The Wait Is Worth It

A pastor’s anointing

Let me tell you something about a pastor’s anointing in case you don’t know it, and operates, you know, in a number of us, of course. Many of you may be considering whether or not your call to ministry may be that of a pastor, as compared to maybe an apostle or prophet or an evangelist or simply a teacher in the scripture. They’re all important, they’re all gifts that Jesus released after his resurrection into the body of Christ. They are our leadership, and each one of them has a particular grace on their life when it comes to feeding us and helping us and growing us in the things of God, assembling us as the church, helping us to reach a place of maturity. And the scripture is very clear that all of those gifts will be with us until we reach that place of maturity. We obviously haven’t yet. So if you hear someone say, well, there are no more apostles, they’re not telling the truth. If you hear people say there are no more prophets, they’re simply showing that they’re Bible illiterate. If they say there are no evangelists, few do. You know, that’s one of the preferred gifts among us. If they say they’re no more evangelists, they don’t get it. And the same is true concerning all the gifts that are listed there in Ephesians in chapter four.

But one thing that I’ve come to realize about pastors is this, and I think I’d get a witness from the front row here, is that pastors are anointed not just to walk you to new revelations of the Word of God or to help you get maybe to hear for the first time something from the scripture that you’ve never heard before. They’ve actually, there’s a difference between walking you to a truth and walking you through the truth. That’s right. Walking you with the truth, going on a journey with you through the church through that truth, helping you again grow in understanding and mature in it. I had that conversation one time with a dear friend of mine who really is a teacher to the body of Christ. And he has today as an international ministry. But we used to butt heads early on in our relationship about certain not things from the scripture, but about his approach compared to my approach. And it took some time for us to realize that it was just a difference in our anointing. He was happy to teach and to take you to certain truths and to open them up to you from the scripture, but he really didn’t want to take the time to walk you through it to help you grow into it and mature into it. He was uncomfortable with it. Why? Because that was not his anointing. And if you really want to mess someone up, mess with the anointing on their life. Confuse them about their anointing. We all have a lane that we’re supposed to run in. And so I realize that about a pastor’s anointing, and so I’m gonna come to you today, and behind what I’m what I’m going to be communicating is that desire to walk you through some things and to maybe again deepen your understanding about this day in particular and the truth that I’ll bring to you.

Palm Sunday and the prophecies fulfilled

And I want to read to you this morning, beginning with John, the 12th chapter. We heard earlier, I think it was Luke’s account, but I want to read to you John’s account of this historic day all those years ago, beginning with John 12, verse 9.

When the word got out that Jesus was not far from Jerusalem, a large crowd came out to see him, and they also wanted to see Lazarus, the man Jesus had raised from the dead. This prompted the chief priests to seal their plans to do away with both Jesus and Lazarus. For his miracle testimony was incontrovertible and was persuading many of the Jews living in Jerusalem to believe in Jesus. The next day, the news that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem swept through the massive crowd, gathered for the feast. So they took palm branches and they went out to meet him. Everyone was shouting, Lord be our Savior. Blessed is the one who comes to us, sent from Jehovah God, the King of Israel. When Jesus found a donkey and rode on it to fulfill what was prophesied, people of Zion have no fear. Look, it’s your king coming to you riding on a young donkey. Now Jesus’ disciples didn’t fully understand the importance of what was taking place. But after he was raised and exalted into glory, they understood how Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies in the scripture that were written about him.

Again, Palm Sunday was a day filled with incredible hope. Again, people were waving branches and shouting unto God and with Thanksgiving. They were quoting, actually, I’ll mention this again. They were quoting from a Psalm 118. Cindy mentioned that in her offering today. And so on. It was historically the tenth day of the month of Nisan, which was really the first month of the Jewish spiritual calendar. They actually had two. One began in the month of Tishri, and which is September to us, but the spiritual calendar started in the month of Nisan, which is usually around March, April to us. It was also the beginning of events leading up to the Passover that week, the sacrifice of a chosen male lamb without spot, without blemish, to be sacrificed publicly at the temple in the afternoon on the 14th day of that month. At the same time, by the way, that Jesus would die as the Lamb of God.

Three more prophecies would be fulfilled that day, and many more during the following week concerning a Messiah’s appearance and eventual death. When prophecies or promises from God are fulfilled, they are simply more evidence to us that God actively, listen to me, watches over his word to perform it. We know that. We’ve talked about that. We talk about it often here at church. God, whatever word God has actually spoken, he watches over his word. He is always active over his word until it is fulfilled. And that should encourage all of us that sit here this morning in church concerning, listen to me, any promise that God has made you. Any word, whether it’s a prophetic word or a word that guides you, a word concerning the future, God is watching over, if it has not yet been fulfilled, don’t be discouraged. Don’t shut your ears to it while the Spirit of God tries to bring it to your remembrance because God is, even if you can’t see what He’s doing, God is working in the background to bring it to pass. Don’t give up your place in faith concerning that to the liar, to Satan, to the one who discourages, to the one that’s incapable of telling the truth. Follow. Stand your ground. If it’s getting hot, get ready for more heat. But don’t give up your place concerning God’s promised word to you or prophecy over you. He is still working on your behalf until it is perfectly fulfilled.

There’s a verse in the Old Testament I love. I think it’s from Numbers 13 that says, God is not a man that he should lie, neither the Son of Man that he should repent. If he said it, he will do it. Don’t you love the song we sing in our worship team? If God did it before, he’ll do it again. If God spoke a word, amen. He’s ready to do it, and he is right now at work to perform it. Take hold of that. And if you’ve given up any ground concerning that, take back the ground. If you’ve taken steps backward, take those steps forward. Get back to where you were. Amen. And let God have the final word in your life and in your circumstances.

Some of you have prayed and you haven’t seen answers to those prayers yet. I was praying this week. I get a sense many of you have been praying over your family and you’re discouraged because you haven’t seen your family yet come to the Lord or come back to the Lord, or you haven’t seen a positive, you haven’t seen positive evidence in a while that they really are following God anymore. Amen. But don’t give up. Don’t quit. It’s too soon to quit. God has given you a promise concerning your children. And God is watching over his word to perform it. And the Holy Ghost is always at work to bring his word to your remembrance. Jesus has made it such that through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, you’re glad for the Holy Spirit today. Where would we be? Church family, how would we walk this out? This Christian life. One of the things that Jesus assigned him to do was to bring the word that Jesus spoke to your remembrance so that you never forget. Never forget what Jesus has spoken. In other words, if faith comes by the hearing, hearing and hearing by the word, Romans 10, 17, and it does, that means the ministry of the Holy Spirit, one aspect of it is to keep you full of faith. That’s right. To keep your eyes trained on Jesus, to keep your ears open again to his word, and to keep your attention fixed, your gaze fixed on him. The end result of that is staying strong in faith, trusting God, your heart also fixed on him. Amen. There are different ways that God meets our need, but the major way that he meets our need is as we trust him. Trust connects us, it opens a door, it keeps the door open for God to work his will in our lives.

Number one, by the end of the day, that day, every minute of Daniel’s 69th week concerning Jesus’ or Messiah’s coming had been completed. Not many of us know that, know about any of that. Some of us don’t even care about that. And we honestly should care about it. Because if there’s just one prophecy in our Bibles that teaches not only God performs his word, but he does it on time. That’s right. It’s that prophecy about Daniel’s 69th week. After ministering in Israel for about three years, Jesus officially presented himself to Israel on this day as their Messiah. Again, it was on the first palm Sunday. You say, but Jesus said that he was Messiah to others, yes, but not publicly to everyone. He said it to small groups, said it to his disciples, even said it to some of his enemies that had gathered to take him. But this is the first record that we have, account that we have of Jesus publicly accepting worship as Messiah. The first time he had done so publicly. It was exactly 483 years. Yes, God is counting. Exactly 483 years after Artaxerxes issued the decree to rebuild Jerusalem in Nehemiah chapter 2. That’s where all of that is found. So God’s word again was fulfilled exactly as it had been spoken and on time.

Again, I know you don’t think God is sometimes paying attention or watching your clock. Now God does see time differently than we do. He considers time differently than we do. A thousand years is like a day, a day like a thousand years. That doesn’t really help me, Pastor, when I’m looking to pay my rent. I can’t say that to my landlord. I prayed, and the Lord sees a day as a thousand. Maybe it’ll come later. You can’t do that. But just know God is at work. And can I say this to you? If something is stolen from you, including your time, God is a restorer of what’s been taken. He can come along and redeem your time. I don’t know if there’s anything more valuable than our time. That’s right. And that’s why we have to be good managers of it. Another good reason why we shouldn’t waste time. And we shouldn’t procrastinate. We’ll leave that alone.

Another prophecy was fulfilled in the way that Messiah would enter the city. It was detailed and fulfilled. And we find it in Zechariah chapter 9 and verse 9.

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you. He is just and having salvation. He’s lowly. He’s riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.

It’s one of the things actually that confused some of these who were rejoicing that day because they fully expected that their Messiah would come as a conquering king. Instead, he wrote in humbly on the back of a young colt. And so some of their minds were here, and then when they saw that, it went over here. And they didn’t know what to think about what was happening. And whatever misunderstanding they might have had began to grow on the inside of them. Not just those who were for him, but again, the religious leaders and elite of the day who were against him. For them, that justified in their minds that he wasn’t Messiah, because he did not come, it appeared, to conquer Rome on that day. That’s what they wanted. That’s what they were looking for. Listen to me. That’s what they misunderstood the scripture to predict. They actually confused scriptures or prophecies that had to do with Jesus’ second coming with his first coming. Do you know we can do the same thing? We can start imagining or trying to elaborate on a word from God. That when God gives a word, be careful not to make a paragraph out of it. Don’t write a book on the subject. Don’t write a novel, a big book on the subject. Stay true to what God gives you. Well, God gives you is enough. It doesn’t appear that way. Like when God gave a word to Abram about becoming the father of many nations, he ought to pack up and just go into a place where he didn’t know where he was traveling. That didn’t seem like very much to go on, but do you know what it was enough? And God began to fill in the blanks or give more when the time was right. I’m glad God doesn’t respond to our impatience. There’d be a lot of dead people on tramway. Just saying.

Another prophecy, and then we’re going to move on really to the subject this morning. I think it’ll help tons of us in the room here today. But another prophecy, again, in the reading or actually in the quoting of Psalm 118, verses 25 and 26. The words the people were shouting were prophetic, and they were exclusive to Messiah. The words of Psalm 118 didn’t belong to anybody, weren’t intended to identify anybody but Messiah when he came. To apply them to anyone else would have again been in error. But here the people are shouting from Psalm 118 blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And Jesus accepted that. He received it. Say, why is that a big deal that Jesus received it? Because if he had not been Messiah and received that worship, whatever form it came in that day, he would have sinned. And if he had sinned, you know, the rest of that story, he would have disqualified himself to be a savior to the world. But he could receive it. As he could receive even after his resurrection, Thomas’s worship.

And this, by the way, really does mess with the minds of the Jehovah’s Witness, who don’t believe Jesus is God, fully God, Almighty God, Jehovah God come in the flesh. They believe he is a God, that he is a created being, just like you and I are created. He’s special, he had a special mission, but he is not by nature both God and man. I had them in my house one time. They knocked on my door. I welcomed them into my house because I knew a few things that they didn’t about their own Bibles. And so when they came into the house and their own lingo and their own language, they have their own, they have their own way of saying certain things. For example, they refer to themselves as footstep followers of Jesus. That’s pretty popular. But when they came to my house that day, I just said, Oh, welcome. I’m a footstep follower of Jesus too. I am so happy to see you. Sit down, please. An older woman with a younger woman, her disciple. An elder with a younger disciple. So we just sat down and we talked a little bit, just visited about stuff. And then I said, you know what? Can would you look at some verses with me? And they said, Yeah, do you like to study the Bible? I said, all the time. And they said, Well, where do we go? I said, Well, let’s look at this account of Thomas. I said, Do you believe Thomas was a footstep follower of Jesus, like we are? Like, and do you believe we are like he was? Yes, we do believe that. I said, Well, let’s just read here. And you know, it was the account of where Jesus appears and doubting Thomas is doing his thing, and he is essentially said, you know, I’m not gonna believe until I can, you know, thrust my hands into his wounds, and and then when he does that, he is humbled and he falls down on his knees before Jesus, and he says, My Lord and my God, and Jesus didn’t stop him, didn’t stop him. Now, on the other hand, if you read into the Acts, when people fell down to worship Peter for the working of miracles, he stopped them right away. He this didn’t happen by my name, it happened by his name. Right. Okay, is that making sense to you?

So again, prophecy one, prophecy two, prophecy three, all of these incredible things that were being fulfilled. And again, the great misunderstanding was the appearance of Jesus. You know, and I get that, but again, many of the people who were confused, who were having a hard time processing the day, didn’t remember many of the words of Isaiah the prophet, who said, Your king, when he comes, he will be despised of men. He’ll be a man of sorrows, he’ll be a man acquainted with grief. He’s going to be wounded not for his own transgressions, he’s going to be wounded for our transgressions. The sin of the world is going to come upon him. He’s going to be bruised. He’s going to be broken. But by his stripes we will be healed. So John said the crowd of disciples didn’t understand what was happening. They misinterpreted the events of the day. And as a result, they missed, listen to this. This is in Luke 19 in great detail. They missed the time of their visitation. What does that mean? Well, again, it was prophesied when he would come. There was enough, say enough. Instead, they said no to him. And as a result, the Bible said Jesus said this. He said, You’ve missed your time of visitation. And he went on and he pronounced upon the nation of Israel the judgment that was going to be theirs. Instead of them entering into what God had promised, they fell into his judgment. AD 70, Jerusalem, the temple, was raised to the ground as a fulfillment of what Jesus said that day. Again, we see a word spoken, a word fulfilled.

We tend to love the promise much more than the journey

But there’s something important that we can learn from what we read about this account. You’re still with me, you’re ready to go home. You can tell me. Because what I’m about to share with you really is something we can practice today. And it will help us again concerning a word prophesied over us, a word promised to us, a word spoken over us. We have to do something, would you agree? We have to do something different than what Israel did in order to get a different result. You agree, say amen. Okay. So there are important lessons we can learn from their mistakes here, just like we can learn from Israel. The Bible teaches us that in the New Testament. It says there’s a ton of things that we can learn not to do just by observing Israel’s conduct in their journey with God.

Like those people, I’m gonna put it to you this way like those people, we tend to love the promise much more than the journey, the process to fulfillment. The beginning of a promise is so exciting. Wow. But the process, I call it a good a tension between the time that word is spoken and the time it’s fulfilled. It can be tough, and we can struggle with it. And when we struggle, that’s often when it happens. When a word is first spoken over us, we get all excited about it. We begin to proclaim it. We talk to our friends about it. We email today. We call. We say, God spoke a word in service to me today or in prayer to me. And I’m so excited. I just had to share it with somebody. And we’re so excited about that promise when it’s spoken. But then comes Monday. The end of the first week, the end of the first month, and we still haven’t seen it happen. And the excitement begins to wane. Our faith begins to drift. Our gaze begins to drift. Much like Peter’s did when he got out of the boat. One of the mistakes he made, his gaze changed. Our gaze can change. When that happens, the fulfillment of the promise. God’s still watching over his word to perform it. I love that about God. He’s faithful even when we’re not. Even the Bible teaches that. Even when we are unfaithful or in unbelief, he cannot deny himself. So even when we’re messed up in that time period, here it’s spoken. Here it’s fulfilled. And we get all messed up here, we can still take encouragement from this. And you’re not alone in it. Abraham had to figure that out too. Romans 4 says that. He had to figure it out. He had to finally accept that God was faithful, who made the promise, who also then would fulfill the promise. God never speaks a prophetic word to you for you to then go out in your own ability and strength to fulfill it. I got it from here, God. Thanks I got this. Big mistake. What God promises, He also performs. You want the best marriage? Then you have to go and look again at what God’s promised about your marriage. Right? And you got to depend on him, husband, wife. Got to depend on him, not one another. Depend on what he spoke in order for your marriage to blossom and be everything that God wants it to be. Amen. Praise God.

How to wait on God well

So I want to talk to you just for a few minutes. It only takes a few. I’m going to go boom, boom, boom. You ready? Take some notes. But let me read to you first. I’m going to talk to you about how to wait on God well. How to wait on God well. Okay? Let’s read Isaiah 40, verses 29 through 31.

He gives power to the faint and to them that have no might. He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary. Even young people get weary and they faint. Young men will utterly fall. But they that wait, they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up or ascend up with wings as eagles.

That word wait is a Hebrew word which means to gather to and to bind yourself to. It means to gather to and to bind yourself to. They that gather to the Lord and bind themselves to God shall renew their strength. They shall mount up or ascend up with wings as eagles. It’s interesting to me, again, it’s another great message on its own. But eagles tend to soar highest when the air beneath them is hottest. We tend to get tired and faint when the heat is turned up. Naturally speaking, come on. You’re out working in the yard, you start in the morning, it’s cool. You think, ah, this is awesome. And then it gets hotter and hotter and hotter. What happens to you? Don’t tell me you get more excited and more excited, and you feel great. This is awesome. You go, wow. I’m older than I think I am. I’m getting tired. I need to go take a nap. Okay. We’re becoming really good at taking our naps. And young people don’t laugh at us. I hate to say this to you. You’re getting older while you sit in that chair. Doing nothing. But you’re getting older. Okay. So they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They will ascend even in the hot spots. Wow. But it’s those that wait on the Lord that mount up. It’s those that wait upon the Lord well, that mount up with wings as eagles. Watch this, they’ll run, but they won’t get weary. Get ready for a marathon and running it well. They shall walk and they will not faint. So, how to wait well.

Derek Prince, great teacher in the body of Christ, for years and years and years, had an incredible radio ministry when the charismatic move was probably at its height. He is now in heaven with the Lord. But he made this statement about waiting, and when I saw it, I just said, wow, those shock waves went through me when I read it. He said, if we are not prepared or willing to wait, when we need to wait, then there are things we will never learn. If we’re not prepared to wait or willing to wait, when we need to wait, then there are things that we will never learn. Here’s what I’ve observed as a pastor. We’re better at waiting when it comes to concerning time. We’re not great at it, but we’re better at waiting concerning time, but not necessarily great when it comes to the spirit of waiting. In other words, we can spend our time waiting, but we don’t necessarily spend our time well waiting. We don’t really conduct ourselves in the spirit of true waiting. And so again, we don’t get the results that we would normally get, those that we just read from Isaiah 40. Because if you’re just saying, I’m waiting on God, and what you’re really doing is just spending time, waiting. I mean, you’re just spending, which by the way, is the only thing you can do with time. You can’t save time. You have to spend it some way. You can spend it better, but you can’t just, you know, let time pass and get the right result. You agree with that? You know it’s true. Okay, you know it’s true.

Worship while you wait

So, number one, worship while you wait. I love that we’ve been talking about the worshiping church, and here’s another great application of it. Waiting on God means maintaining our devotion and our focus on Him. Watch this. It means both beholding and holding. Say those two words with me beholding and holding on to Him while answers to our prayers or the fulfillment of a prophetic word are in process or a promise has been made. So it’s a time of if we do it well, again, we’re not just wasting time. You know, we are beholding God and we are holding on to Him. Psalm 62, verses 1 and 2. I stand silently, now pay close attention to this beautiful from the Passion Translation.

I stand silently to listen for the one I love, waiting as long as it takes for the Lord to rescue me. For God alone, has become my Savior. Is my safe place. His wraparound presence always protects me. For he is my champion defender. There’s no risk of failure with God. So why would I let worry paralyze me? Even when troubles multiply around me. I am standing in absolute stillness, silent, before the one I love, waiting as long as it takes for him to rescue me. Only God is my Savior, and He will not fail me.

And here it is again in verse 6.

For He alone, He is my safe place. His wraparound presence always protects me as my champion defender. There’s no risk of failure with God. So why would I let worry paralyze me even when troubles multiply around me? I will not be moved.

Notice how many times the word alone or only appear in those verses. And that again speaks of what? It speaks of staying consecrated, speaks of staying dedicated, speaks of holding to him alone and beholding him alone. It speaks of not allowing ourselves to become distracted. If there’s one thing that God of this world wants, if he can’t just get you to believe a lie, he wants to fill your head with just, he wants to fill your head with meaningless stuff. He wants to just take up space. Or he wants to confuse you. Or he wants to just distract you. Okay. What did wind have to do with anything when it came to Peter walking on the water? Does that mean on a calm day any of us can walk on it? Wind wasn’t a factor in him walking on the water or not walking on the water. Right? The waves crashing into his body and into his face, threatening him with death. I mean, it’s a horrible thing to think about. But what did that have to do with him walking on the water? Nothing. Right? And so it had to do with the word Jesus spoke, that a word that Jesus was ready to fulfill for him if he would just keep his gaze on him. Give him an opportunity to work. Amen. So it’s a great lesson for us. And true waiting is the way, it’s our practical way of staying single-minded on him, on the one who is our source, faithful is he again who calls us, who promises the word, who speaks the word, who also will do it, and on the vision that he’s authored in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

Again, let me insert this quickly. You should have a vision for your life. A God-given vision, a divine vision for your life. Why are you here? Why did God breathe life into you? Why does your heart beat today? Why are you living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and attending a great church like Believer’s Center of Albuquerque? And we say that with all humility. Because God is the only truly great one. But he’s doing a great work in our lives. But what is it? Why are you right now in the medical field? Why are you an attorney? Why are you driving nails? Why are you cutting hair? Why are you should have a vision for your personal life? But if you’re married, you should have one for your married life. You know what? If you’re single, you should have one for your single life. It’s not a disease to be single. Singles don’t come up into a prayer line asking to be healed. Because you’re not sick. Same is true about pregnant women. They’re not sick. They’re pregnant. They may feel sick during their pregnancy, but they’re not sick because they’re pregnant. Pastor, pray for me. I’m pregnant. What do you need? I want to be healed. Choose different words. Use different words. Pastor, I want to be delivered. There you go. We can agree with that. Amen. So you follow? This is our time where we really can fix our minds on God, get single as the as minded as things process or play out. The Holy Spirit’s there to help us stay faithful.

Let his expectations become ours

Number two, let his expectation expectations become ours. Waiting on God works to bring our desires in line with his. If you came up to me and said, Pastor, I believe God spoke this word over me, and I just immediately said to you, are you sure? And you immediately went into this. Well, I think so. You’re not at a place where you have anything to anchor your soul. And the worst thing you could do if you’re just not sure is to start talking yourself into something. Or to say this, well, Pastor David thinks that this is true over my life. I’m sorry, a word from Pastor David, a word from Pastor Marshall, a word from anybody else doesn’t begin to measure up with the word that God will speak over your life. In fact, no, none of us speaking into your life a word. Our word should be nothing more than a confirming or affirming word to what God has already said to you. It should listen, it should not be on its own a word that defines for you what God said or God wants to do in your life. You can’t assume of things. Assumption and presumption are the lowest forms of knowledge. When God speaks into your life, it’s the highest form of knowledge. It’s revelation knowledge. It’s knowledge from his heart. It’s not filtered through the souls of men. God is a spirit. It comes spirit to your spirit. And you know the difference. You really do if you’ve been walking with God any time. When God speaks, and when someone else just thinks they have a good idea about your life. One does not. No wonder. No wonder you’re having a hard time. No wonder you’re kind of stumbling through the tension area, the waiting period. You know, you’re assuming God said something. You need to know that God has said something. And of course, it needs to agree with his written word. God will never say something to you that is contrary to his written word. But men wrote that. Oh, yeah. The scripture, the Bible says about itself. All scripture is breathed by God. The word is inspired. In 2 Timothy chapter 3. That means God’s voice print, which is unique. You have a voice print unique to your voice. God’s voice print is on that word. Amen. So if you’re hearing his word, you have something to stand on.

Waiting on God provides the spiritual environment to be, watch this, pursued and persuaded. Pursued and persuaded by the Holy Spirit. To be convinced, both of what God said and what they were meant for you. Again, Abraham’s a great example of that. He didn’t just get it all right away. There were times where he wandered concerning his faith. But again, God is faithful and he would reassure him. He would take him out under the stars and he would say, Count them. I can’t count them. So shall your seed be. God’s encouraging him. He said, look at look down. What do you see? Sand. Count, count, count the granules of sand. I can’t. So shall your seed be. He’s encouraging him. And God encourages us too in our waiting period.

Stay patient and faithful to your part

Lastly, stay patient and faithful to your part. This is a time of waiting where his ability, God’s own ability, is becoming yours. Again, if you know the story of Abraham, God said, I’m going to give you a son, you and Sarah, I’m going to give you a son in a miraculous way. God knew they were both past childbearing age. They didn’t take God by surprise. He knew it when he made the promise. God knows you’ll know your frailties when he makes the promise. God knows your iniquity when he calls you to serve him. He knows everything about you. It’s not only true now, but it’s going to be true in the future. He certainly knows your past. He’s not holding any of that against you. But you’re not going to know that, and you’re not going to be assured of that. The enemy won’t let you know that. Only God, by the Spirit of God, can persuade you of that and help you with that and get you to a place where you go, Oh my God, it really is. God who works in me, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Amen.

But if you don’t understand the story or you’d never read the story, Abraham got that initial promise. He said yes to it. He left Ur of the Chaldees, traveled for a while, began to begin to try to reason how this thing was going to happen. Begin to really think about it in his own mind. He was growing a little bit impatient. That’s what usually impatience gives birth to. And it’s what impatience supports more than reasoning with God, which we can do. It supports reasoning things out within ourselves or with other people. And when we reason within ourselves and with other people, we don’t always come to the same conclusion that we get when we reason with God. Amen. I’ve got so much I’d love to say on this. But God gave an invitation to Israel in one place. He said, Come, let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Now, who do you think, who else do you think Israel could have gone to and gotten that same conclusion? Oh no, you’re a sinner. You’re a sorry sinner. Your sinners individually, you’re sinners as a nation. You don’t deserve the call of God on your lives as a nation. Look at you. But God said, Come reason with me. And here’s the end result. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Same can be true today. I want to give my life to Jesus. I’ve been taught from the Word and from great men and women of faith that if I come to God with my whole heart, that not only will my sins be forgiven, but I will receive eternal life. And I’m going to do that. Oh, you can’t do that. God, are you kidding me? That must be an insult to God. You sin so greatly, God could never forgive you. On and on and on. No. Go to God and reason. Hear what he has to say about your life. Amen.

So before Abraham and Sarah rested in the promise that God made to them, Abram first brought Lot. Why did Abram bring Lot? Because in his heart, many theologians think this, not just this pastor. But the reason he brought Lot was because he thought within himself, even then, maybe this is who God is talking about. Maybe God will work through Lot to bring redemption. Well, God rejected that. You know how that ended up anyway, strife, right? Which again is often how our ways end up in strife. All right. And then he chose, he brought Eliezer of his own household before God. He was a servant in the house. He said, maybe it will be maybe God will accept Eliezer as the son because we’re still childless. Time’s running out. What do you mean time’s running out? You were past childbearing age anyway. That’s right. But he’s reasoning this thing out. He’s saying, maybe God will use Eliezer. That didn’t work out. So he teamed up with his wife, and he teamed up with Hagar, and the end result was a baby born named Ishmael. And that baby Ishmael grew up thinking that he would be the promised child of God, and God would work through him to form a great nation, and redemption would be brought to the earth, only to find out when he was 13 that that was not going to be the case. The Bible says he got angry and he grew bitter. And if you want to know the facts, what’s really behind the Middle East conflict today is that. Tough lesson there. Don’t think that your decisions don’t affect your children. And don’t think your decisions don’t affect not only your children, but the world you’re living in. Or the future that’s being formed.

The king is still coming

Sometimes we give birth to say things that God never intended because we couldn’t wait for what he promised. Over time, again, the imagination tends to take place. That’s why the Bible teaches us to manage every thought. Say every thought with me. To manage every thought that comes into our mind. The way to be patient is to maintain the vision. Did you know that? If you’re finding yourself impatient, go back, dig a little bit and say, what was the word that God spoke to me? What was the promise he made? Go back to that. And it’ll strengthen you when it comes to patience. And this example really should speak to all of us. That a Chinese bamboo tree shows no growth for years. But then suddenly it will grow. Listen to this, 90 feet in five weeks. A bamboo tree. But it was growing underground. Where you couldn’t see it. God is growing something in you. And he needs to do that before he can grow it through you. Right? So those simple little waiting guidelines.

If you’ll do it with your heart engaged, and I’ll say this, I’ll be done. Is that this doesn’t require of you waiting before the Lord? Doesn’t require of you constantly being in a place that’s kind of quiet and separated, phones off the hook, or you left your phone outside the room or other means of distraction, you know, whatever. That’s not realistic. Waiting on the Lord is actually something that’s active. You go to a restaurant this afternoon, like we’re gonna do, we’re gonna celebrate. Cindy and I are gonna celebrate 52 years of marriage today. April the 13th falls on a Sunday this year when we did it, it was Friday the 13th. She’s been my only girlfriend and my wife for 52 years. So we’re gonna go out to lunch. We’re also gonna celebrate Hannah’s birthday, which is tomorrow. Talk about an answer to a promise. That girl. And we grew impatient. Cindy was put to bed, she was bedridden, but God had spoken a word for us. He’d given us a promise that we would have a healthy child. Because what the midwife was telling us and others was that because of what was happening in Cindy’s body, that would just not be the case. That Hannah would just not be properly nourished in the womb. The blood flow was not what it needed to be in order for her to form fully and form properly. But I remember Cindy going into labor, us getting in a car and driving, and no, I was not driving the speed limit, and I got to where we were Hannah would be born. And it was on the way. I reached over and I touched Cindy on the knee. And we both felt the presence of God. And the words that started coming out of my mouth were the same words that God had spoken prior to pregnancy. And right at the point of pregnancy. It just was flowing out, prophesying over Cindy. Speaking again the word that God spoke. And we arrived, and well, long story short, look at this gorgeous girl. She was perfect. She was absolutely perfect. And Daddy still thinks she is. So just remember that it’s active. You don’t have to be in a quiet room. Although I will say, you should have that in your life anyway. You should have a time that belongs only to you and God. That might be a waiting time. It might be. And so build that into your walk with God. But don’t think that it requires you always having just that quiet surrounding. Helps. But you can wait on God while you’re washing dishes or like washing dishes and then putting them in the dishwasher. Mowing the lawn, if you still do that. Whatever it is, driving your car down the road. You can wait on God. Practice those simple principles.

The final word I have for you today before I pray is that hey, the king is still coming. Come on. He’s coming a second time. Before that comes the rapture of the church, he’s gonna come after you. He’s not gonna come after anybody else when he comes in the rapture. He doesn’t even come, his foot never touches the earth, the Mount of Olives in the rapture. We’re actually get this. If you’re born, this applies to if you’re born again. We are actually caught up to meet him in the air. It is in the twinkling of an eye, which I’m told is faster than a blink. Figure that out. But we’re caught up to meet him in the air. So shall we be with him forever. But then he’s coming a second time, and he will come to pick up what his dealings with Israel have been on pause since Palm Sunday. He will put the record back on play. Because he’s got some things he promised Israel that are not yet fulfilled. But I didn’t want to go into all that, but I did. Here it is. Here it is. Keep waving your palm branches. Keep worshiping, keep honoring Jesus as Messiah. Keep doing it. Don’t stop. Don’t quit. Don’t give up. Don’t give in. God made you a promise. God prophesied something over your life. God has spoken a word that He right now is actively at work making, bringing it to pass. Just keep waving your victory branches in worship before God. Amen.