, beginning with verse one.

Those of you who don't mind standing for the reading of the Word of God, we ask that you'll stand now.

The word of the Lord is as follows.

The burden which the prophet Habakkuk saw.

Lord, how long shall I cry and you will not hear?

Even cry out to you violence and you will not save?

Why do you show me iniquity and cause me to see trouble?

For plundering and violence are before me, there is strife and contention arises, therefore the law is powerless, and justice never goes forth.

For the wicked surround the righteous, therefore perverse judgment proceeds.

The Lord's reply, Look among the nations and watch, be utterly astounded, for I will work a work in your days which you would not believe though it were told you.

For indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation which marches through the breadth of the earth to pursue, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs.

They are terrible and dreadful.

Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves.

Their horses also are swifter than lepers and more fierce than evening wolves.

Their cavalry comes from afar, they fly as the eagle that hastens to eat.

They all come for violence.

Their faces are set like the east wind, they gather captives like the sand, they scoff at kings and princes are scorned by them.

They deride every stronghold, for they heap up earthen mounds and seize it.

Then his mind changes and he transgresses.

He commits offence ascribing this power to his God.

Habakkuk second question, are you not from everlasting?

O Lord, my God, my holy one, we we shall not die.

Oh Lord, you have appointed them for judgment.

O rock, you have marked them for correction.

You are of purer eyes than to behold evil and cannot look on wickedness.

Why do you look on those who deal treacherously and hold your tongue when the wicked devours a person more righteous than he?

Chapter 2, verse 1.

Habakkuk says, I will stand in my watch and set myself on the rampart and watch to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer when I am corrected.

Then the Lord answers me and said, Write the vision, make it plain, and he may run who reads it.

For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it will speak and it will not lie.

Though it tarries, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith.

Thus far, the word of the Lord, you may be seated.

I will stand my watch, set myself on the rampart, and watch to see what he the Lord will say to me, and what I will answer when I am corrected.

And the Lord answered and me and said, Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it, for the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.

Though it tarries, wait for it, because it will surely come.

It will not tarry.

Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith.

I want to speak today from the subject today problems and tomorrow promises.

Today problems and tomorrow promises.

This text is couched within the ministry of the prophet Micah, who is classified by biblical scholars as a minor prophet.

Now when we when we read the the titles and and titles are given to to him and others as minor prophets, it is it is not that that they are not important, that their messages are are less valuable or valid.

It is simply that they have less chapters, that they carry less ink.

And though they be classified as minor, they are individuals who have major words from God.

And God includes them because they offer what is needed.

It is not the length, but it is the content.

And I may be speaking to someone right now who may see yourself as minor, but God calls you major.

That God has something major in you.

He wants something major for you.

There is something major that he desires to birth from you to bless the world.

Such was the case with Micah.

He and his roll dog minor prophets.

They cover the period of the Assyrian invasion of Israel and later of Judah, as well as the Babylonian invasion and captivity.

And in them we find words of God's critique of God's people, the announcement of God's judgment, the experience of that judgment, and the promise of God's future deliverance of his people.

And when we read them, we we see something interesting that oftentimes they speak tomorrow promises to people facing today problems.

They spoke promises that would not happen for years, some even centuries, to people facing problems right now.

And with that, my friends, comes the tension in which we live.

There are pains and problems that we have in our today.

There are strains and struggles that we have in our today.

There are dilemmas and disasters that occur in our today.

There are battles that we fight and burdens that we carry in our today.

I want to ask you the question: what challenge are you facing today?

What burden are you carrying today?

What what obstacle is in front of you today?

What what pain?

What what agony?

What symptom?

What sickness?

What anxiety?

What what fear hounds your today?

Today problems.

Wanji, we pray about them, we fast over them, we seek intercession concerning them.

We raise questions about them.

We seek answers to them.

We elicit help for them.

We desire relief from them.

We take them before God, expecting to receive and experience a today move, a today lifting, a today breakthrough.

We want relief today and rescue today and deliverance today and healing today.

And it's great when today's problems are met with today's solutions.

It's wonderful when today's questions receive today's answers, when today's illness is met with today's healing.

It's glorious when today battles result in today's victories.

I look for, I shout, I want God to meet my today's problems with today's actions, today breakthroughs, today turnarounds.

But but when you read the scripture, and more importantly, when you look at life, you discover that there are more instances where today's problems are met with a different response.

Tomorrow promises.

The people facing today's oppression, marginalization, and injustice, they receive a word about what will happen, what will come to pass.

They are given tomorrow promises with them looking for relief in the immediate sense.

They are given a word about something in the distance, and through them we are made to know that sometimes we live with today's promises and we with today's problems and we receive tomorrow promises.

And it seems like we and God are not speaking the same language.

That we're on one frequency and God is on another.

We're talking about what is, and God is talking about what will be, without giving us any indication about how long the what will be will take.

We want something right now, and God says, I got a word for you about something later.

Have you ever needed God to do something today?

Been serious with God about today, looking for an urgent response, needing something, and God talks to you about what will happen later.

You wonder, does God not realize the gravity and the weight?

Does he not realize what you need today, what you're carrying today, what you're facing today, what you're fighting today, what you're wrestling with today?

And God gives you a tomorrow promise.

That's what's happening within this back and forth between Habakkuk and God.

The first chapter starts it off with Habakkuk raising the question, Oh Lord, how long shall I cry for help and you will not listen?

And God responds, look at the nations, be astonished, be astounded, for a work is being done in your days that you would not believe if you were told, I am rousing the Chaldeans, that fierce and impetuous nation.

Seeing what God did in Israel first with the Assyrians and now with the Babylonians, Habakkuk, he's got some problems because he's troubled by the fact that the injustice is being perpetrated by his own people.

He's being cheated by his own people.

Violence and destruction are rampant, strife and contention is commonplace, and now the wicked surround the righteous, resulting in perversion of justice.

And to make matters worse, the Babylonians who've taken Assyria and the northern kingdom of Israel, they've now turned their sights on Judah.

And God answers by saying that He is rousing the Babylonians.

He is the one behind their rise.

He has given them promise, he has given them success over their enemies, He has made them the dread of the nation.

And that sends Habakkuk to another level of trouble because he's got to wonder how is God gonna use a pagan ruler as an instrument of discipline and judgment over his own people?

Causes Habakkuk to ask God, God, are you not from old?

Are you not the rock who have established them for punishment?

Are you not the God whose eyes are too pure to behold evil and you cannot look on wrongdoing?

Why do you look on the treacherous and are silent when the wicked swallow those more righteous than they?

And so Habakkuk says in chapter 2, I gotta stand at my watch post.

I gotta station myself on my rampart.

I'm gonna keep watch to see what the Lord will say to me, what he will answer to my complaint.

Habakkuk has been unrelenting in lifting up the problem that he has.

They are urgent, they are immediate, they are pressing, they are persistent, they are of such criticality that Habakkuk says, I gotta stand on my watchtower.

I'm gonna maintain a posture of alertness to receive a response from God.

Because, brothers and sisters, there are times when the matter is so grave and so heavy that you've got to hear from God and you're gonna wait until you receive an answer from him.

You can't afford to go to sleep.

You need to see God, you need to hear him, you don't want to miss him, and perhaps somebody is in that position right now.

Your problems have you on high alert for response from God.

You've done everything that you can do to sensitize yourself to God's reply.

That's where Habakkuk is.

He's removed distractions, he's focused with intention on hearing God, and God gives him these words write the vision, make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it, for there is still a vision for the appointed time.

It speaks of the end and does not lie.

If it seems to tarry, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not delay.

Look at the proud, the spirit is not right in them, but the just shall live by his faith.

With Habakkuk waiting for some response for God, indeed, some relief from the today dilemma.

God gives him a tomorrow promise.

He tells him, Write the vision.

Make it plain so that a runner may read it, and then their words are, For there is still a vision for the appointed time.

It speaks of the end and does not lie.

If it seems to tarry, wait for it.

It will surely come, it will not delay.

And then God says that there is an impending judgment that will come upon the Babylonians.

They will be plundered, contempt will come their way, their glory will be turned to shame.

Habakkuk's today issue is met by a tomorrow announcement, whose materialization would tarry.

There would be no change in his today, no turnaround in his today, no breakthrough in his today, no healing in his today, no deliverance in his today.

He'd have to sit with it today, he'd have to face it today, he'd have to carry it today, he'd have to fight it today, he'd have to endure it today, he'd have to suffer it today.

Sometimes with God, God says, You gotta sit with it.

You have to endure it, you have to face it, you have to struggle with it, you have to carry it with a today problem.

God gives you a tomorrow answer.

What is going on when God gives tomorrow answers for today's problems?

Tomorrow answers, number one, alert us to the story not ending with today.

God speaking of tomorrow signifies that however problematic today may be, today is not the end.

Whenever God speaks in a future tense, God is saying that there is something beyond the present tense.

There is a tomorrow.

Just look at somebody and say, you got a tomorrow.

For Habakkuk and Judah, it was to alert them that there was a tomorrow beyond the Babylonian threat of today.

That the threat of today is not the end of them.

God speaks tomorrow promises in the midst of today's problems to say that tomorrow will come.

And with tomorrow, you will come.

Today is not the end.

Today may be rough, but it's not the end.

It may be long, but it's not the end.

It may be tear-filled, but it is not the end.

There is a tomorrow.

And I'm wondering, am I talking to anybody who can look back at some past days when you thought that you would not make it through?

That there were some past today that the devil thought was gonna be your end.

But God had a tomorrow promise over you and a tomorrow promise for you, and a tomorrow promise to you.

And as bad as that day was, as dark as that day was, as threatening as that day was, life did not end with that today.

God gave you a tomorrow.

God gives tomorrow promises in the midst of today problems to create hope in the midst of today's problems.

The alert that there is a tomorrow helps you face your today by way of faith.

God tells Habakkuk that the just shall live by faith.

The way that they made it through the tension of today is by faith.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

The tomorrow promise gives them a ground for believing in a tomorrow and for a tomorrow.

The knowledge that today has its limit causes you to believe if you can just make it through today, that tomorrow will be better.

I believe I'm talking to somebody for whom that was your life story.

If I can just make it past today, I believe that tomorrow will be better.

If God can just get me past what I'm facing today, I believe that tomorrow will be better.

Tomorrow promises give you hope in the midst of your today problems.

When Jesus wanted to give Simon Peter hope in the midst of a today problem that he would face, he gave him a tomorrow promise.

Can you hear Jesus telling him, Simon, Simon, Satan have desired to have you that he might sift you as wheat?

But I've prayed for you that your faith fail not.

And when you are converted, strengthen the brethren.

In the midst of what would be a today failure, God gives him a tomorrow promise upon which he can hold that past his today failure, that there was a tomorrow conversion, a tomorrow turnaround, a tomorrow recovery, a tomorrow restoration, a tomorrow opportunity for service.

And when you are converted, in other words, Simon, it's not gonna be so bad with you knowing that you have a tomorrow.

And just knowing that he had a tomorrow was enough to get him through the Thursday night failure, the Friday tragedy, and the Saturday grief.

My God, I wonder, am I talking to somebody who you can testify that because I knew that I had a promise that told me about tomorrow, I could make it through today.

I had some hope for my tomorrow.

I had what Annie had.

The sun will come out tomorrow.

Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there'll be sun.

Just thinking about tomorrow clears away the cobwebs and the sorrow till there's none when I'm stuck with a day that's gray and lonely.

I stick out my chin and grin and say, the sun will come out tomorrow.

Is there anybody here who can say, I thank God that I've got a tomorrow promise that tells me the sun will come out?

We face today problems with tomorrow promises, knowing that life doesn't end with today and that there is hope for tomorrow.

But then there is the presence of God in the gap between today's problems and tomorrow's promises.

Uh back again, chapter two, with those words, uh, my God, verse verse 20, he says, But the Lord is in his holy temple.

Let all the earth keep silence before him.

I didn't know, I didn't know where that meant.

I remember growing up in church, and the preacher would come out and say, The Lord is in his holy temple.

Let the earth keep silence before him.

And it wasn't until I read Habakkuk that I discovered, well, that's where that is.

But then when you gotta read it in order to understand the context, Habakkuk has a tomorrow promise.

His today will still be a today problem.

He has a tomorrow promise that will tarry and he's got to wait.

And the question is, how will he make it between now and then?

He is told the just shall live by faith, but it's not just the faith in a promise, but it's also faith in the presence of God.

It is in the God who makes the promise.

The Lord is in his holy temple that all the earth keeps silence before him.

The Lord is alive, the Lord is on the throne in his holy temple.

The Lord inhabits the earth that he created.

He sits above the circle of the earth, he stretches out the heavens as a curtain and spreads them.

There's none comparable to him, there's none equal to him.

He is the Lord God Almighty.

He hasn't changed locations, he's still who he is, he's still where he is, he's still how he is, the earth still is his and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein.

He says, I realize that the Lord Most High, that Lord is with me, that Lord is sovereign, that Lord gave me a tomorrow promise, and he is the one who guarantees the promise.

He can give a tomorrow promise because he's not just the God of today, he's the God of tomorrow.

He is the everlasting God.

He's God in today and he's God in tomorrow at the same time.

He is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore.

He declares the end from the beginning and the beginning from the end.

And the God who guarantees tomorrow is the Lord who's with him into today's problem in order to see him.

Him to the tomorrow promise.

He says, God is with me.

God is on my side.

God has been a pillar of cloud by day and a fire by night.

God said, I'm at the Red Sea.

I'm at the bitter water of Marah.

I'm at the Jordan River.

I'm at the walls of Jericho.

There's nothing too hard for me.

I'll be with you in the fire.

I'll be with you in the lion's den.

I am the Lord your God who is on your side.

He is with you.

And the assurance of the presence of the Lord between the today problem and the tomorrow promise gives you a reason to rejoice in the midst of your today problem.

Look at what Habakkuk says in chapter 3.

My God, though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vine, though the produce of the olive fails, and the fields yield no food, though the flock is cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls, yet will I rejoice in the Lord.

I will exalt in the God of my salvation.

Habakkuk says, No figs today, no fruit today, no produce of olive today, no fields yielding food today, no flock with the fold today, no herds in the stalls today.

In the midst of all those today problems, I still have a today praise.

Yet will I rejoice in the Lord.

I will exalt in the God of my salvation.

I'm fighting today and I'll shout today.

I'm struggling today, I'll praise today.

I'm wrestling today, I'll dance today.

I'm waiting on a tomorrow promise, but I will bless the Lord at all time.

His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Today, God is Lord.

Today, he's my strength.

Today he makes my feet like the feet of a deer and makes me tread on high places.

Today, God brings me above.

Today, God causes me to rise above.

Today, God causes me to live above.

Today, God causes me to stand above.

I got a today problem, but I got a tomorrow promise.

And I'm not by myself.

Talk to me, Jesus.

Talk to me about your today problem.

The cross was today, the rain, the death was today.

My God, the suffering was today, the shedding of blood was today.

It was a bad Friday.

Friday was ugly.

I was being wounded for your transgressions, bruised for your iniquity, chastened by your peace, bearing stripes for your healing.

It got dark on me on that day, but I had a tomorrow promise.

Tear this body down in three days, I'll raise it up again.

If I be lifted up, I'll draw all men unto me.

And you know he did die on Friday.

That was that day.

And he was in the grave on Saturday.

That was that day.

But the tomorrow promise said on the third day, an early Sunday morning, God raised Jesus from the dead, and he is alive forevermore.

We serve a God who can be with you in your today problem and give you a tomorrow promise.

Is there anybody here who can say, I'ma face my today?

I'm gonna give God glory in my today.

I'm gonna give God honor in my today.

I'm gonna give God praise in my today.

Because there's a promise over my head.

I dare you to rejoice today.

I dare you to give him glory today.

I dare you to give him honor today, because you've got a promise.

You've got a promise.

Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall.

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.

They'll mount upon wings as eagles, they'll run and not get weary, they'll walk in nothing.

Who's got a tomorrow promise?

Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning, and God shall wipe all tears from the house.

Who's got a tomorrow promise?

No weapon that's formed against you shall prosper.

If God be for you, who can be against you?

I've got a tomorrow promise.

Somebody better give God a big shout.

Hallelujah.

Come on, come on, somebody.

There's Victor in the house.

Amen.

Please be seated.

Look at your neighbor, tell your neighbor you may have a today problem.

But there's a tomorrow promise.

Amen.

Have you received that word?

Is it your word?

Then why don't you give God another big hand?

Yes.

We celebrate Dr.

Claude Alexander for God using him to minister to us this afternoon.

And we celebrate you, we salute you and your ministry in Jesus' name.

I would like to ask you how many of you would like him to come back?

Amen.

But if you want to visit him in uh Charlotte, North Carolina, you need a passport.

Hallelujah.

You you you don't go with your ID.

You cannot pass through the Jamokenata International Airport with an ID.

You need a passport.

And we celebrate the ministry of Dr.

Claude Alexander.

I heard him for the first time in 2016 when we had a movement day in New York, and that's when our hearts were stirred up for the cities of the world.

And today with my brother Pete Peter and the team, we serve under the Movement Day as an advisory board, and we celebrate what God is doing and will do in the days to come.

And we need to love our city Nairobi.

Tell your neighbor you need to love this city.

It is your city, amen.

Including Nairobi River.

Tell your neighbor, Amen.

Bana Sifi.

Amen.

We want to say thanks to God again for just this wonderful time of praising God and hearing his word.

And some of you are going through a today problem.

But God is giving you a tomorrow promise.

And today you can trust him because of his presence.

God is not a man that he should lie, he's not a son of man that he should change his mind.

Has he said?

Will he not do it?

Has he spoken?

Will he not fulfill it?

Carry this message in your heart because it is your word for today.

Because tomorrow you're imagining as a winner.

In Jesus' name.

If you believe that, you better say, I receive it.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Just Pastor Simon has reminded me to let you know that uh because of the Jubilee season, get yourself or a friend a Jubilee hoodie, a Jubilee cap, a Jubilee mug, a Jubilee t-shirt, a Jubilee pen.

Right outside.

We have that merchandise as we prepare to celebrate this Jubilee season.

He also asked me to remind you to register for the dinner.

The dinner is on which day 31st of July.

Please remember that, and we are going to have a wonderful time.

And the venue is which is the venue?

Sankara.

And where is Sankara?

In Westlands.

God bless you.

Again, we thank God for Mark Pierre for being with us.

God bless you.

The Moment Day team.

My brother William, we are so glad to see you and the entire team.

What a blessing.

Thank you for coming.

God bless you, Victor.

Buenos Afiewel.

Shall we stand as we release and command a benediction to those in the pavilion?

Thank you so much.

Why don't we appreciate those in the pavilion?

Amen.

What a word.

Today you may have a problem, but God has given you a tomorrow promise.

And his presence is with you right now.

Please lift up your hand as I command this blessing upon us right now.

And Heavenly Father, I command this blessing upon your people.

And I want to decree and declare this blessing upon you, those watching us and having watched it with us online, those in the pavilion and those in person.

May the Lord bless you.

May the Lord make his face to shine upon you.

May the Lord be gracious to you.

May the Lord do you good in this month of July.

May the Lord watch over your coming in and your going out.

May the Lord bless you in the city.

May the Lord bless you in the countryside.

May the Lord bless you locally.

May the Lord bless you internationally.

May the Lord bless your children and your grandchildren, your grandparents, your aunties and uncles.

May the Lord enlarge your families with blessings and with treasures.

May those in your household who are sick be healed now in the name of Jesus Christ.

May those who are financially restricted be prospered in this season and in this week.

May the Lord fight your battles.

May the Lord be your shepherd.

May the Lord be your king in all that you do.

I command these blessings upon you and even more.

We decree and declare that your Monday is blessed.

Your Tuesday is blessed.

Your Wednesday is blessed.

Your Thursday is blessed.

Your Friday is blessed.

Your Saturday is blessed.

Sunday you're coming back with a testimony.

In Jesus' name.

In Jesus' name.

And you're blessed.

In the name of the Father, the name of the Son, and the name of the Holy Spirit.

And God's people said, Another hand to the Lord.

Amen.

Amen.

And now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now and forevermore.

Amen.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow you all the days of your life, and you shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever.

Amen.

Shalom.