In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of waiting on God and following His blueprint for our lives. He encourages listeners to be patient and obedient even when faced with delays or uncertainty. The speaker urges young people to find a quiet place, free from distractions, and spend time listening to God's voice. He also highlights the significance of Jesus weeping over the pain caused by death and the power of God to bring life even in seemingly impossible situations.

Ask Lord in Jesus name that tonight Lord God you'd speak to our hearts from your word as we come to this a very interesting topic Lord that one that we Really need your word on because we frankly struggle with it And so father give us wisdom now in Jesus name and all God's people said Amen, grab your Bibles tonight and turn if you would as you know to Matthew chapter 28 That is our theme for this series on the disciplines of life It's a 31 week series and tonight we are in the 10th week so we're a third of the way through and We're looking at tonight the discipline of delay We'll talk about what that means in a moment. But Matthew chapter 28 Jesus said verse 18. He said All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth Go therefore don't you love that get out? Because I've got all authority and make disciples of all nations Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit Teaching them to observe all things that I command you and behold. I am with you always even unto the end of The world and I love that Jesus stressed that I'm gonna be with you all the way to the end and I don't know about you But I personally believe that We are living in the end and I like to take it this way Jesus is more keenly in tune. Not that he can't be out of tune But you think about Jesus? The time and the age in which you and I live in it's almost I believe that he's got Binoculars on or a microscope on concerning the world you and I are walking through This is a great time to be making disciples of all nations Because the time is near the Bible says Jesus Christ is coming back. The scripture teaches us that He's gonna be Refocusing on the nation of Israel. The Bible tells us in the book of Daniel that he's gonna fulfill his last specific seven years Regarding his people and the holy city of Jerusalem Daniel chapter 9 says so we as Gentile believers in the world What does it mean to us? It means that we were so close to the coming of the Lord for his church and until he comes We want to be very very ready and we want to be very very much at work for him And so tonight I'm gonna ask you to mark it down in your Bibles our verse this evening is this it is Psalm 40 verses 1 & 2 Psalm 40 verses 1 & 2 regarding the discipline of delay The psalmist writes I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined Circle that word if you would Inclined to me and heard my cry He brought me up out of a horrible pit out of the miry clay and he set my feet upon a rock and Established my steps. I want you to mark that word and that he inclined to me the word means that the Lord leaned over to cover me When the psalmist cried out to the Lord the psalmist writes back and says the Lord covered me as He waited patiently for the Lord the Lord responded and I want you to mark that down because why does it seem in our lives? That when as Christians, we've got our Bible. We've got our friends. We've got the Holy Spirit We've got fellowship. We've got a church. But why is it at times that it seems like God's not listening to us Why is it at times that it seems like God is not listening? why does it seem at times that the heavens are like brass and There's times when they're There's a dryness to our lives that Lord, you know, what's wrong? What's going on? And maybe nothing's wrong at all And how does this all factor into the discipline of delay? What does it mean? We're gonna be looking at this in several ways tonight. Not only delay on The part of you and I waiting upon the Lord learning how to do that But also the fact that we are to be waiting with expectancy Regarding the Lord's return and this is very important. So it covers a very large Gambit of thought tonight regarding the discipline of delay and what are we talking about when the Lord? Works in our lives. How many of us are waiting to hear? I'm curious from the Lord regarding some topic or issue of our lives. I'm gonna put both hands up for me. I About maybe you're crying out to God tonight because you want to know about a job in America That's a big deal right now. Oh God speak to me about a job Maybe you're crying out to the Lord tonight and you're saying no God speak to me about a direction to take Do I go left or do I go right? And Lord speak to me about ministry. Maybe you're waiting on the Lord for a ministry Direction or maybe you're waiting upon the Lord. You say Oh God, is it you know, is it miss? Is this mr. Right or is this miss? Perfect? Speak to me God and you're waiting and you're seeking the Lord and And it doesn't seem like he's answering. What's that all about? And what good by the way can come out of waiting or delay? Well, listen to what Job said in Job 30 verse 26 He says when I looked for good then evil came to me and when I waited for light there came darkness And a lot of people feel like that you guys when we talk about waiting upon the Lord It's not a comfortable thing. The discipline of delay is something where you and I church. Are you listening tonight? This is something where you and I have to exercise exercise ourselves under godliness. It is not popular It is not happy. It is not the most joyous thing to talk about this topic But let me tell you something right now without this discipline in our lives You and I will not make it through to the end We will be one of the statistics one of the victims that falls short of our waiting for the Lord This is vital maybe you're listening tonight and you've given up waiting for the Lord and Waiting upon the Lord Because he didn't answer you or he didn't answer you the way you wanted to hear from him about You wanted to come a different way You wanted God to tell you a different thing and so for some people they're upset with God He didn't answer it the way they wanted to be answered and I got to tell you Waiting is something that in our emotions can wreak havoc in our lives because if our emotions are driving our spiritual existence Listen in my backyard the other day. I watched a bee. I was watching him go from plant to plant and Then the little bum he went from plant to plant to me And I must have smelled so sweet and Looked so much like a flower. I'm kidding right now But what was he doing? He was just going from flower to flower to flower and I wanted I want to say this as Christians We're not to be like that little bee going from flower to flower or from one high to the next one You know super experience to the other we need to get it in their minds that we need to bed down as it were Put on our big boy pants or whatever you want to call it and be tough for Jesus We need to be galvanized for Jesus. We need to be strong We need to get our emotions under control and under the very will of God and here's why Without those emotions being controlled by the Word and the will of God then we will not be very good at waiting upon the Lord in this discipline of delay and We will fail So tonight as we look at these points the disciplines of life the discipline of delay number one It's this God knows exactly what time it is. Can somebody say amen to that? God knows exactly what time it is on the grand scheme of things and he knows exactly Right now how many days you have left in your life? Did you know that the Bible says all of your days are numbered? How do you like that? You say well, what if I committed what if I killed myself? Well, God knew the day God knows the day that you'd kill yourself. Well, what if I live to be 120 God? I Mean, you know, you may you may be thinking that you can somehow trick God He knows everything and he knows not only the very hairs of your head are numbered But he knows the very moment that you were born into this world in the moment. You're gonna go out of this world. God knows He knows exactly what time it is So listen, why does it seem like at times that the Lord is late in answering us? Now here's the funny thing. I never feel like God is late in answering you Regarding what you've been praying about. I only feel like he's late about the things I'm praying about Have you noticed that and yet? What I'm praying about, you know from the outside isn't God's timing great. Look at Jack. He's Biting his fingernails and fretting and wondering where's God and had God's timings perfect You'll even come to me and say God's timings perfect pastor Jack Well, you just remember that because I'm gonna bring it right back on you and I'm gonna say hey God's timings perfect. Remember and it is perfect But here's the thing if it's perfect and why does it feel so weird? Because it's not perfect in our emotional perception of what God's doing. We want him to do it our way He's not Burger King. He's the king of Kings and he does it his way We Are to acquiesce to him we are to submit to him we are not to dictate to him how it ought to go Okay, God, look, I'm 25 years old and I'm not married yet. So I'm gonna give you one more year God. Oh Dear don't do that You'll get yourself in trouble. He knows exactly what time it is Ecclesiastes 311 says he has made everything beautiful in its time and he has put eternity in their hearts Wow God is the controller of time And he knows exactly what time it is. Everybody turn to John chapter 11. This is a big chunk of Bible So go there John chapter 11 you want to talk about time? Jesus in fact, not only is he the governor of time in Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6 Isaiah 9 6 you'd have to turn there I'm just giving that's a bonus verse Isaiah 9 6 tells us regarding the Messiah that he is the it says um the father But the actual word is that Jesus is the father of time. He's the father of eternity Meaning Jesus is the governor of time Old Testament says that but in John chapter 11 check this out. That's pretty awesome Now a certain man was sick Lazarus of Beth Bethany in a town of Mary and his sister Martha And it was that Mary Who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped his feet with her hair whose brother Lazarus was sick Therefore the sister sent to him saying Lord behold Look at this how cool this is he whom you love is sick Lazarus is sick. Jesus is down in the Jordan River area Therefore or when Jesus verse 4 says heard that he said this sickness is not into death But for the glory of God that the Son of God may be glorified through it now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he had heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days Now when you're sick you want relief now Jesus stays two more days in the resort town down there in Jericho on the Jordan River Then after him after this verse 7 he said to the disciples Let us go to Judea again and the disciples said to him rabbi Lately the Jews sought to stone you and are you going there again? And Jesus said are there not 12 hours in a day if anyone walks in the day He does not stumble because he sees the light of this world But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him these things He said and after that he said to them our friend Lazarus Sleeps that's by the way always how you refer to a Christian body the body when a Christian dies Okay, the soul's not sleeping Lazarus is dead, but you never speak of believers as being kicked the bucket cold as ice Six feet under pushing up daisies, you know, you don't you don't do that. And so Um Verse 12 then his disciples says Lord if he sleeps he's gonna get well, however, Jesus spoke this of his death But they thought that he was speaking about taking a rest in sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly Lazarus is dead And I'm glad for your sakes that I was not there that you may believe nevertheless Let us go to him then Thomas who is called the twin went on to say he was talking about you know If you're gonna die, then we'll all go with you verse 17 So when Jesus came he found that he had already been in the tomb now four days. This is significant because in the Jewish culture They believe in fact if you've been with us to Israel tombs with the stones rolled over the door There's always a little hole event in the top part of the tomb If you've been there you remember the Jews believed that there was a chance of someone Coming back to life But if they didn't come back to life then you had to let the spirit out through a hole So that they could go to heaven but it's possible that their spirit might linger around the tomb for a little bit But the fourth day this is all tradition on the fourth day It was believed that the spirit was not only long gone. The evidence of it was a stinky rotten body Okay, remember that that's Jewish Tradition Okay so It says now Bethany was near Jerusalem verse 18 about two miles away And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother Then Martha as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming Went and met him, but Mary was sitting in the house. Now Martha said to Jesus. I love this. This is humongous faith Lord if you would have been here, my brother would not have died Is that great faith? No, really it is. I mean she's full-on rebuking him for slacking off But she's saying if you would have been here wouldn't have died you could have done something about it. This is great faith mind you Okay, and Jesus said to her your brother will live or will rise again and Martha said to him I know that in that he will rise again in the resurrection in the last day and Jesus said to her I am the resurrection in the life He who believes in me though, he may die yet He shall live and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this and she said to him? Yes, Lord I believe that you are the Christ the Son of God Who is to come and into the world and when she had said these things verse 28 she went her way secretly and called Mary her sister saying the teacher is come and he is calling for you and As soon as she heard that she arose quickly and came to him now Jesus had not yet come into the town but was in the place where Martha met him then the Jews who were with her in the house and Comforting her when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out following Her saying she is going to the tomb to weep there then when Mary came Where Jesus was and saw him she fell down at his feet So precious is this and she said to him Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died Therefore when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her weeping He groaned in the spirit and was troubled you're coming up on one of the most precious verses in the Bible and he said Where have you laid him and they said to him Lord come and see verse 35 Shortest verse in the Bible Jesus wept. You see, why did he weep? I think Jesus wept over the pain of what death causes Death is not supposed to happen to us Wasn't supposed to be death in the Garden of Eden think of that then the Jews said to him see how he loved him and Some of them said could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept this man from dying Then Jesus again groaning in himself probably at unbelief there Came to the tomb. It was a cave and a stone lay against it and Jesus says take away the stone radical four days You don't do this Take away the stone and Martha the sister of him who was dead said to him Lord by this time. There is a stench For he has been dead four days Notice not three not five. It's four was the key He's gone Jesus said or did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was laying and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said father I thank you that you've heard me and I know that you always hear me But because of the people who are standing by I said this that they may believe that you sent me now when he had said These things Jesus cried out with a loud voice and said Lazarus come forth and he who had died came out Bound hand and foot with graveclaws and his face was wrapped with a with the cloth So he's totally mummified and Jesus said to him loose him and let him go. I love it see what you take us all that whole time to read that for because When Lazarus had died even before he was he was dead. They prayed did they not pray in a sense? Quick send help get Jesus. He hears that Lazarus is sick and he waits He waits until he's dead to leave the Jordan River Valley to go up to Bethany This is the discipline of delay in action God responds in his time so that the Lord may be glorified He does not delay that we be glorified he delays listen friend He delays in your life that your faith may be strengthened He delays in my life that I might have greater faith. Here's the thing We must be willing to embrace his sovereignty in this area tonight, or we will suffer greatly This is not popular, but God will answer your prayer in his timing He calls the shot We don't know how long Paul prayed for his healing, but we know that Paul prayed three times remember and the Lord said hey I'll paraphrase it. He said this I'm not gonna heal you Paul Because my grace in your ailments will be a source of power in your life And then Paul turns around and says, okay. Okay, then don't then don't heal me. I'd rather have your power He fell in love with the discipline of delay and the delay was I'm gonna do my sovereign thing Paul and God is saying to you tonight. You've been crying out to God and he hasn't answered you yet You know what just because he hasn't answered you yet with a yes or no doesn't mean he hasn't answered you It his answer may be later. His answer may be delay I'll look into that You know, we do that all the time People will say, you know, what will you sign up? Will you do this? Will you do the other and you know what we say? I'll pray about it God does it to us and we panic. Oh God, please God, please. You know, I'm gonna pray about it And we don't like it, but he knows exactly what time it is in your life Well, if you knew what time it was in my life here, I'm 35 years old. I'm not married yet Maybe he's sparing you from a world of grief Who knows? Maybe Maybe I believe what I'm about to say right now. I believe that God has that right person for you See, well, I'm 32 and he hasn't come yet It may be he ain't ready for you yet. I mean the Lord is the guy's not Maybe he's got some grown-up to do. I don't know But God's not so concerned about that stuff Sometimes we think that oh, he's gonna answer my prayer. So I'll be happy. I haven't read that in the Bible anywhere haha He answers our prayers that we might draw closer to his will if we pray according to his will he hears us That's important. And So when he delays we are to obey That's very important. So you've prayed and so you've been in the Bible You've been asking God for an answer to your prayer request. What are you supposed to do? You wait on God You see I hear Christians say that a lot to wait on God. What does it mean to wait on God? Get ready write it down. You know you people say I'm just waiting on the Lord. Just wait on the Lord It's Christian ease, you know to talk like that How you doing doing just waiting on the Lord No one outside of Christianity knows what in the world you're talking about Let me tell you what it means It is a willful commitment to seek after God no matter what in his word in prayer with this intent to obey him When you say I'm waiting on the Lord, I'm seeking his word. I'm praying and I will obey him I'm waiting upon the Lord. I'm at his feet. I've got my ears turned upward listening For his command when we say we are waiting on the Lord. Listen Christian Church We better watch what we're saying because that is very nigh very close unto saying thus sayeth the Lord Because that is that is a serious I'm waiting upon listen everybody I'm waiting upon God That means your friends and the people that you're influencing in this life. They're expecting you to get an answer from God But here's the thing when and here's where the Christian Church trips up often We are such a drive-thru culture That I'm just waiting on the Lord That could take years and I'm not joking in my life personally Becoming full-time in ministry getting involved in ministry for me took years and Here's the funny thing To cry to pray to seek him. I've got to tell you right now. I think I'd rather Crawl across California on broken glass would be easier To get alone with God and a disciplined Routine of life we've lost that you know what we call it in the Old Testament to meditate You guys where was I I was somewhere. I was at the airport in New York coming back home and They had this minute the a meditation room. I almost took a picture, but you're not allowed to take pictures in airports now. I Signed this is meditation room And watch this watch Meditation room now, first of all, I'm a Christian. I know what that means But they don't want to offend anybody by using the word prayer Room, it was a prayer room Which is kind of funny you walk in this room. It had a cross Okay, it had a Jewish star on one side across and it had a Muslim prayer rug on the other side And it's all in one room. There's no partitions or nothing It was really it was kind of Kind of cool actually because there's only one God listening So I just ran around the carpet went over to the star and No, I did not I did not but the but the logo the logo on the look the logo on the airport Wall was like this. This was the logo and It said meditation room only a Christian knows what that means because when we pray We are to be meditating and saying to God I wait upon your will I Wait upon your word. I wait for your it listen for your answer. Not mine and not my friends answers. I Mean this with all due respect not even my husband or my wife's answer Now here's the cool thing if you're a husband or a wife When you're praying and God gives you the answer he will confirm it with your husband and your wife You hear me and this press a pretty lame response out there a second ago That's important God will never have a husband and wife be at a rift regarding ministry or direction Okay, I know this when it comes just to just for a day off Lisa. I want to go to Santa Barbara Well, I want to go to San Diego two opposite directions completely and So what's the answer? Oh the answer How you said Santa Barbara, that's right Now the answer is Costco or Walmart, that's what that's what winds up happening but But no when God is moving in a with a married couples life and a believers life. They're in unity that's very important, but we are to be meditating to discern and to know God's will in Prayer prayer meditation There should be no difference for the believers. So that airport sign really works for us, but only us it's a very important thing so to wait upon God is to Obey him with ears open to his word and for what God says and when he says it you do it and it's only by Waiting on the Lord that you and I listen. This is not going to be popular tonight to say this by you and I Seriously waiting upon God is the only way That you and I will be able to face the challenges of our day There is no other way to whip anxiety fear phobias timidity All of these things that crush your heart There's no way listen. Hear me out. There is no way to beat the Oppression of what comes against the believer except by this waiting upon God Too much of the Christian Church today suffers Because we are a go-go-go-go-go Generation and we think for a moment that if we stop and wait on God That we're sinning because we're not you know, it feels wrong to stand still, you know, that's called Sabbath We are supposed to Sabbath with God when Well for the believer Every day we have to be very careful about this Psalm 46 10 says be still that's a commandment be still and know Yeah, da in Hebrew be still and discover that I am God I will be exalted among the nations and I will be exalted in the earth. That's awesome Number two God has his own plan in action right now. He's got it You see what's going on in the world. Yep. God's at work. Oh My goodness, did you see this and did you see that God's at work? Hey, you know all the flack we're getting for the Bible in the schools Huh? Are you guys aware of this? We're gonna this is war. We're launching war next Sunday. We're going to war It's revolution time, baby. It's awesome So listen, here's the thing Here's the thing God knows Well, what if they over what if they overturn their original vote God knows Here's the fun thing about being a Christian we fight like there's no tomorrow Okay, and if we lose it's like God knows It's so cool Well, that's you know, though. There's a vote coming up in November and I'm if God knows I'm not gonna vote No, you vote because he's gonna hold you responsible you vote vote. You have to vote biblically don't vote Republican Democrat Can you tell the two apart? Vote biblical values. That's biblical, right? So we're all gonna register to vote we're all gonna go vote Bible we're gonna vote biblical values Here's the cool part in the end when we stand before God Even if we were to die burning at the stake which a lot of our brothers and sisters Died at the stake for their testimony their faith in Jesus Guess what we get to do we get to stand before the Lord very much alive and say Lord I honored you all the way through to the end. I waited on you and you did not let me be put to shame and Believer listen, you do not sign up becoming a Christian for a popularity contest to win You know your Happy face or whatever. You are a believer in Jesus Christ. His doctrine is not of this world Are we to love people? Yes, but love God first. That's the only way we can really love them is if we love God first Christianity is a bad word today and it's gonna get worse The world doesn't understand us the world can't understand us there's blinders on their eyes But we're the bad ones. We're the weirdos. We're the whatever. What do you do about that? You wait on God Are you under attack? I pray for each of you that you'd be under attack. It's the best thing in the world Seriously, you know what man because when it's easy you can get sleepy. Oh And somebody comes up and challenges you what Pastor I had a teacher at school last week make fun of me as a Christian praise the Lord Honestly think about it It's pretty amazing We're not of this world But God's plans in action and you and I are get to live at a time where God's plan is in action in John 16 13 Jesus is when he the Spirit that's the Holy Spirit of truth has come He will guide you into all truth and that it's a constant act of the Holy Spirit Guiding you into all truth. He's at work. God's got a plan and God's plans to create within you and I a dynamic healthy vital Christian life in Ephesians 2 verse 10 mark it down. This is for every Christian tonight. Are you a Christian tonight? Listen to this. This is pre-packaged program stuff. It's in the spiritual DNA of Being born again here it is Ephesians 2 10 says we are his workmanship He is at work with the plan listen I know you can't tell because the construction company is doing too good of a job But they've been working next door the tons of work. You don't think they're working. Do you there's no dust There's no hammers laying around. There's no junk out there, but they're working you got to go next one, no, don't go you can't go you get hurt, but they're working and You go in there and here's the cool thing Everything's being done according to a blueprint And if it's not in the blueprint, so stop everything and they got to call people Carla call the architect all this kind of stuff It's not that that thing's not drawn in here got to change that got to fix that why it's not on the blueprint Listen, this is the blueprint This is the blueprint and it goes into our hearts and when he puts it in our hearts, he says stuff like this to us I Am the craftsman you are the project. I am working Okay, watch this and we have a created in Christ Jesus for good works. God says I built you To do something. What do you think of that? Here's a blueprint. He folds it out And while you're praying while you're waiting while you're talking to him, he'll start revealing it to you He'll give it to you Now watch this. Let's come back and bite you if you don't pay attention to this good for good works, which God actually pre-prepared Beforehand that we should walk in them The Lord has got a blueprint for every one of us who are Christians tonight to walk a certain path of ministry life and You are not to tell him what that is He's to tell you what that is. Here's the thing when he delays we are to obey But when he delays if we don't like the delay, you know what we do in our emotions We start to panic. Oh I'm losing time. Well, I'm getting older I got to do something and I like this and I like that and they said this and maybe I could and I think I will and you gather people around and you get them to confirm what you want done in your life Like buy a house Or a car or that person to date or marry or this idea about ministry or about the other thing and You have no you have no idea whatsoever that God has said no to that. He hasn't said Yes, he is silent or he's waiting but you won't wait and so you'll concoct an answer and your emotions will fool you your emotions Will listen to the things that people are saying and you go this must be God's will You guys I can't tell you how often I've heard this stuff when people say, you know what? We've had it with this crazy state. First of all, we're in California right now. We've all had it with this crazy state But wasn't today's weather perfect? I mean, yeah, I thank God for this weather, but this state's nuts Well, here's the thing well, you know, I've had it with California we're moving oh Where you going? Pick something, you know, Kentucky. Okay, Kentucky. That's the Did you find a church before you move no We're just going and then you hear this Lord told us to go because they're looking at me when I don't jump up and down You're going to Kentucky. That's great. I would just go And here's the thing, what do you think about that pastor honestly pastor we're moving to Kentucky they tell me we're moving to Kentucky What do you think about that? Why are you asking me for? Who am I honestly? Why don't ask me? I'm nothing I'm nothing I'm nothing. What did God tell you about Kentucky? Huh and then and then from insecurity coming on Well, the Lord showed us we're supposed to go really what verses did he give you? Because he speaks through from here what verses well, we have to leave now, but I listen because I love you. I tell you What are you doing? It's a crazy state. We all agree. Kentucky's nice fantastic, but did God say go? Here's the thing we can surround ourselves with people who tell us yeah. Yeah, let's go But God didn't say go Joshua learned this painfully when guys showed up with moldy bread and worn-out shoes. They said Oh Joshua, we love you guys. You guys rock. You're incredible and we want to join your team. We've walked forever Look when we left we took this bread fresh out of the oven and look as hard as a rock and our shoes were brand-new And now they're all worn out. That's how far we traveled guess what they were right over the top of the hill on the hill on the other side and They came and they fooled Joshua because and it says because Joshua didn't consult the Lord. He got fooled got tricked This is very very important stuff. We need to wait on God Because we are his workmanship and God's doing a thing Psalm 37 verse 7 says rest in the Lord. Isn't that a great word? Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him You know, that's a beautiful verse, but that is really hard to do But we got to do it. That's we're not gonna make it I'm gonna give you a few things. I want you to jot them down real quick The discipline of delay number one separates you from the advice of the world You guys there's no way to shortchange this. There's no way The discipline of delay to wait upon God until he answers separates you from the advice of this world Don't listen to the counsel of this world The world doesn't own you God does the world didn't die for you The Lord did and the world does not have a plan for you. That's everlasting. He does The longer you listen, you're not gonna like it But the longer you and I have to wait the more clear We begin to see simple things become more evident to us and By having less listen, yes, the Bible says there's wisdom in a multitude of counselors But when it comes to waiting upon the Lord Simplicity matters. God is very very precious about this Here's the point the longer you and I have to wait to get his answer the more clear things become That's when you know when somebody will say, you know what? It was really tough It was really hard, but I wouldn't now I wouldn't change a thing Have you ever said that isn't that a beautiful way to live I love that It's amazing. Also this the discipline of delay drives you to look to God alone That's important The discipline of delay settles God's Word into your heart and mind When we wait on the word you guys and wait on the Lord That becomes when our will is unified to the plan of God The danger is we automatically think we know what we should do. I think we'll do this slow down Wait You know what? I got to tell you I think you know this in your Christian life isn't things happening sometimes that like breakneck speed. I Know it's true for my life. And here's the thing when you get up tomorrow morning. Will you do this? Lord Give me your wisdom for all that comes my way today Stuff I know that's coming and the stuff I have no idea that's coming Don't listen. Are you listening? Don't let me make a decision give an answer Even if it appears to other people to be on the fly on the spot. Don't let it be from me and You think about that for a moment. How many times have you been in a situation and The barrage of ministry or life or maybe it's your business and you want to be a godly Example at your business and it's something comes and you got to make a decision on the spot you're walking in the spirit and you're there and some of those things are made on the spot and You know God's in it when a month or a year or ten years later Somebody comes back and says how did you know to say yes to that? I didn't you didn't oh my goodness No, I I felt strongly that was the Lord leading me in that direction Man the property you're sitting on here right now this dirt Man, there was no way that we could afford that that dirt This site no way when we were in the old building the little building the little warehouse thing Remember, we'd be given the message the wind would be blowing the doors would be shaken You can hear babies crying from children's mission sounds like a church to have a child sacrifice all the time the kids crying Kids screaming there goes another one That's crazy But you know what man God was leading and guiding and we signed and the gut we signed the offering and the guy goes You know what? This is ridiculous. He starts yelling at us that you insulted me by offering this little amount of money Well, we prayed so hard about before the given that dollar amount the guy he said not some non-christian words at us was all upset and Then a month later the guy calls back. All right, we'll talk some more and God was so good We never you guys know we never had a thermometer. We never had a pledge drive. We never never had a you know money meter None of that stuff and before we put the first shovel in the ground God had paid off the property nobody died No, we had no bazillionaires in the church never said a word about it by the end It was before we put the first shovel in the ground God had paid off the property He did it all by himself and listen behind the scenes were like going Wow Amazing God is so good Listen to this the discipline of delay enables you and I to trust God deeper the longer we have to wait the more we learn to trust in him Maybe that's the big problem Because we have to wait we have to relinquish our rights To him the discipline of delay develops a mature enduring faith within us And that's a tremendous thing. Also number three the discipline of delay does this God knows how it's all gonna turn out in the end He not only has a plan. He not only knows what time it is. He knows how it's all gonna turn out I'm glad about that The Bible tells us in Isaiah 46 90 says remember the former things of old I Mean, I'm trying but he does For I am God and there's no other I am God and there's none like me Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that have not yet been done Saying my counsel shall stand and I shall do or I will do all my pleasure. Isn't that awesome statement? I know stuff that hasn't even happened yet. I Love when he talks like that and think about how he turns things around Our this entire book of the Bible is all about turnarounds And I'll give you just a few number one Noah How do things turn out? Can you imagine God says? Hey, hey Noah build a boat Well, no one's ever had a boat before God. Well, you're gonna be the first one with a boat. Why it's gonna rain It's never rained before God. Well, it's gonna rain after you build the boat Can you imagine and nobody believes Noah? How'd it turn out for Noah turned out just fine for Noah and Then you think about Abraham Abraham my Jewish friends. I always always get a kick out of this. Actually, they don't get a kid They don't like to hear this but I get a kick out of it I'll tell my Jewish friends Abraham Oh Abraham Abraham Was a Gentile Before he was a Jew before he got circumcised. He was not circumcised. He was before Moses There was no law Abraham had a born-again relationship with God Think about it God tells Abraham you're my friend. The just shall live by faith the guy was a Gentile from er of the Chaldees Pagan worshiping culture uncircumcised and the Bible says That when God spoke to him he went out and followed God it says and Abraham Went out following God not knowing where he was going How many men would embark on a trip not knowing where he was going you got to know because your wife's gonna say Where are we going? Sarah probably asked him many times how to turn out for Abraham pretty good Joseph Turned out pretty good Moses Daniel All of God's people have gone through seasons of delay and it turned out pretty good Don't panic if you don't hear God speaking to you wait Don't decide don't do that thing. Don't jump wait. You can never outweigh God Just wait, and I know people listen people are gonna pressure you to make a decision. I know what that's like Say something what's wrong with him? Why doesn't he do something? Believe me inside. I'm like, yes And God is saying just wait just wait The Lord is in fact, the Lord is always saying to me. Listen, you can do it your way You can do it my way. I'm still your God. I still love you But one is gonna be good and one's not gonna be so good It's like, okay. All right Help me You know I'm talking about Good when he delays we've got to obey him and listen you guys The scriptures make it very clear by the way before we go to our final point the scripture makes it very clear you guys You and I are living in an age where people are making fun of the fact that we believe Jesus is coming back And you know what the Bible tells us in fact It tells us in numerous places the scriptures tell us that in 2nd Peter 3 know this first that scoffers will come in the last days Walking according to their own lust. They will say where is the promise of his coming? Isn't that fantastic the next time somebody comes up says you guys believe in Jesus coming back at any minute give the guy a kiss Said man, come here. Come here. Come here. Come here. You are fulfilling Bible prophecy, brother the Bible says loonies like you would say the Lord's not coming back and Listen, it goes on Jesus warned in Matthew 24 He said watch out and the last days just before I come back people are gonna say the Lord delays his return and The Bible says those listen the people who say that he said the people who say the Lord delays his return Begin to get sloppy in their walk. They begin to stop walking the straight and narrow it says Jesus said they'll begin to drink and carry on and party and carouse and the Lord will return in an hour that they're not ready and he will catch them unaware and They'll be swept away with the hypocrites. It says Well people are laughing at me for being ready to meet Jesus. Let him laugh I'm sure for 120 years people laughed at Noah until the first cloud showed up and rained It turns out pretty good. And number four will end with this. God wants us to wait for his Results ladies and gentlemen church family wait for the Lord to qualify Define and bring about his results in what you're involved in Well, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna do that. Watch out Let the Lord Bring about his results wait for him Don't do especially in the area of spiritual matters Don't do anything without God's confirmation in your life. I'm getting very excited come August we celebrate our 20th year of being from a home Bible study and You are gonna hear for four weeks the amazing wonderful works of God not only from myself But from others and from pastor Chuck and Greg Laurie and some others about what God has done and you I want you to walk away saying yes Because you know what our God speaks. The question is are we listening? He is amazing God wants us to wait for his results and this is where many of us get into trouble as Christians because we get impatient we fail to meditate and we get into trouble and Remember this the very very first assignment to the church and Acts chapter 1 Was to wait for my Holy Spirit wait Wait for the Lord young people tonight. Wait on God. I know this is gonna sound insane to you Find a room. Maybe it's a closet. Maybe it's a bathroom. Seriously find a place that's quiet Get your Bible get a blank sheet of paper and a pencil turn off your iPod Take just shut it down It's gonna be the hardest thing you've ever done five minutes will feel like five hours and Begin to discipline yourself to wait and to listen for God and here's the fun part. Are you what listen? Are you ready? This this is free man. This is free Take a pencil and a piece of paper. I mean this with all my heart And as you Lord you want to speak to me about do you want to speak Lord speak to me? And you're gonna have a thought enter your head write it down. I don't care what it is I'm dead serious about I'm gonna tell you if it's like this Read Isaiah 28 19 just write it down and then wait Change the oil in the car Write it down. No. No, I'm serious. That's Satan messing with your But use them if your oil needs changing in your car write it down So you don't forget if Satan wants to remind me in my quiet time. Hey, you left the door unlocked doors unlocked right You wait you wait you wait and then listen the Lord is gonna speak something and it's like I Want you to I want you to sign up for that class Write it down. Just write it down Now you have a prayer list Lord I took care of the oil and I locked the door now What about the class Here's the fun thing in your daily reading of the Bible, whatever you're doing You're reading along and God will use a verse and it won't work for anybody else on the planet this one verse will jump out and there will be a Illumination in your head God says with this verse take the class and You'll know that you are Absolutely, no doubt about it. I got to take that class and you sign up and you take the class and you're wondering I know I'm here by obedience to God And all of a sudden three weeks into the course the instructor comes up and says hey man, you know what I got cancer or Whatever and you'll pray door opens up you wind up witnessing to them or visiting them in the hospital And make an impression upon are you willing as a Christian to pray like that to write it down as silly as it sounds To obey him and signing up for the course even if you got a D in the class the whole point was That he wanted you to go through those things in the discipline of delay to get the answer to that person's soul Jesus is the way the truth in the life. That's how he works in our lives And that's why every day can be absolutely exciting for us It's amazing Wait for him. We're at a time father We ask you Lord God that in this room right now. There may be those that are saying I need an I need an answer I need an answer There may be those here tonight that are saying Lord. I I need I Need forgiveness Father move in our midst. I pray listen church. I'm gonna ask you to do something I just maybe this is a God thing But if tonight you're seeking God for an answer Can you want to get out of the seat and come forward and just come up front here? You're seeking God for an answer for something. Let's lay it at the altar. Let's go before him Maybe the whole church has got to stand up and come forward. I don't know But let's just do that. Let's let's tonight mark your calendar. You laid it at the altar tonight and And if you're coming forward to you're saying I need Jesus in my life then just come with the crowd But tonight if you're praying I need a job God I need is she the one or is he the one is it, California or Kentucky? Lord is it left? Is it right? I tell you what in my heart I'm coming forward right now for a revival and I want to know what God wants to do in the next chapter of my life What is it for you? You come now and let's pray together Heavenly Father as we gather right here right now and Lord we make this our our place the aisles Lord are filled and People are kneeling and Lord. It's just apparently it's the whole house tonight. We are seeking you and Lord you hear what's on? every heart right now and father in Jesus name we pray that Lord you would speak to us So clearly you're such a wonderful God because for each of us Lord, it may be a certain pitch It may be a certain volume. It may be a certain tone and you'll speak to each of us But father tonight these hearts are longing to hear from you We're yearning to hear from you Lord About that thing that's on that heart right now and So father we pray in Jesus name as we make our cry to you and you inclined To us you spread out over us Lord to listen We agree together in Jesus name that we present our case to you God Lord speak to us show us and tonight We vow at the altar to make this commitment To wait upon you we determine tonight to seek first the kingdom of God and Your righteousness and all these things that are in our heart in our mind now will be added in your timing your way Heavenly Father Church, let's pray this out loud together dear Lord We come to you now We present our case we dedicate ourselves to you. Hear me when I cry and May I hear you when you speak May I obey in? Jesus name Amen, let's stand and let's worship