In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the intimate relationship between God and His children. He compares it to a mother comforting and caring for her child. The preacher also discusses the importance of patience and endurance in the face of trials, as they produce maturity and completeness in our faith. He encourages the congregation to trust in God's constant movement and provision, reminding them that He will never forsake the righteous. The sermon concludes with a call to rest in the Lord and to embrace a childlike dependence on Him.

I think one of the things that has bothered me the most is the fact that I have watched in congregations for years now and I've seen folks never grow. Their devotional path, their praise, their worship, their life becoming a father and leader over their family spiritually doesn't happen and it's a very sad thing to see. You know, like the guy that his wife needed fixing and as a counselor, many men brought their wives to counsel to be fixed. Well, she had a problem. She was very spiritual. She was very sweet and it bothered him because it interrupted what he saw as his spiritual responsibility within his life and he figured, well, let's go to the counselor. We can go to a Christian counselor because he doesn't charge anything. So he went into the counselor's office and he told his story how hard it is, how difficult it is to have a wife that he even catches her sometimes when she was reading her Bible on the bed. Just an amazing, she's a nice person but never responded to everything the way he wants. He went on and on and on and the counselor just got sick of it and he stood up behind his desk. He walked over to the guy's wife and he lifted her up and held her hands and he said, thank you, Lord, for this outstanding woman who leads her children and loves her children and loves you, how she takes care of her family unselfishly, watches over them. He went on in beautiful accolades because he knew what she was really about. Then he hauled off and gave her a big kiss and of course, then she sat down and of course, he's looking like this, you know, what in the world's going on? And the counselor said, now listen, that's what I want you to do to your wife three times, at least three times a week. And he thought for a minute and he says, okay. He says, okay. I'll bring her in on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday because the other days I'm playing golf. You know, we don't always get the picture. You know, one of the aggravating statements I've heard in churches always all my whole life also is the phrase God is moving. And of course, we could look back at when God led the children of Israel and moved with the fire and the cloud and that all fits in okay. But what they meant was that God seems to be doing something in the midst of the congregation so therefore, it's growing or things are happening. But I've got news for you. God is always moving. The problem isn't getting God moving. The problem is God getting us moving. See, and as a child of God, as one of his kids, God wants me to learn. You know, it's a beautiful thing to watch your mother feeding your child. Have you ever watched when a mother is giving a baby a bottle how the child is just looking up into her face and she just, you know, feels so comforted and feels so loved and so cared for? You know, and that's a beautiful, beautiful picture. And that's the picture I want you to have in your mind this morning. But the picture is sort of distorted when mom is pushing that bottle through a beard or a little old lady with white hair and her apron on. You know what I mean? That's not really what God has in mind when he's calling us to live in a child, father, child, mother relationship with God. And that's what I want you to see this morning. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this opportunity to share with these folks that I love, Lord, and I pray that you would bless us and encourage us and help us, Lord Jesus, to just learn something from your word, learn something that you want us to go with, to leave with, to become, to change. So bless us, Lord God, I pray in your name, amen. Amen, I really wanted to bring my new book. This year when we were out in Tucson, I wrote a book and painted 12 pictures. I was very, very busy. And God provided for it already. I'm gonna share it in Rome next, Italy, next month. And a TV program called me. They want me to do it on TV and TV 60. And God has just, boom, pulled it right out there. And I'm just glad because I think it's very important that we learn how to be that child that rests in God and waits patiently for him. And that's a theme, that's Psalm 37, seven. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently with him because we're always on the move. We're always trying to help God out. We're always trying to do it. When God wants us to know that he, it's God who's at work within us, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. God is working in us. And right now, every person in this place, either he's trying to get you to come to him or he's trying to get you to walk with him. But in any case, he's trying to get you to just let him be God and you be his child. And you just let God show you what he can do and what he will do with your life. Luke 21, 19 says, by your patience, possess or take possession of your souls. See, take possession of my soul. And my soul is who I am. Take possession of it, but it comes by patience. It comes by waiting on God. It comes by listening to God. It comes from not always being in motion, but sometimes just stopping and resting. Remember, here's our verse. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. It's kind of funny. I looked up that word rest, and you know what the word rest means? It means be dumb or become dumb. You know, like a baby that can't speak, like a baby that can't express how they feel, like a baby that can't, you know, just rest, just be there. And of course, Hebrews chapter four says that he who has rest has ceased from his own labors. You know, strive earnestly to enter into that rest that God has prepared for you. See, there's that quiet knowing within my heart that my father has everything under control. And even though I can't see how I'm ever gonna get through this, my father is gonna get me through it. And as a matter of fact, my pain is gonna be something that I grow through, not just something that I go through. See, God wants you to be constantly changing. God wants you to constantly be waiting upon him. He wants you to listen to him. He wants you to be a child. He wants you to just be quiet for a minute. He wants you to stop helping him out. He wants you to just watch, stand, and see the salvation of God. He says, I've never seen the righteous forsaken or a seed begging bread. When we trust in him and when we wait for him and when we allow him to be God and, you know, rest. And the word rest means to be silent. You know, be still, be nothing for a while, be a baby, be in father's arms and look up into his eyes and love him. And of course, rest in the Lord. And Moses said, I don't know who I'm gonna tell these Egyptians that you are. And he's gonna say, I'm Yahweh. I'm the God who becomes everything you need. I will become the answer to your need. It isn't all about you. And it isn't all about how you're gonna get through. It isn't all about how you're gonna help him out. It's all about you just realizing who God is and let God be God. And as a baby, just rest in him and wait for him. Wait patiently for him. And wait patiently is one word. And it includes everything from to twist or to whirl or to dance or to writhe or to fear or to tremble, to travail or to be anguished or to feel pain. See, it's all included there. Waiting patiently in the condition that you are knowing that your heavenly father knows all about your condition. I guess from kids, we learned that when we cry, we get attention. When we cry, we get what we want. And of course, crying is more what praying was according to David. And it's okay to let God know our needs. He says, you know, you have not because you ask not. Ask so you might receive so that your joy will be full. Ask, seek, knock, and God will open up these things. But don't become a crybaby. And don't think that the only way something is accomplished within your life is if you do it. That's just not true. That's not the way it works. And of course, it depends on what I'm waiting for, whether I'm gonna be happy or whether I'm gonna be sad. And if I'm in great pain, you know, I'm gonna be waiting for a relief from my pain. Is Steve here? Boy, pray for Steve. He's really pained. He's really hurting. You know, but it depends upon what I'm waiting for, how I'm gonna wait. If I'm at the entrance to the amusement park, the kids are all excited, I'm waiting for that, you know? So it's a difference between I'm waiting to go into the dentist or the amusement park. And God knows that. But what God is saying is that regardless of where you are and what it is you're going through, wait for me. Wait for me because I'll meet you there and I'll make sure that you get through it. Remember I told you, and a lot of you are new, that's why I don't feel bad repeating it, I told you about Sister Anna, a little old lady in the nursing home who every time I went in to minister, she was 99 years old, almost 100, and every time I went in to minister to her, she would say, please pray that God will take me home. She says, I'm not myself, I'm not sweet, I'm not nice to the nurses, please pray that I'll go home. And we'd sing and we'd pray and she'd practice dying. She'd go. You know, like this is it, this is the end, you know what I mean? And then she'd be so disappointed when she started breathing again. And one morning I went in to talk to her and pray with her, read the word to her, and she says, guess what? She says, this morning I led my little nurse to the Lord. And less than two weeks later she went home to be with the Lord. See, Father wanted her to wait, just wait. I know you're in pain, I know you're uncomfortable, I know you're not yourself, but there's something I'm gonna accomplish through you if you're just patient and you just wait for me to work that thing out within your life. So I go through these things. Psalm 130 in verse five says this, I wait, or that means to look for, I hope, I expect. I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word do I hope, or do I wait, or do I expect. See, because I know who God is and I know how faithful God is, and I know he's gonna finish this work. He said, faithful is he who called you, who will also do it. In the word it says about me, it says that I am his poem, Ephesians 2.10. I am his poem, and there's a poem about me. It uses the word workmanship, but it's the Greek word poeme, which is the word poem, for I am his workmanship, I am his poem, and he's got a poem about my life, and it isn't all, sometimes there are some rough spots in it but in all throughout that whole poem, I will find out that God was faithful, and God completed the work that he started, and God taught me lessons through my pain, and God helped me to, and was there in rejoicing in my praises and in my love, and God talks all about my life, and at the bottom of it, it's signed Jesus. It's gonna work out, folks. It's gonna work out. Whatever you're anticipating, whatever you're looking forward to, whatever you're afraid you have to go through, or whatever it is that's happening within your life, God is saying to you, rest in me. Wait patiently for me, because I'll be there, and I'll get you through it. See, I have a very high view of the sovereignty of God. I believe, and some of you know, I've taught it before, I believe that God puts a cap on everything, C-A-P. He causes, allows, or prevents everything that happens. God is very much involved in my life, because, and he demonstrated, Romans 5, 8, God demonstrated his love for me, that even while I was a sinner, he died for me. See, so God can't do any more than demonstrate his love and his sacrifice for me, because he wants me, as his child, to grow as a child, to grow up, to stop being such a brat, stop whining all the time, stop crying. Isn't that terrible? You know, we're like colicky children sometime, aren't we? Oh, could somebody quiet that kid up? You know, and you love him, you love him to pieces, but, well, you know what I'm saying. But you see, God wants me to rest in him and wait patiently with him. It's like you're in your mom's arms, and your mom is going like this, shh, the bottle is warming, or I'll change your diaper, or I'll take care of you, shh, just wait a minute. See, and that's how our father is involved in every single area of our life, because that's the way that he is, that's the way that mom was. Take a seat, I'll be right with you. And the goal in James 1, 2 through 4, my brethren counted all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. See, let patience do its work. Let God teach you through what you're going through, the patience that you really need for your life. See, I need to adjust my spiritual self to wait for him before I sin, before I open my mouth, before I enter into any area which is going to embarrass me. You might not have been there Wednesday night, Pastor Matt taught on Samson, a beautiful teaching, but he taught, and I couldn't help but think after Samson played with Delilah and made her guess what the secret of his strength was, and finally he told her, he gave it to her, and he told her, I can't imagine the shame that Samson felt after he fell. And there he was, blind, and the only way he could please God is by pushing over the pillars of the church and destroy, or whatever the building was, and destroying the enemy. See, the shame that we feel when we go ahead of God and when we do something, and when we're faced with temptation and we're faced with trial and we run from it and we don't just wait to see God working within our life. I want to look like Matt. See, he said in John 16, 33, these things I've spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. See, in the world you'll have tribulation, you'll have distress, you'll have difficulties. In the world, that's what the world is like. Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world. And Romans chapter three and three through five, he says that tribulation works, anybody know? Patience, and patience, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. See, I'll never be disappointed if I let God teach me what he wants to teach me, and sometimes all he's trying to teach me is be patient, wait for him, because he is working in it, and he is helping me through it, and the money will come in, and I will get healthy again, and we will rejoice again, and God will get us through again. I know that, but God just wants me to realize that sometimes this tribulation has come so that I can have proven character. What's proven character? Proven character is when I can say within myself, he did it before and he'll do it again. I've been here before, I've had these feelings before, I've had these fears before, I've had these pains before, and he has always brought me through. Wouldn't that be our testimony? Is that your testimony, or do you see God as not being faithful in doing the things that he says? Boy, are we a bunch of spoiled brats, aren't we? God takes care of us, God gets us through, God always, you know what it says within the scripture? Where God always causes us to conquer. We're always victorious. You know what that means? We're more than conquerors through him who loved us. You know what a more than a conqueror is? A more than a conqueror is a person who won before the first shot was even fired in the battle. You're a winner, but it's just a question as to whether you're gonna patiently wait for God to work the thing out, or are you gonna help him out? And when you put your grubby little hands on it, you know it's gonna make it worse, isn't that true? You ever help God out? Did you ever find those little cocoons where a butterfly or a moth, there's a big square one that those praying mantises come out, not that one. But this little girl found this little cocoon and she did what we always did, we always cut it and then put it in a jar and watched the thing hatch out. And one day she's watching the cocoon and all of a sudden this little creature starts coming out and it's a little moth, it's hatching out and it pushes its little head out and starts working its wings out. And then all of a sudden it stops and it can't go any further. He's trying to push the wings out, can't get the wings out and she watched him for hours pushing like that and she's like, I gotta help him out. So she gets a little knife and she opens the thing up and she just makes a little cut in the thing and boom, that little moth just came flowing out of that cocoon. The only problem is it was never able to fly because pushing through that little opening helped prepare chemically those little wings so that someday it would fly. Now see, God could come with his little knife and he could maybe make a little cut on it and you might feel like you've been delivered and it really works, but no, the important thing was that you would wait for God and you would patiently go through that so that your father would prove that he is your father and he loves you. See, quit helping him out. He really doesn't need it. Take a seat or shh, shh, quiet. I'll be right there. And he says it over and over and over again. When we look at temptations, look at James chapter one, when we look at temptations, you know, he makes some outlandish statements, it seems. Blessed is the man, in James 1, 12, blessed is the man who endures temptation. That word endures is the same word for patience. Hupo mino, to remain under. Blessed is the person who remains under, who's patiently waiting for God, who doesn't jump and do the temptation, who doesn't do what the rest of this chat, these verses is saying, which is that, you know, that when I'm enticed by my old nature and by the old man and I do sin, well, blessed is the person, instead of running into that sin and doing what your body is telling you to do, blessed is that person who endures, who waits, who doesn't do it, I'm gonna wait because even in this temptation, my God is gonna get me through. He told me I was gonna have trials, he told me I was gonna have tests, he told me I was gonna have tribulation and he also told me he was gonna get me through it, but he also said, endure it, don't move, don't do it. Don't sin, don't do something that you're going to, like Sampton, be very ashamed of within your life. Blessed is the man who endures temptation and when he has been proved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him. See it, see what he's doing, see what he's doing? He wants you to face the things that you have to face within your life and then be patient with those things and let God be God, don't run to it, don't try to help him out, don't yield, don't give in to the tribulation, don't give in to the temptation, but wait for God to come and to help you to get you through that difficult situation. Can you see what he's saying? Well, let me prove it to you in another way. There's a scripture in 1 Corinthians 10, 13 that says this, no temptation has overtaken you except as common to men. We're all going to be tempted, but God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will make a way of escape. Now, we kind of think that all of a sudden God's going to show up or some great thing is going to happen and all of a sudden we're going to be free and we're not going to yield to the temptation. No, that's not what he's saying. That's what we think, but that's not what he's saying. But he says that you may be able to bear it. And that word bear it is that same word for endure or for patience, that you will be able to remain under, that you will be able to be patient until God brings you through it. See, it's not a new thing. It's not just happening to you. We all have that problem, but we all don't learn how to endure it, how to patiently wait for God to get us through it. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. See, that's the secret. That's what he's trying to tell me. Become a child and let my heavenly father take care of me. Let him get me through it because he's promised to do it. Just hush, don't help, hush, be quiet. Let me get you through. And of course, Satan is gonna try to hinder the work, isn't he? Paul wanted out and the second Corinthians chapter 12, three times he went before God and said, God, take this thorn from me that hurts me so much. And of course the thorn was an angel of Satan to buffet him. Every time Paul tried to do something right, Satan would come along and say, yeah, well, we remember what you did. Or yeah, you know, and someone says, when Satan reminds me of my past, remind him of his future. And God comes to say to Paul, my grace is sufficient for you. And Paul thereby determined, therefore then I glory in my weaknesses because when I am weak, then I'm strong. You get it? Do you see it? God is more interested in you growing through the things that you have to go through than getting you out of it. What happened to Jesus in amount of temptation? What was his conclusion? Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God. And the word that proceeds out of the mouth of God is I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage, neither be dismayed for I, the Lord, your God, I'm with you wherever you go. See, I am your God and you always conquer through me. If you wait for me and if you rest in me, and if you let me be the one who guides and protects and watches over your life. Jesus says to Peter, Peter, Satan has desired to sift you like wheat. And it looked like he was gonna be able to do it, didn't it? But what did Jesus say? But I have prayed for you. So while I'm in my trial and while I'm waiting for God, guess what? Jesus is praying for me, that I won't yield, that I won't fall, that I won't disappoint him again, but that I'll let God be God and let God bring me through my present trial. I've got to learn that. We make our own way. We don't do Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. We all know the verse, but we don't do it. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will direct your path. So I'm in a jam and I'm in my father's arms. My father's saying, shh, I'll take care of this. And I'm wriggling, trying to get out, trying to help him out. And all my father wants is for me to rest in him and see him get me through it. I've found this my whole life. God has not failed me yet. In Psalm 39, 7, and now Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you. We know a scripture in Isaiah chapter 40, and let's look at it just a minute. Isaiah 40, and I'm sure you heard it and I'm sure you know it. Because we get to a point where we think that God has forgotten me. Did you ever get there? Have you ever been there? Maybe he's too busy with someone else and he doesn't have time for me. It never happened. And the Jewish brothers, they had a tendency to do the same thing. And I think it really frustrated God. But God responds to them. And they were saying, why are you leaving us? Why are you forsaking us, God? Why are you not taking care of me? I mean, I'm the only one who has this problem and no one else is dealing with this, and this is this, and you know, you've been there. You've done that whining too, you know. And God says this, why do you say, oh, Jacob, and speak, oh, Israel? My way is hidden from the Lord, verse 27, Isaiah 40. And my just claim is passed over by my God. And this is the word for us. Have you not known, have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. And there is no searching of his understanding. He gives power to the weak. And to those who have no might, he increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall. And here's the verse. But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. And they shall renew their strength. You could take that word renew and you could put another word in its place according to Hebrew, and that is the word exchange. Those who wait on the Lord shall exchange their strength. Strength. See? Because I wait for God, God gives me the strength to go through what I have to go through. Now if I try to, if I complain like they were doing, then God is gonna have to rebuke me. Even Job had his time. Even Job had his time when he was feeling sorry for himself. And then all of a sudden, God comes on the scene and says, Job, where were you when I made this whole deal? Where were you when all these wonderful things of creation happened? And after God over and over and over showed his faithfulness and his love and his work and his handiwork in the creation and in lives and in everything else, after he's all done, then Job says, well, I put my hand on my mouth. I'm not gonna say anything. I've learned, I've learned, I've learned. And God says, no, you haven't yet. Listen to me. See, and God over and over is trying to instill within you the courage to know that if God is for you, who can be against you, see? God is going to, God is gonna, you know, I always tell folks when they go through heavy circumstances, I always say, well, listen, spend a little time and read these verses. What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8, verse 31. He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring charge against God's elect, God's kids? It's God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore is risen and even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine, nakedness, peril or sword as it is written, for your sake we are killed all day long and we are counted as sheep for the slaughter, yet in all these things we are more than conquerors to him who loved us. For I'm persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now the next time I preach in next month, I'm gonna show you how to do this. But right now I want you to just believe me that this is what God said and this is his involvement in your life and this is your love that he has for you. Hebrews 10, 36, for you have a need of endurance, patience, so that after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise. Same thing, isn't it? My brother encountered all joy when you fall into various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience but let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect, complete, lacking nothing. God wants you to be complete. God wants you to be strong. God wants you to feel that you are a child of his love and that he gave everything up just for you. God demonstrated it to you. He died for you. Now if he loved you that much that he would die for you, certainly he will care for you. I'm gonna close with this little illustration which is, and there are copies of it because usually someone asks me. A young preacher was walking with an older more seasoned preacher in the garden one day and feeling a bit insecure about what God had for him to do. He was inquiring of the older preacher. The older preacher walked up to a rosebush and handed the young preacher a rosebud and told him to open it without tearing any of the petals. The young preacher looked in disbelief at the older preacher and was trying to figure out what a rosebud could possibly have to do with his desires, his wanting to know the will of God for his life and for his ministry. Because of his high respect for the older preacher, he proceeded to try to unfold the rose. And while keeping every petal intact, it wasn't long before he realized how impossible it was to do so. Noticing that, the older preacher began to recite the following poem to him. Unfolding the rosebud, it is only a tiny rosebud, a flower of God's design, but I cannot unfold the petals with these clumsy hands of mine. The secret of unfolding flowers is not known to such as I. God opens the flower so sweetly when my hands, they fade and die. If I cannot unfold a rosebud, this flower of God's design, how can I think I have wisdom to unfold this life of mine? So I'll wait for his leading each moment of every day. I'll look to him for his guidance each step of the pilgrim way. The pathway that lies before me only my heavenly father knows. I'll trust him to unfold the moments just as he unfolds the rose. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. Shh, he'll be with us in a moment. Father, thank you for your faithfulness. We can all look at times when we thought it was all over and we thought we'd never be able to survive and we thought we'd never get through what the moment had put before, sort of the need that we could see and didn't have a clue how we could ever, how we could ever get through. But you, Lord God, unfolded our lives as we waited patiently with you. As we looked up into your eyes and said, father, we don't know what to do. We don't know how to get through this. And our father looked down and spoke words to us that we should rest and we should wait patiently for him. So father, I know, I know folks in this place that are going through tough times. Some are wondering, some are waiting. But I pray, Lord, they learn from what you've said within this word. I'll get through it if I wait patiently for you. So father, ensure our hearts to know that regardless of how impossible a situation looks, my father is working in it. And my father loves me and loves those who are around me and just wants me to wait for him. So bless us, Lord. If someone hasn't entered into that love with you, Lord, I feel sorry for them. It is so wonderful to feel the faith and the assurance and the love that you have for us. It's so wonderful to look up into our father's eyes and knows that he's thinking just about us. Our father said that he thinks of us every day as there's sand on the seashore. Wow, that's a lot. And you care for us. Casting all our care upon him because he cares for us. So Lord, if someone here doesn't know you, I pray, Lord, they wouldn't leave this place this morning without coming and helping us explain the simple prayer that they can pray to come into the kingdom of God and feel the love and salvation of God. So bless your children here, Lord God. We love you and we praise you in your name. Amen. Amen. Let's all stand.