Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / October 28, 2018 | When God Doesn't Make Sense - When God Seems Late - Derek Rowe

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October 28, 2018 | When God Doesn't Make Sense - When God Seems Late - Derek Rowe · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

0:10
SPEAKER_00: Oh goodness, goodness, goodness.
0:13
SPEAKER_00: A tardy slip.
0:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I threw those away in high school.
0:19
SPEAKER_00: I didn't get one signed by the teacher.
0:22
SPEAKER_00: Oh goodness.
0:26
SPEAKER_00: Did you guys feel that?
0:29
SPEAKER_00: Did it get awkward?
0:33
SPEAKER_00: Were any of you guys waiting?
0:35
unknown: We thought one of us was gonna come to preach.
0:38
SPEAKER_00: You could have came up.
0:40
SPEAKER_00: As the spirit moves, just let it go.
0:44
SPEAKER_00: There we go.
0:44
SPEAKER_00: We I need lots of prayer.
0:46
SPEAKER_00: So yes, you could definitely pray for me.
0:49
SPEAKER_00: Oh goodness.
0:50
SPEAKER_00: My name is Derek.
0:52
SPEAKER_00: For those of you that don't know, and I am the pastor of student ministries here at Topeka Bible Church.
0:57
SPEAKER_00: I've got a wonderful wife, Gabby, and a 10-month-old daughter named Ayla.
1:03
SPEAKER_00: And we are in the series when God doesn't make sense.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: And I think we can all agree that there's plenty of times when God doesn't make sense to us.
1:13
SPEAKER_00: When we're thinking about God and realizing, what are you doing?
1:19
SPEAKER_00: Why is this situation happening?
1:22
SPEAKER_00: Why have you not done this thing for me?
1:24
SPEAKER_00: Why this pain or why this agony?
1:27
SPEAKER_00: Or why, why, and why?
1:32
SPEAKER_00: And so today I'd like to talk about this topic.
1:39
SPEAKER_00: When God seems late, when he seems like he's a little off, when he seems like he's asleep, to what we're asking him for, to what we're looking forward to.
1:52
SPEAKER_00: When I'm late coming up on stage?
1:57
SPEAKER_00: What do we do in that 15 seconds of waiting?
2:02
SPEAKER_00: Of I don't really know what's going on right now.
2:06
SPEAKER_00: This is different.
2:07
SPEAKER_00: What do we do when it's a week of waiting?
2:12
SPEAKER_00: What do we do when it's a year of waiting?
2:16
SPEAKER_00: What do we do when it's 10 years of waiting?
2:20
SPEAKER_00: 15 years of waiting.
2:23
SPEAKER_00: And one thing that I am I'm 99% sure of is that every single one of us who are in this room and in that room across the street, all of us are waiting for something.
2:41
SPEAKER_00: Just think, take five seconds and just think of one major thing that you're waiting for right now.
2:48
SPEAKER_00: Chances are it doesn't take long to figure that out.
2:52
SPEAKER_00: All of us are waiting for something, all of us are desiring something, all of us are asking God, why is this taking so long?
3:00
SPEAKER_00: Why do you seem late?
3:01
SPEAKER_00: Why are you not intervening?
3:03
SPEAKER_00: Why are you not doing something about my situation?
3:06
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's looking for a job.
3:08
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's trying to have kids.
3:12
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's you're here today and you're realizing, man, I've got a really bad relationship with a mom or a dad, or I've got a bad relationship with a brother or sister.
3:23
SPEAKER_00: God, why is it taking so long for this to go right?
3:28
SPEAKER_00: For there to be reconciliation.
3:30
SPEAKER_00: God, why are you taking so long?
3:32
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you just, this is what a lot of us do, why don't you change that other person and then we'll be fine?
3:39
SPEAKER_00: Right?
3:42
SPEAKER_00: Why are you taking so long?
3:45
SPEAKER_00: Each of us asked this question, and each of us are waiting on something.
3:50
SPEAKER_00: So this is my wife Gabby on the right and our daughter Ayla right there in the middle.
3:56
SPEAKER_00: This is a picture that we had taken this summer at a wedding.
4:01
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes we can all have have the smiles, and even when we come here on Sundays, we come in and we all have smiles, but then we also know that behind the backdrop of that smile, somebody's probably waiting for something.
4:19
SPEAKER_00: And it's probably something that's difficult, it's probably something that we think about over and over and over.
4:25
SPEAKER_00: And so for us, and sometimes we just get, you know, phone calls that are that are unexpected, but it was that call that we were waiting for, so it's so important.
4:37
SPEAKER_00: But we've got there's several things that we wait for in our family.
4:42
SPEAKER_00: And one of the key things that we've been waiting for, been waiting for about three years, is to try to figure out why Gabby has migraines and what we can do about that.
4:52
SPEAKER_00: Severe ones.
4:54
SPEAKER_00: And so we we've prayed and we've read scripture and we're going to the doctors and we're trying all the home remedies and the foo-foo stuff and the essential oils and the whatever stuff you can rub on your ears and all that kind of stuff.
5:10
SPEAKER_00: And we're still waiting.
5:13
SPEAKER_00: We're in the middle of waiting.
5:16
SPEAKER_00: We're in the middle of waiting where it's there's time that's already passed, and we're just kind of getting into the tired phase.
5:25
SPEAKER_00: Is this is this worth even praying about still?
5:27
SPEAKER_00: God, do you do you see this?
5:29
SPEAKER_00: Are you aware?
5:30
SPEAKER_00: Are you blind to this?
5:33
SPEAKER_00: All of us are waiting for something.
5:35
SPEAKER_00: So, what we're gonna do this morning is we're gonna take a dive and we're gonna look through the story or a part of the story of Abraham in Genesis.
5:43
SPEAKER_00: Because Abraham was a guy who had faith in God, but he also waited.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: He waited for something that God had promised him.
5:52
SPEAKER_00: And he waited a pretty long time for it to happen.
5:57
SPEAKER_00: So if you have your Bibles or you're flipping through Bibles, Genesis 12 is where we're gonna start, and we're gonna hit a couple of different passages, but I'll also have the verses up here on the screen.
6:07
SPEAKER_00: And so we're gonna begin in Genesis 12, and we're gonna divide up his life into four different phases.
6:15
SPEAKER_00: Four different phases for this particular incident.
6:19
SPEAKER_00: And so when we think about Abraham, we think about this, the first stage is excitement.
6:26
SPEAKER_00: The first stage is excitement.
6:28
SPEAKER_00: And for a lot of us, I think we can identify with this stage.
6:32
SPEAKER_00: This is when we finally get the letter that we're going to start a new job.
6:37
SPEAKER_00: This is when we realize, oh, somebody's finally able to diagnose this condition.
6:42
SPEAKER_00: Now we have a path forward.
6:44
SPEAKER_00: This is when we're looking for that man or looking for that woman who we've been looking for for a long time because we want to get married.
6:52
SPEAKER_00: And this is the moment of, wow, I think I've met the one, I think we're there, I think this is gonna be great.
6:58
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we'll finally get married.
7:00
SPEAKER_00: This is the initial excitement phase, and this is when God is calling Abraham.
7:06
SPEAKER_00: So as we start in, Genesis 12:1.
7:09
SPEAKER_00: The Lord said to Abram, Go out from your land, your relatives, and your father's house, to the land I will show you.
7:17
SPEAKER_00: I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
7:25
SPEAKER_00: Verse 3, I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who treat you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
7:36
SPEAKER_00: Now, for a little bit of context on what's going on here, Abraham is not a young guy at this point.
7:45
SPEAKER_00: Abraham is 75 years old.
7:48
SPEAKER_00: 75 years old, and he has a wife, and her name is Sarah.
7:53
SPEAKER_00: And Abraham and Sarah have been living amongst pagan gods.
7:56
SPEAKER_00: They've been living amongst the nations.
7:58
SPEAKER_00: They haven't been living under Yahweh.
8:00
SPEAKER_00: They didn't grow up in a Christian household.
8:02
SPEAKER_00: And so at this point, this is the first time that God is calling out to Abraham and saying, Hey, leave your family, leave those gods that you worship, leave your homeland, and I've got somewhere for you to go.
8:18
SPEAKER_00: I've got something for you to do.
8:22
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna be blessed by this, and other people are going to be blessed by this.
8:27
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna make you into this great nation.
8:30
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna have, you're gonna have all this land, you're gonna have all these descendants.
8:35
SPEAKER_00: And so I want you to put yourself in Abraham's position.
8:38
SPEAKER_00: You're hearing this.
8:40
SPEAKER_00: You're 75 years old at this point, and you're hearing, man, I'm gonna be a great nation.
8:45
SPEAKER_00: God's gonna bless me.
8:46
SPEAKER_00: My family needs to go out.
8:50
SPEAKER_00: But I don't have any kids.
8:53
SPEAKER_00: How is this gonna work out?
8:55
SPEAKER_00: God, is this some kind of game?
8:58
SPEAKER_00: Is this something you're trying to trying to trick me with?
9:01
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you realize, but I'm 75 years old and Sarah's 65 years old.
9:07
SPEAKER_00: We have zero children, and I don't know if you knew how this kind of anatomy life thing was works, but I don't know if this is gonna work out real well.
9:17
SPEAKER_00: I don't even know that it's possible to have children at this point.
9:20
SPEAKER_00: So, how can you say that I'm going to be a great nation?
9:22
SPEAKER_00: How can you say you're going to bless me and all these people are gonna be blessed through my family?
9:28
SPEAKER_00: And so as we look through the story of Abraham, we're gonna see ups and we're going to see downs as far as Abraham goes.
9:36
SPEAKER_00: There's gonna be times when Abraham is on board, when he's excited, when he is obeying, but then we're also gonna see times where he stumbles.
9:46
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna see times where he's a little shaky, where he does some things that he shouldn't do.
9:52
SPEAKER_00: And I think as we are in our waiting, whatever it is that we're waiting for, we're gonna be able to identify with Abraham.
9:59
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna be able to identify with his ups and with his downs.
10:03
SPEAKER_00: Genesis 12, 4.
10:05
SPEAKER_00: So Abram went.
10:06
SPEAKER_00: As the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him.
10:09
SPEAKER_00: Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran.
10:13
SPEAKER_00: 75 years old.
10:15
SPEAKER_00: So the first thing that Abram did, it's Abram at this point, the first thing that he did was, so Abram, say this with me.
10:23
SPEAKER_00: Went.
10:26
SPEAKER_00: He went.
10:28
SPEAKER_00: He obeyed God.
10:30
SPEAKER_00: He moved in the direction that God was moving.
10:32
SPEAKER_00: He moved in the direction that God was asking him to move.
10:35
SPEAKER_00: He didn't know where he was gonna go, he didn't know how this was gonna work out, he didn't know the destination, but for some reason he went.
10:42
SPEAKER_00: He followed God, he obeyed initially, even without having all the details and the plans and everything worked out just right.
10:51
SPEAKER_00: From there, he moved on to the hill country, east of Bethel.
10:54
SPEAKER_00: He built an altar to Yahweh there and he called on the name of Yahweh.
10:59
SPEAKER_00: So he's even praising.
11:00
SPEAKER_00: Remember, he didn't grow up with Yahweh.
11:02
SPEAKER_00: This is a brand new interaction with a God that he hasn't probably had interactions with before.
11:08
SPEAKER_00: And so he even calls out on the name of Yahweh.
11:11
SPEAKER_00: He's worshiping Yahweh, he is worshiping our God.
11:15
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't know all the details, he's not a Bible scholar, he didn't go get a degree in Old Testament or anything like that.
11:22
SPEAKER_00: But he knew that God called him, he went, and then he worshiped God.
11:27
SPEAKER_00: So this seems like a good deal so far.
11:29
SPEAKER_00: God, of course.
11:31
SPEAKER_00: God asks Abraham to do something, says, hey, follow me.
11:34
SPEAKER_00: Abraham says, Oh, all right, I'll go, I'll do it, I'll go and I'll even worship you.
11:42
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes we can have that experience, and then we also experience fear at the same time in the excitement phase.
11:50
SPEAKER_00: We're excited, the new thing's about to happen.
11:52
SPEAKER_00: I feel like this is a path forward, I'm jumping on it, this is gonna be great, but at the same time, fear sets in.
12:01
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes we make decisions that are not godly.
12:06
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we make decisions that are not the best.
12:08
SPEAKER_00: We think things that are not in a way that God would have us think.
12:12
SPEAKER_00: And so we see this Genesis 12, 13, because at this point, Abraham and his family, they have left out of their nation.
12:19
SPEAKER_00: They're going down to Egypt because there's a famine in the land, and so he wants to take care of his family, he wants them to be well fed, and he's going to interact with Pharaoh and the rest of the Egyptian leadership, and he says this to Sarah please say you're my sister, so it will go well for me because of you, and my life will be spared on your account.
12:45
SPEAKER_00: Please tell him you're my sister.
12:47
SPEAKER_00: Please lie.
12:49
SPEAKER_00: Because apparently Sarah was this beautiful woman.
12:52
SPEAKER_00: Apparently she was desirable.
12:54
SPEAKER_00: And Abraham knew going into this interaction that Pharaoh, being the most powerful person in the land, he could do whatever he wanted to.
13:02
SPEAKER_00: He was gonna want her.
13:04
SPEAKER_00: He was gonna want her as a wife, as one of his wives.
13:08
SPEAKER_00: And so, as Abraham's thinking through, well, I've got this promise, I'm supposed to be a great nation.
13:13
SPEAKER_00: I I can't die, that wouldn't be good, because he's thinking, well, if I go to Pharaoh and he realizes that we're married and he wants her that badly, he's the most powerful person, he's gonna take me out.
13:26
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna kill me, and then he's gonna take her, and then how am I going to be a great nation?
13:30
SPEAKER_00: What is this going to look like?
13:32
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes when we're waiting, we start to think through different scenarios like that.
13:37
SPEAKER_00: How can I make this work out the best for me?
13:40
SPEAKER_00: How can I make sure that I don't fail under my own power, under my own strength?
13:44
SPEAKER_00: What can I do?
13:44
SPEAKER_00: Even if it's a little lie, even if it's cheating just a little bit.
13:50
SPEAKER_00: How can I do this?
13:55
SPEAKER_00: We jump into phase two a few years later.
13:58
SPEAKER_00: This is the tired phase.
14:00
SPEAKER_00: This is we've been waiting.
14:02
SPEAKER_00: This is, I know the promise back here, but a couple of years have passed, and I don't know how it's gonna work out.
14:10
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't seem like anything's happening.
14:12
SPEAKER_00: Nothing is working.
14:14
SPEAKER_00: And this is where we find Abraham, and this is where we see God's reminder to him.
14:18
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna see that he's going to clarify his promise a little bit.
14:22
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna clarify what he said.
14:24
SPEAKER_00: Because at the beginning, in chapter 12, he said, I'm going to make you a great nation, I'm going to bless you, everyone's gonna be blessed through you.
14:31
SPEAKER_00: There's no strings attached on Abraham's part.
14:34
SPEAKER_00: On that promise, Abraham has no responsibility.
14:37
SPEAKER_00: This is God saying, Look, this is going to happen, this is how it's going to happen, I'm going to make sure this has happened, and it's not dependent upon you.
14:46
SPEAKER_00: It's not dependent on your obedience for this one.
14:49
SPEAKER_00: Genesis 15:1.
14:51
SPEAKER_00: After these events, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision.
14:54
SPEAKER_00: Do not be afraid, Abram.
14:58
SPEAKER_00: I am your shield.
14:59
SPEAKER_00: Your reward will be very great.
15:02
SPEAKER_00: Now we don't know how much time has passed.
15:04
SPEAKER_00: It was probably a couple of years that have passed between chapter 12 and him getting that initial call, and then God's reminder to him right now.
15:13
SPEAKER_00: But we know that God's saying, Don't be afraid, and you're still gonna have a reward.
15:18
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, I haven't forgotten about you.
15:20
SPEAKER_00: I know it may seem like I've forgotten, it may seem like my promise was bogus, like it's not going to happen, but I haven't forgotten, and your reward is going to be great.
15:30
SPEAKER_00: Now watch Abraham's response.
15:33
SPEAKER_00: Notice what Abraham says and thinks.
15:35
SPEAKER_00: But Abraham, but Abraham said, Lord God, what can you give me since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus.
15:47
SPEAKER_00: Now, what wait what makes this part make sense, what can you give me, is realizing that when Abraham left Egypt, he was very wealthy.
15:58
SPEAKER_00: Abraham didn't leave Egypt as a poor person, his the people he's with, his family, they didn't leave as poor, but he had riches, he had flocks that that were almost uncountable, he had gold, he had silver, he had family, he had everything that you could possibly want.
16:16
SPEAKER_00: He didn't lack for anything, he didn't want for anything.
16:21
SPEAKER_00: So he's like, God, what do you what can you possibly give me?
16:24
SPEAKER_00: What do you mean my reward's going to be great?
16:26
SPEAKER_00: I've got more gold than I know what to do with, I've got more animals I know what to do with, I've got food, I've got family.
16:32
SPEAKER_00: What can you possibly bless me with?
16:34
SPEAKER_00: I've got no kids.
16:36
SPEAKER_00: And so, remember that promise thing you made to me about my n my family and being a great nation and all that?
16:42
SPEAKER_00: The heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus.
16:46
SPEAKER_00: The heir of my house is looks like it's going to be a slave who lives here.
16:52
SPEAKER_00: A slave.
16:53
SPEAKER_00: Really?
16:53
SPEAKER_00: Is this your plan, God?
16:55
SPEAKER_00: Just some person who's not even of my bloodline?
16:57
SPEAKER_00: Is that what you're thinking?
16:59
SPEAKER_00: That's running through Abraham's head.
17:02
SPEAKER_00: And then we see 15, verse 3.
17:04
SPEAKER_00: Abram continued, look, you've given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house will be my heir.
17:11
SPEAKER_00: God, you haven't given me any kids, and I'm not getting any younger, so I don't see how this is going to work out.
17:16
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if this is going to be good.
17:18
SPEAKER_00: And then we go to verse 4.
17:20
SPEAKER_00: Now the word of the Lord came to him.
17:22
SPEAKER_00: This one will not be your heir.
17:24
SPEAKER_00: Here's God clarifying his promise and how this is supposed to work.
17:28
SPEAKER_00: This one will not be your heir.
17:30
SPEAKER_00: Instead, one who comes from your own body will be your heir.
17:37
SPEAKER_00: One who comes from your own body.
17:39
SPEAKER_00: So Abraham's still probably thinking, but how is this gonna work?
17:44
SPEAKER_00: And so sometimes we get in this mode of, okay, I've got a little more clarity, I've got, I've got a little bit uh more specific on how this thing's supposed to work out.
17:54
SPEAKER_00: What can I do to make it happen?
17:56
SPEAKER_00: What can I do?
17:57
SPEAKER_00: I'm done with the visions, I'm done with the praying, I'm done with asking God, I'm done with looking at scripture.
18:02
SPEAKER_00: What can I do in my own strength to make this happen?
18:06
SPEAKER_00: God, you said it's supposed to be somebody from my body, so I'm gonna make sure that's how it goes.
18:12
SPEAKER_00: He took him outside and said, Look at the sky and count the stars if you're able to count them.
18:16
SPEAKER_00: Then he said to him, Your offspring will be that numerous.
18:22
SPEAKER_00: You guys ever just looked at the stars outside?
18:25
SPEAKER_00: It's a little bit easier if you don't live in the city where there's lights.
18:29
SPEAKER_00: But when you go out and you look up, imagine God saying, Yeah, your family, your descendants, they're gonna be that numerous.
18:41
SPEAKER_00: You can't even count them all.
18:42
SPEAKER_00: You can't even look at them all.
18:44
SPEAKER_00: And at the same time, Abraham's over here thinking, God, I've got zero kids.
18:52
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if this is making sense to you.
18:55
SPEAKER_00: This is that's not how the descendant thing works out.
18:57
SPEAKER_00: You kind of need kids in order to have descendants in order to make all this.
19:03
SPEAKER_00: So he's doubting here.
19:04
SPEAKER_00: He's questioning, he's wondering how this is going to work out.
19:09
SPEAKER_00: And then verse 6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited to him as righteousness.
19:16
SPEAKER_00: Abraham believed.
19:19
SPEAKER_00: He didn't understand all the details, he didn't have a Bible degree, he didn't have all the answers, but he believed God and he believed in him.
19:28
SPEAKER_00: Not necessarily in how it was going to work out, next, not necessarily in the why this was taking so long, but he believed God for who he is and what he has said.
19:39
SPEAKER_00: And this is one of the greatest things that we see Abraham doing, because we see that it highlights his faith.
19:48
SPEAKER_00: His faith in God.
19:50
SPEAKER_00: He didn't quite know about Jesus yet, he didn't quite know any details about how this promise was going to work out, but he put his faith in God amidst all the uncertainty, amidst the times when he didn't know how it was going to work out, amidst not knowing how the story was going to end.
20:08
SPEAKER_00: And then 1616.
20:12
SPEAKER_00: High to a low.
20:13
SPEAKER_00: Abraham was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.
20:18
SPEAKER_00: How old was he?
20:21
SPEAKER_00: 86.
20:22
SPEAKER_00: How old was he when Abram got his initial call?
20:27
SPEAKER_00: What's the difference?
20:28
SPEAKER_00: How many years have gone by?
20:32
SPEAKER_00: 11 years.
20:33
SPEAKER_00: Close to 75, but 11 years.
20:37
SPEAKER_00: 11 years of waiting.
20:39
SPEAKER_00: Remember, we just saw this great thing that Abraham did.
20:42
SPEAKER_00: Abraham put his faith in God, he trusted God, even when he didn't have all the answers, and then a chapter later, boom.
20:48
SPEAKER_00: Who are these people?
20:49
SPEAKER_00: Hagar, Ishmael, what?
20:52
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't sound like a Sarah to me.
20:54
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't sound like Sarah's in the mix.
20:58
SPEAKER_00: But Abraham knew that God said, Hey, this is gonna be somebody who comes from your body.
21:03
SPEAKER_00: That's how this is gonna be fulfilled.
21:05
SPEAKER_00: And I'm sure Sarah was tired of waiting because Sarah's the one who put Abram up to this.
21:10
SPEAKER_00: He said, she said, Hey, we're not getting any younger.
21:15
SPEAKER_00: Ten years have gone by since that promise.
21:17
SPEAKER_00: We know it's gonna be from your body.
21:19
SPEAKER_00: So I've got this housemaid, I've got Hagar, this servant.
21:22
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you go get together with her?
21:25
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you have a baby, and then that's how the line will be produced.
21:30
SPEAKER_00: Because we're tired of waiting.
21:32
SPEAKER_00: We don't know if it's really going to work out.
21:34
SPEAKER_00: We don't know how this actually ends.
21:38
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we can be in that position too.
21:41
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we can try to take over, we can try to do things in our own strength, even to the point where we do things that God doesn't want us to do.
21:50
SPEAKER_00: Things that are not beneficial for us, things that are that are morally wrong, like we see here.
21:57
SPEAKER_00: Because God made marriage.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Between one man and one woman.
22:01
SPEAKER_00: So in this case, it was Abraham and Sarah, but they didn't want to wait on God.
22:06
SPEAKER_00: They wanted to subvert that.
22:07
SPEAKER_00: They thought, maybe, maybe it'll just be fine.
22:10
SPEAKER_00: It's not that big of a deal.
22:11
SPEAKER_00: Kid's still gonna be born.
22:12
SPEAKER_00: We can have lots of kids, descendants, and all that.
22:16
SPEAKER_00: But he jumped ship to another woman.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: And then we see Ishmael is born.
22:22
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna see that God doesn't renege on his promise.
22:27
SPEAKER_00: God doesn't go back on his word.
22:30
SPEAKER_00: Even despite Abram and Hagar and their son Ishmael, even despite that interaction, God is still keeping his promise because later we see that he even promises to make nations out of Ishmael.
22:46
SPEAKER_00: They're not what God originally had planned, they're not what originally God had intended, but God was not going to not keep his promise.
22:55
SPEAKER_00: God was going to keep his promise to Abram.
23:00
SPEAKER_00: So he waits.
23:02
SPEAKER_00: He waits.
23:03
SPEAKER_00: And then we're in phase three.
23:05
SPEAKER_00: This is the re-energized phase.
23:07
SPEAKER_00: This is, we're gonna see with Abraham, God's going to clarify.
23:11
SPEAKER_00: And I'm sure each of us can identify with this re-energized phase.
23:14
SPEAKER_00: This is when we're getting close to the fulfillment, but we're not quite there.
23:18
SPEAKER_00: This is when you're in your second semester of college, realizing, yes, it's right around the corner, I'm almost done.
23:24
SPEAKER_00: This is when you've been looking for a job and you really you get the acceptance letter, the phone call that says, hey, here's your start date.
23:30
SPEAKER_00: You're like, yes, it hasn't started yet, and we haven't fulfilled that yet, but we've got this re-energization.
23:37
SPEAKER_00: We're still waiting, but we're re-energized.
23:40
SPEAKER_00: It's when maybe you're looking for children, and you realize either, wow, the thing finally says that I'm pregnant, now we get to have a kid, or I get to adopt these beautiful kids who are here.
23:53
SPEAKER_00: We finally got the letter.
23:54
SPEAKER_00: If we can move this process forward, this is gonna be awesome.
23:57
SPEAKER_00: We can be a family, this is terrific.
23:59
SPEAKER_00: Re-energize phase.
24:01
SPEAKER_00: This is where God clarifies to Abram.
24:03
SPEAKER_00: Genesis 17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him, saying, I am God Almighty, live in my presence and be blameless.
24:14
SPEAKER_00: I will establish my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you greatly.
24:20
SPEAKER_00: Then Abram fell face down, and God spoke with him.
24:23
SPEAKER_00: As for me, my covenant is with you.
24:25
SPEAKER_00: You will become the father of many nations.
24:28
SPEAKER_00: And then verse 5.
24:33
SPEAKER_00: Your name will no longer be Abram, but your name will be Abraham.
24:38
SPEAKER_00: Here's where we see his name change.
24:40
SPEAKER_00: For I will make you the father of many nations.
24:43
SPEAKER_00: So God's re-emphasizing, he's clarifying, but he's getting ready to even make it more specific after he provides a sign.
24:53
SPEAKER_00: After he provides Abraham with a sign.
24:57
SPEAKER_00: And the sign is this.
24:58
SPEAKER_00: We see it in verse 11.
24:59
SPEAKER_00: You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin to serve as a sign for the covenant between me and you.
25:03
SPEAKER_00: And that's kind of like, ugh, I don't know.
25:06
SPEAKER_00: Can we even talk about that stuff?
25:08
SPEAKER_00: That's that's kind of messed up.
25:10
SPEAKER_00: But this was the physical sign, just like if you remember Noah, God gave Noah the sign of the rainbow, and then gave us the sign of the rainbow as something that we can experience, kind of a physical reminder.
25:22
SPEAKER_00: And so God does this, kind of signaling, hey, we're we're getting there.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: We're getting there.
25:29
SPEAKER_00: And then we see verse 16.
25:32
SPEAKER_00: This is where he's going to clarify even more to Abraham.
25:35
SPEAKER_00: I will bless her, talking about Sarah.
25:37
SPEAKER_00: Indeed, I'll give you a son by her, I will bless her, and she will produce nations.
25:42
SPEAKER_00: Kings of peoples will come from her.
25:48
SPEAKER_00: Abraham fell face down, then he laughed and said to himself, Can a child be born to a hundred-year-old man?
25:54
SPEAKER_00: Can Sarah, a 90-year-old woman, give birth?
25:58
SPEAKER_00: Is this, God, I'm 99.
26:01
SPEAKER_00: Imagine you're 99 years old.
26:03
SPEAKER_00: And God's saying, Yeah, you, you and your 89-year-old wife, you're about to have a kid.
26:07
SPEAKER_00: Get ready.
26:09
SPEAKER_00: He or she will be here in a year.
26:12
SPEAKER_00: What are you gonna do?
26:14
SPEAKER_00: It's like, man, God, is this even possible?
26:17
SPEAKER_00: Is this physically possible?
26:18
SPEAKER_00: And even if it is, am I even gonna make it that long?
26:21
SPEAKER_00: Am I gonna live that long?
26:23
SPEAKER_00: Can I even take care of this kid?
26:24
SPEAKER_00: How is this gonna work?
26:27
SPEAKER_00: So, God, you're you're messing with my mind.
26:29
SPEAKER_00: This doesn't make sense.
26:31
SPEAKER_00: This seems a little late in the game to be having kids.
26:36
SPEAKER_00: This seems a little late in the game for you to start coming through on your promise.
26:40
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you do this 25 years ago?
26:42
SPEAKER_00: Or 50 years ago, or 75 years ago?
26:45
SPEAKER_00: What about that?
26:46
SPEAKER_00: Kind of prime time, right?
26:48
SPEAKER_00: God had different plans.
26:50
SPEAKER_00: So Abraham said to God, if only Ishmael were acceptable to you, continuing his questioning, his unbelief in this moment.
26:59
SPEAKER_00: God, why can't this one just be good enough?
27:02
SPEAKER_00: I know it's a little different.
27:03
SPEAKER_00: I got with Hagar, it wasn't really supposed to happen, it's not your ideal, but can't he just do this?
27:09
SPEAKER_00: That's gotta be easier.
27:11
SPEAKER_00: This I can see this one.
27:14
SPEAKER_00: I can't see the one that you're talking about.
27:16
SPEAKER_00: I can't see the Isaac that's going to be coming.
27:19
SPEAKER_00: In verse 21, but I'll confirm my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.
27:26
SPEAKER_00: He's saying in a year it's gonna happen.
27:28
SPEAKER_00: You've been waiting all this time, you've had your ups, you've had your downs.
27:32
SPEAKER_00: I'm clarifying the promise even more.
27:35
SPEAKER_00: Give it a year.
27:36
SPEAKER_00: It's going to happen.
27:38
SPEAKER_00: On that same day, Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised.
27:44
SPEAKER_00: So even though Abraham was doubting, even though he had questions, he still got to this point where he wanted to be obedient, where he was still obeying.
27:54
SPEAKER_00: Even though he didn't know how it was gonna work out, it seemed crazy in his mind.
27:58
SPEAKER_00: Maybe he's thinking it might not even work out.
28:00
SPEAKER_00: I hear you saying this, God, but but really but I'm gonna follow through on what you said.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: The question that we come up to in phase four is is this fulfilled?
28:13
SPEAKER_00: And we see that Isaac is born.
28:16
SPEAKER_00: Isaac finally is born.
28:18
SPEAKER_00: The year later comes, Genesis 21:1.
28:20
SPEAKER_00: The Lord came to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised.
28:26
SPEAKER_00: Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age.
28:30
SPEAKER_00: Now I want you to say these next four words together.
28:34
SPEAKER_00: At the appointed time.
28:37
SPEAKER_00: Say it together one more time.
28:38
SPEAKER_00: At the appointed time.
28:42
SPEAKER_00: At the appointed time.
28:44
SPEAKER_00: Somebody had to appoint the time.
28:46
SPEAKER_00: And that appointed was God.
28:48
SPEAKER_00: God knew when he made that promise to Abraham 25 years ago, he knew the exact time, he knew the exact moment that this was going to take place.
28:57
SPEAKER_00: He knew when Isaac was going to be born.
28:59
SPEAKER_00: Not too late, not too early.
29:02
SPEAKER_00: At the appointed time, God did that.
29:05
SPEAKER_00: Abraham named his son who was born to him, the one Sarah bore to him, Isaac.
29:11
SPEAKER_00: Named him Isaac.
29:12
SPEAKER_00: When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him as God had commanded him.
29:18
SPEAKER_00: So again, we see Abraham obeying.
29:21
SPEAKER_00: We see Abraham following through on what God had told him to do.
29:26
SPEAKER_00: Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
29:30
SPEAKER_00: A hundred! Think about that.
29:34
SPEAKER_00: Three digits, a hundred years old, and you've got a newborn.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: What?
29:39
SPEAKER_00: What do you what?
29:40
SPEAKER_00: Do you do you even have energy to take care of this kid?
29:43
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure you're a little behind on what the newest kids are doing and the latest technology and the latest research on child development.
29:50
SPEAKER_00: So how do I go back and do all this?
29:52
SPEAKER_00: But he had a lot of responsibility and he saw God follow through on his promise.
30:00
SPEAKER_00: Why?
30:02
SPEAKER_00: Isn't this the question that we all ask when we're waiting for something?
30:05
SPEAKER_00: We all ask why.
30:08
SPEAKER_00: Why is this taking so long?
30:09
SPEAKER_00: God, why are you late?
30:10
SPEAKER_00: Why have you not acted sooner?
30:12
SPEAKER_00: Why have you not done this thing?
30:16
SPEAKER_00: Can you not see that I'm hurting?
30:17
SPEAKER_00: Can you not see that I'm praying to you?
30:19
SPEAKER_00: Can you not see that I'm reading and serving and going to church and doing all these things?
30:23
SPEAKER_00: Why is this taking so long?
30:24
SPEAKER_00: And so we're gonna look at four reasons.
30:27
SPEAKER_00: Four potential reasons.
30:29
SPEAKER_00: One, maybe he has something better planned.
30:32
SPEAKER_00: Maybe he has something better planned.
30:34
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure we've all had times in our lives when we look back and realize, man, that original plan, maybe it was good, but what actually happened, what God did, this is better.
30:47
SPEAKER_00: This is exciting.
30:48
SPEAKER_00: This is awesome because it's according to how God appointed it.
30:52
SPEAKER_00: Number two, he knows things that we don't.
30:55
SPEAKER_00: And we know this in our heads.
30:57
SPEAKER_00: We know that God's smarter than us.
30:58
SPEAKER_00: We know that he's infinitely knowledgeable.
31:02
SPEAKER_00: We know that he knows everything.
31:04
SPEAKER_00: But sometimes when we're in waiting mode, we forget that.
31:08
SPEAKER_00: And we somehow think that he thinks the same way that we think.
31:13
SPEAKER_00: And he doesn't.
31:15
SPEAKER_00: He knows things, he knows the wider context, he knows what's going on in our life, he knows what needs to happen, he knows what's going on, he knows what he's preparing, he knows how he's working things out, he knows ultimately what's going to be best for us.
31:33
SPEAKER_00: And then number three, his time is not our time.
31:37
SPEAKER_00: The way that he works, the way that he views time is not at all like the way that we view time.
31:43
SPEAKER_00: We are inside of time, we have seconds and minutes, and when the time gets too long, when we wait too long in line, when we wait too long at the grocery store, when we wait too long for me to come up on stage, we get a little antsy.
31:59
SPEAKER_00: We're not quite sure what to do because we're in such an instant society.
32:04
SPEAKER_00: We want now, we want now, we want now.
32:06
SPEAKER_00: And our time is not the same way that God sees time.
32:10
SPEAKER_00: And this last point, this fourth point of potentially why is this taking so long?
32:16
SPEAKER_00: Why are we waiting?
32:17
SPEAKER_00: This is the one that I think we all dislike the most.
32:22
SPEAKER_00: We know it's true, but we dislike it the most.
32:26
SPEAKER_00: It's that we don't know.
32:30
SPEAKER_00: We don't know why it's taking so long.
32:33
SPEAKER_00: We want to know.
32:36
SPEAKER_00: We wanna know why.
32:37
SPEAKER_00: We want to know what's the holdup, we want to know what's coming up so that we can prepare and at least have a vision that, hey, this is actually going to get better.
32:44
SPEAKER_00: But sometimes we don't.
32:45
SPEAKER_00: Gabby and I would love to know why this is taking so long to figure out what's going on with migraines.
32:50
SPEAKER_00: You would love to know why, man, why is this taking so long to have this cancer treatment done?
32:55
SPEAKER_00: Why is it taking so long to have these kids?
32:57
SPEAKER_00: Why is it taking so long for this job to come along?
33:00
SPEAKER_00: Why is it taking so long to bring along the right person to get married?
33:05
SPEAKER_00: And oftentimes we don't know.
33:08
SPEAKER_00: And in those times when we don't know, in those times when it's difficult, in those times when it's uncertain, we have to be like Abraham.
33:16
SPEAKER_00: Not in the bad stuff that he was doing, but in his faith in God, in his trust of God, his believing in God.
33:23
SPEAKER_00: And that's the thing that we have to rest in.
33:28
SPEAKER_00: 2 Peter 3, 8.
33:30
SPEAKER_00: Dear friends, don't let this one thing escape you.
33:32
SPEAKER_00: With the Lord, one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.
33:37
SPEAKER_00: God's time is not the same as ours.
33:40
SPEAKER_00: The next verse, the Lord does not delay his promise.
33:43
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't delay his promise.
33:44
SPEAKER_00: When he makes a promise, that's it.
33:46
SPEAKER_00: He's not slow, he's not behind, he's not ahead.
33:49
SPEAKER_00: As some understand delay, that's us, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.
33:59
SPEAKER_00: God is patient with us.
34:01
SPEAKER_00: He is waiting.
34:03
SPEAKER_00: He wants us.
34:05
SPEAKER_00: And so we see that God, God is understanding of this.
34:08
SPEAKER_00: God understands waiting, God understands patience much better than we do.
34:15
SPEAKER_00: Raise your hand if you if you know who these folks are.
34:19
SPEAKER_00: Okay, plenty of you do, and plenty of you are praying for them, especially over the past couple of months.
34:24
SPEAKER_00: This is Brady and Jess Sorensen and their two beautiful twin daughters who were just born a couple of months ago.
34:31
SPEAKER_00: Brady and Jess were waiting and waiting and waiting for two things at once.
34:39
SPEAKER_00: They were waiting one for their twins to be born, and simultaneously, while they're waiting for their twins to be born, they're also waiting for a liver transplant for Brady.
34:54
SPEAKER_00: Mostly not here in Topeka, but waiting in Nebraska.
34:59
SPEAKER_00: At the hospital, at the hotel.
35:03
SPEAKER_00: Waiting, wondering, God, how is this gonna work?
35:07
SPEAKER_00: Is a liver going to come?
35:09
SPEAKER_00: Are these babies going to be born healthy?
35:11
SPEAKER_00: Are they going to survive?
35:12
SPEAKER_00: Why are we in this waiting?
35:14
SPEAKER_00: What is going to happen?
35:16
SPEAKER_00: We don't know exactly what's going to happen.
35:19
SPEAKER_00: And so I was talking with Brady, and here's what he said.
35:23
SPEAKER_00: He said the biggest cause of anxiety and frustration in the transplant twin saga was timing.
35:30
SPEAKER_00: We were confident God was in control and we knew it would all work out.
35:36
SPEAKER_00: We were sort of hoping that I would get a transplant quickly, like in May or early June.
35:40
SPEAKER_00: And as time went on, it became more difficult to stay positive.
35:45
SPEAKER_00: We grew tired of waiting.
35:48
SPEAKER_00: Think we can identify with that.
35:49
SPEAKER_00: We grow tired of waiting.
35:51
SPEAKER_00: Ironically, we knew God had it under control and his timing is best, but we still got frustrated that he didn't act on our timeline.
36:03
SPEAKER_00: How many of us can understand that?
36:07
SPEAKER_00: God, I trust you, I know what your word says, I know, I know who you are.
36:12
SPEAKER_00: But at the same time, I'm really frustrated that this is taking so long.
36:17
SPEAKER_00: I'm really frustrated that it's not working out the way that I saw it working out.
36:23
SPEAKER_00: We think about Brady and Jess, they they were waiting.
36:26
SPEAKER_00: They were in that moment.
36:28
SPEAKER_00: They were waiting.
36:29
SPEAKER_00: They they had the excitement phase at the beginning.
36:31
SPEAKER_00: They had the next phase of being tired, they had the next phase of kind of a re-energization once the kids were about to be born, and once the news came that there was actually a transplant, that could happen.
36:44
SPEAKER_00: And then the exciting fulfillment came.
36:48
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 11 8.
36:49
SPEAKER_00: By faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and went out to a place he was going to receive as an inheritance.
36:58
SPEAKER_00: He went out not knowing where he was going.
37:02
SPEAKER_00: When he left, he didn't know where he was going.
37:05
SPEAKER_00: He didn't know where the road was going to lead.
37:07
SPEAKER_00: He didn't know where the sidewalk was going to end.
37:12
SPEAKER_00: He didn't know.
37:14
SPEAKER_00: But he went by faith.
37:16
SPEAKER_00: And he trusted God through the process.
37:18
SPEAKER_00: He didn't know the ending, he didn't know how it was going to work, but he trusted.
37:23
SPEAKER_00: And for us, that's that's difficult.
37:25
SPEAKER_00: It's difficult for us to trust when we've been waiting a long time for something.
37:29
SPEAKER_00: It's difficult for us to trust when we've been waiting for a healing or a job or a marriage or a kid or a relationship to be healed.
37:39
SPEAKER_00: We get tired of waiting too.
37:43
SPEAKER_00: So what should we remember?
37:46
SPEAKER_00: Here are four things that we need to remember while we're in the waiting.
37:50
SPEAKER_00: Four things.
37:51
SPEAKER_00: Number one, there's benefit for us in waiting.
37:54
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it doesn't seem like it, and sometimes we don't even want to hear that.
37:58
SPEAKER_00: But there's benefit for us in the waiting.
38:00
SPEAKER_00: We see this in Isaiah 40, 31.
38:02
SPEAKER_00: But those who trust in the Lord, or some versions say, wait on the Lord, will renew their strength.
38:08
SPEAKER_00: They will soar on wings like eagles.
38:10
SPEAKER_00: They will run and not grow weary.
38:12
SPEAKER_00: They will walk and not faint.
38:14
SPEAKER_00: When we wait, when we trust, when we believe God, God's doing something inside of us.
38:21
SPEAKER_00: God's growing our faith.
38:23
SPEAKER_00: He's growing the fruit of the Spirit.
38:24
SPEAKER_00: He's growing our patience.
38:26
SPEAKER_00: He's building endurance.
38:29
SPEAKER_00: But the only way that we know this is after we've gone through the waiting.
38:35
SPEAKER_00: After we've gone through something difficult.
38:37
SPEAKER_00: And when we're on the other side of it, then we can look back down that narrow hallway that we don't want to ever enter again and see, wow, God, you grew me in this.
38:47
SPEAKER_00: I've got more faith now.
38:50
SPEAKER_00: I think Abraham felt the same way.
38:53
SPEAKER_00: Because not too many years after Isaac was born, God asked him to sacrifice his son.
38:59
SPEAKER_00: Isaac didn't have any kids yet.
39:02
SPEAKER_00: But his faith grew to the point where he knew that he could trust God.
39:06
SPEAKER_00: Number two, God is working in our waiting.
39:09
SPEAKER_00: He is working, he's doing things behind the scenes.
39:12
SPEAKER_00: He is active.
39:13
SPEAKER_00: We know that all things, Romans 8.28, we know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, those who are called according to his purpose.
39:23
SPEAKER_00: For those he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, Jesus.
39:33
SPEAKER_00: He wants us all to be more like Jesus.
39:36
SPEAKER_00: And for the good circumstances and the bad circumstances, somehow God weaves and works and knits all of those things together.
39:45
SPEAKER_00: And the outcome for those who love God is that we become more like him.
39:50
SPEAKER_00: We become more like Christ.
39:51
SPEAKER_00: We become more of the person that God wants us to be.
39:56
SPEAKER_00: Now we wish we didn't have to go through difficult circumstances.
39:59
SPEAKER_00: We wish we didn't have to wait.
40:01
SPEAKER_00: But this is how God works all of those things together.
40:05
SPEAKER_00: One of the ways that we've seen waiting, this is a picture from Prague, Czech Republic, this past summer.
40:10
SPEAKER_00: And went there on a mission trip with the youth.
40:12
SPEAKER_00: And we went there expecting, wow, we're gonna have 50 or 60 kids at each of these locations, and we're gonna do this VBS for them, and it's going to be terrific.
40:21
SPEAKER_00: And the first day, first about day and a half, we were there on site, we had maybe one to four kids show up at each place.
40:31
SPEAKER_00: We've got all our kids, we've got all our gear, we're prepared, we've got stations set up, we are ready to rock and roll for this thing.
40:38
SPEAKER_00: And we show up, where are all the kids?
40:41
SPEAKER_00: This kind of defeats the purpose of the trip if we don't have people to share with.
40:48
SPEAKER_00: And so we we start praying.
40:50
SPEAKER_00: God, first of all, is questioning what is going on?
40:53
SPEAKER_00: Why is this taking so long?
40:54
SPEAKER_00: Why are there no kids?
40:56
SPEAKER_00: What is this?
40:57
SPEAKER_00: But somehow God was working behind the scenes.
41:00
SPEAKER_00: We don't know exactly how, we don't know exactly what he was doing, but he was working behind the scenes and he was working in families and he was working in kids.
41:08
SPEAKER_00: And these five little kids who are standing up here by the fourth day, our last day of VBS, all of those kids trusted Christ for their salvation for the first time.
41:20
SPEAKER_00: We didn't know how that was gonna work.
41:22
SPEAKER_00: Most of these kids were not there on day one or day two, but somehow God was working through the situation.
41:28
SPEAKER_00: He was He was in the mix.
41:29
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't silent, He wasn't in a lazy boy, He wasn't sitting back wondering, well, hopefully they figure out something, they better do something, or else I'm gonna be upset.
41:37
SPEAKER_00: No, God was working.
41:39
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes we need a reminder of that in our lives.
41:43
SPEAKER_00: That when it seems like God isn't working, He is.
41:46
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't take days off, He keeps going for us.
41:51
SPEAKER_00: Three, God is with us in our waiting.
41:53
SPEAKER_00: Not only is He working, but He's with us.
41:56
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 28, 20, teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you.
42:00
SPEAKER_00: And remember, I am with you always to the end of the age.
42:03
SPEAKER_00: This is at the end of the Great Commission.
42:05
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is telling his disciples, look, I am going to be with you.
42:08
SPEAKER_00: There's gonna be a time when I'm not physically with you, but I'm gonna give you the Holy Spirit here pretty soon, and I'm going to be with you forever.
42:15
SPEAKER_00: And so for us as believers, we can hold on to that.
42:18
SPEAKER_00: We can remember that.
42:19
SPEAKER_00: That God is always with us.
42:21
SPEAKER_00: He hasn't forgotten us, he hasn't forsaken us.
42:23
SPEAKER_00: He's promised over and over and over again that he's going to be there to guide us, to help us, to comfort us when it's really challenging, when we're in our waiting.
42:33
SPEAKER_00: And number four, this is the point that I think we all need to grab hold of the most.
42:42
SPEAKER_00: This is the one I think we all need to grab hold of the most.
42:44
SPEAKER_00: And that's God understands waiting.
42:49
SPEAKER_00: God gets it.
42:51
SPEAKER_00: God has waited, actually, for several things.
42:57
SPEAKER_00: Look at this verse.
42:58
SPEAKER_00: Galatians 4 4.
43:00
SPEAKER_00: This is the beginning of the verse.
43:01
SPEAKER_00: When the time came to completion, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law.
43:12
SPEAKER_00: This is this is the gospel.
43:15
SPEAKER_00: This is Jesus coming down, and at the perfect time, at the appointed time, God sent Jesus into this world to be the savior of the world, to be the propitiation, to be the one who would die in our place, who would take our punishment for sin when we trust in him, when we trust in his son.
43:36
SPEAKER_00: God could have easily, right after Adam and Eve sinned, he could have said, All right, Jesus, go into the world, save everybody, we're good.
43:44
SPEAKER_00: But he didn't do that.
43:46
SPEAKER_00: He let 10 years, 20 years, 100 years, thousands of years pass before the time came to completion.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: And you've got to imagine what heaven is doing during this.
44:04
SPEAKER_00: What the angels are doing.
44:05
SPEAKER_00: Adam and Eve sin.
44:07
SPEAKER_00: They turn their back on God, they disobey God, and they're thinking, man, God, what is going on?
44:13
SPEAKER_00: What are you going to do about this sin problem?
44:15
SPEAKER_00: What are you going to do about this thing?
44:19
SPEAKER_00: And God's thinking, I've got this.
44:23
SPEAKER_00: At the appointed time.
44:26
SPEAKER_00: When all the prophets have come, when all the prophets have prophesied about the Messiah that's going to come, when the roads are built around Rome, when the communication system is just right for the gospel to be proclaimed across the world.
44:42
SPEAKER_00: I'm creating scripture during this time.
44:45
SPEAKER_00: I'm speaking to people.
44:46
SPEAKER_00: So that at the right time, when Jesus comes into this world, there's going to be an enormous spread of the gospel.
44:54
SPEAKER_00: My word's going to be spread.
44:56
SPEAKER_00: My salvation is going to be spread.
44:59
SPEAKER_00: But at the comp at the appointed time.
45:02
SPEAKER_00: When the time came to completion.
45:08
SPEAKER_00: When God seems late.
45:11
SPEAKER_00: All of us are thinking about something.
45:14
SPEAKER_00: Right now, probably.
45:16
SPEAKER_00: Something that we're waiting for.
45:17
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's a medical thing, a job thing, a family thing, a relationship thing.
45:23
SPEAKER_00: If you're in high school, maybe you're waiting so you can get out of your parents' house and go on.
45:31
SPEAKER_00: But everyone is waiting for something.
45:34
SPEAKER_00: We've got to remember these four things.
45:37
SPEAKER_00: We've got to remember what God is doing.
45:40
SPEAKER_00: Number one, there's benefit for us in waiting.
45:43
SPEAKER_00: God's working on us.
45:44
SPEAKER_00: The fruit of the Spirit are growing in us.
45:47
SPEAKER_00: Number two, God is working in our waiting.
45:50
SPEAKER_00: He's not sitting idly by, He is active.
45:53
SPEAKER_00: He is doing things that are going to be for the good of those who love Him.
45:57
SPEAKER_00: And God is with us in our waiting.
45:59
SPEAKER_00: He hasn't left us, He hasn't forgotten us.
46:01
SPEAKER_00: He's actually with us.
46:02
SPEAKER_00: And when we trust Christ for salvation, He sends the Holy Spirit to live inside of us forever, to help guide us, especially through those difficult circumstances.
46:12
SPEAKER_00: And then number four, God understands waiting.
46:15
SPEAKER_00: He waited to send Jesus, but he's also waiting for something else still.
46:21
SPEAKER_00: In a sense, he's in a period of waiting right now.
46:24
SPEAKER_00: He's waiting for that day when his entire family, God's family, the spiritual family, can be together at that wedding feast.
46:32
SPEAKER_00: He's waiting for that party.
46:34
SPEAKER_00: He is waiting for everyone to be there.
46:36
SPEAKER_00: He's waiting to eat that good turkey and eat that gravy and have this terrific time together with everyone, these thousands and millions of people who are going to be around the table.
46:49
SPEAKER_00: He wants it.
46:50
SPEAKER_00: He desires it.
46:50
SPEAKER_00: That's why it says that he's patient with us.
46:53
SPEAKER_00: Because he's waiting for just the right time for that event to take place.
46:59
SPEAKER_00: When we can all be with him permanently and forever.
47:02
SPEAKER_00: He is waiting on it.
47:05
SPEAKER_00: So when we think about God waiting, we think about the gospel, we think about how this influences how we live and how we're how we are in our waiting.
47:16
SPEAKER_00: Remember Christ.
47:19
SPEAKER_00: He waited while he was getting beat.
47:21
SPEAKER_00: He knew he was going to the cross.
47:23
SPEAKER_00: He waited for his disciples to betray him.
47:25
SPEAKER_00: He waited while he was on the cross, nailed there.
47:29
SPEAKER_00: All for our sin.
47:31
SPEAKER_00: All for us.
47:33
SPEAKER_00: For our good and for the glory of God.
47:35
SPEAKER_00: Those two things together.
47:36
SPEAKER_00: That's what Jesus was waiting for.
47:38
SPEAKER_00: And so if you're here this morning and you are thinking, man, I don't know that I have a relationship with God.
47:44
SPEAKER_00: I don't know that I've trusted Jesus before.
47:47
SPEAKER_00: I don't know that I've done that, but I want that.
47:50
SPEAKER_00: I would challenge you.
47:51
SPEAKER_00: Talk to somebody who's next to you right after this.
47:53
SPEAKER_00: Have a small prayer with God.
47:55
SPEAKER_00: Have a conversation with God and ask him and say, God, God, I trust in what you've done for me on the cross.
48:02
SPEAKER_00: I know that you're being patient with me.
48:04
SPEAKER_00: I know that you love me.
48:06
SPEAKER_00: I know that you're waiting.
48:07
SPEAKER_00: You want me to say yes to you.
48:10
SPEAKER_00: God, I trust you as my Savior.
48:13
SPEAKER_00: I trust in what Jesus did on the cross.
48:17
SPEAKER_00: That's the thing that God is waiting for the most.
48:22
SPEAKER_00: Is for all of his people to trust him.
48:25
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
48:27
SPEAKER_00: God, thank you for your goodness to us.
48:29
SPEAKER_00: Thank you that you give us your word, that you give us the prophets and all of all of biblical history, all of world history.
48:36
SPEAKER_00: Most of all, thank you for Jesus, sending him to die on the cross for us so that when we believe in him, that we would have eternal life.
48:43
SPEAKER_00: Each of us are dealing with something.
48:45
SPEAKER_00: We are waiting for something.
48:47
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's big, maybe it's small, but help us to wait well and help us to have consistent faith in you.
48:54
SPEAKER_00: Not necessarily in the outcome, but have consistent faith that you are a God, that you love us, that you are working things together, that you are conforming us to the image of your son.
49:05
SPEAKER_00: Comfort us, be with us, and help us to honor you.
49:08
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name.
49:09
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
49:11
SPEAKER_00: You're dismissed this morning.