Probably great good morning if you would open your Bibles to
the book of Exodus chapter 24. It's interesting Ryan prayed
that we would dive into the Bible and we're going to cover a
lot of verses this morning. But I, I believe this is what
the Lord would have me to to speak on.
And I believe this is what he would have have us to see.
Exodus chapter 24, the Bible says beginning in verse one.
And he said unto Moses, this is the Lord talking to Moses, come
up unto the Lord, thou and Aaron and Nateb, and by who?
And 70 of the elders of Israel and worship ye afar off.
And Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but they shall not
come nigh, neither shall the people go up with him.
And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord
and all the judgments, and all the people answered with one
voice, and said, all the words which the Lord has said will we
do. And Moses wrote all the words of
the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and building an
altar under the hill and 12 pillars, according to the 12
tribes of Israel. And he sent young men to the
children of Israel, of the children of Israel, which
offered burnt offerings and sacrifice, peace, offerings of
oxen unto the Lord. And Moses took half of the blood
and put it in basins, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the
altar, and he took the book of the covenant, and read in the
audience of the people. And they said, All that the Lord
has said will we do, and be obedient.
And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and
said, Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath
made with you concerning all these words.
Then went up Moses and Aaron, Natab, and by who?
And 70 of the elders of Israel. And they saw the God of Israel,
and there was under his feet, as it were, a pave work of a
sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his
clearness. And upon the nobles of the
children of Israel he laid not his hand.
Also they saw God, and did eat and drink.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount,
and be there, and I will give the tables of stone, and the law
and commandments which I have written, that thou mayest teach
them. And Moses rose up in his
minister Joshua. And Moses went up into the mount
of God. And he said unto the elders,
Tarry ye here for us, until we come again unto you.
And behold, Aaron and her are with you.
If any man have any matters to do, let him come unto them.
And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the
mount, And the glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai, And the
cloud covered it 6 days. And the 7th day he called unto
Moses out of the midst of the cloud.
And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire
on top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.
And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and GAT him up into
the mount. And Moses was in the mount 40
days and 40 nights. And then turn over to Exodus
chapter 32. We saw in chapter 24 the people
of Israel not not once but twice said all that the Lord has said
we will do, we will obey. And we saw at the end of of
chapter 24 that the presence of God was manifested like fire on
the top of the mountain. So the people had seen the power
of God. They had seen Moses man be
called up to the mount and and depart with Joshua's minister
and the presence of God was so manifest that the 70 elders of
the people of Israel. God said don't even you
shouldn't you can't come up only Moses and Joshua can come up and
so Moses is there as the end of the chapter said 40 days and 40
nights. Then chapter 32 And when the
people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the
people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said
unto him, Up Make us gods which shall go before us.
For As for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the
land of Egypt, we want not what has become of him.
And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which
are in the ears of your wives, and of your sons, and of your
daughters, and bring them unto me.
And all the people break off the golden earrings which were in
their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a
graving tool. After he had made it, made it a
molten calf. And they said, These be thy
gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of
Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built
an altar before it. And Aaron made proclamation, and
said, Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord.
And they rose up early on the Morrow, and offered burnt
offerings, and brought peace offerings.
And the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to
play. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go
get thee down. For thy people which thou
brought us out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted
themselves. They have turned aside quickly
out of the way which I commanded them.
They have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it,
and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O
Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and
behold, it is a stiff necked people.
Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against
them, and that I may consume them, and I will make of thee a
great nation. Then one more passage turn to
the book of First Samuel, chapter 13.
First Samuel chapter 13. We'll start reading in verse 8.
This is when King Saul is preparing to fight the
Philistines. The Philistines have come
against Israel, verse 8. And he carried, Speaking of King
Saul seven days according to the set time that Samuel had
appointed. But Samuel came not to Gilgal,
and the people were scattered from him.
And Saul said, Bring hit her a burnt offering to me in peace
offerings. And he offered the burnt
offering. And it came to pass that as soon
as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering,
behold Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him,
that he might salute him. And Samuel said, What has thou
done? And Saul said, Because I saw
that the people were scattered from me, and doubt that thou
came us not within the days appointed, and that the
Philistines gathered themselves together at Nick Mash.
Therefore, said I, the Philistines will come down now
upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication under the
Lord. I forced myself therefore, and
offered a burnt offering. And Samuel said to Saul, Thou
hast done foolishly. Thou has not kept the
commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee, for now
with the Lord have established thy Kingdom upon Israel forever.
But now thy Kingdom shall not continue.
The Lord has sought him a man after his own heart, and the
Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because
thou has not kept that which the Lord commanded thee.
You may look at these passages of Scripture and say, well, OK,
what do those have in common? The idea that I have it that
they have in common is impatience and failing to wait
with the children of Israel at Mount Sinai.
It was failing to wait for the Lord to do what he was doing
with Moses. And you can read the chapters
between chapter 34 and chapter 32 and you see all the commands
and instructions that God gave Moses about the Tabernacle and
the worship and everything. And the people of Israel got
impatient and and decided not to wait on him.
We know from studying Genesis and Exodus that especially in
Exodus, the people of Israel as a mass were very stubborn,
impatient, needy people. Remember how they complained
about the water? They complained about the manna,
they complained about the quails.
They didn't follow what God told them to do in instructions as
far as gathering the man and gathering the quails.
And when God is giving Moses the law, they got impatient and
wouldn't wait. Similarly with King Saul, Samuel
told him, I'm coming in a certain time, Saul, that time
passed. Saul was impatient, decided not
to wait and intruded into the priest's office and as a result
he lost his Kingdom. And you notice the scripture
said Samuel told Saul, God hath chosen a man after his own
heart. We know who that is because that
describes David. God said David is a man after my
own heart. So today I want to, I think the
Lord would have us to study patience and waiting on the Lord
and what the Bible says about it and then how we can do it.
And I hope it'll be a blessing. Let's have a word of prayer and
then we'll get into our study. Father, thank you again for the
opportunity to be in your house this morning.
Lord, I do pray you, you be with the pastor and his family and,
and Josh and Sarah and and Brian and Sarah.
Just take care of them today, Lord and his whole family.
Comfort them as only you can. Lord.
Lord, just bless us here as we we miss them.
But Lord, this is your house and this is the time for us to to
come and worship you and, and we want to do that in spirit and in
truth. And we pray that you would be
glorified in everything that's done.
Father, I pray you would speak through me exactly what you have
to be said here this morning and Sunday school.
May you be glorified in Jesus name, Amen.
So the Bible has a lot to say about waiting.
If you look at your concordance, the word wait is included in the
Bible multiple times and it has different meanings depending on
on the context it's in. But a few verses that that the
Bible talks about waiting. And it's interesting that that
David is the man after God's own heart because a lot of the
initial verses on waiting and waiting on the Lord particularly
are in the book of Psalms. I'm just going to go through
verses. If you want to write down the
references, you can. If you want to turn to them, you
can. But as you probably have already
noticed, I read kind of fast. So you know, if you want to just
write down the verses or if you want to come up after this,
after the service this morning. If you're curious about the
references, I'll be glad to give them to you.
But starting in Psalm chapter 25, verse one, David says unto
thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul?
Oh my God, I trust in thee. Let me not be ashamed.
Lot not my enemies triumph over me.
Yeah, let none that wait on thee be ashamed.
Let them be ashamed. What transgress without cause.
Show me thy ways, O Lord, teach me thy paths.
Lead me in thy truth and teach me, for Thou art the God of my
salvation. On Thee do I wait all the day.
And then in verse 21, let integrity and uprightness
preserve me, for I wait on thee. Then in Psalm chapter 27 verse
14, David says, wait on the Lord, be of good courage and he
shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say on the Lord.
Then Psalm 33 verse 20, Our soul waiteth for the Lord.
He is our help and our shield. Then a well known Psalm, Psalm
37, verses 7 through 9 Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for
him. Fret not thyself because of Him
who prospereth in the way, in his way, because of the man who
bringeth wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger and forsake
wrath. Fret not thyself in any wise to
do evil, for evildoer shall be cut off.
But those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the
earth. Then Psalm 130, verses 5 and 6.
I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I
hope my soul waiteth for the Lord.
More than they that watch for the morning, I say, more than
they that watch for the morning. Then the book of Proverbs
chapter 20 verse 22, say not thou, I will recompense evil,
but wait on the Lord, and he shall save thee.
Then a well known verse that that's cited off in Isaiah
chapter 40, verse 31. But they that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as
eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk
and not faint. Also in the book of Isaiah
chapter 64, verse 4. For since the beginning of the
world, men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, neither
hath the eye seen, O God beside thee, what he hath prepared for
him that waiteth for him. Book of Lamentations chapter 3
and verse 25. The Lord is good unto them that
wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
And finally the book of Acts chapter 1, verses four and five,
and being assembled together with them, commanded them.
This is Jesus commanded them, the disciples, that they should
not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the
Father, which saith he, You have heard of me.
For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized
with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
These are Jesus last words to his disciples before he ascended
into heaven. And he tells them to wait for
the filling of the Holy Spirit. And so the, the Bible has much
more to say. There's, there's other verses I
could, I could to read to you and, and, and mention and, and
talk about. But for the sake of time, we, we
won't go into those. But again, if you look in your
concordance and just trace out all the verses that are that use
the word wait, it's amazing. And then waiting and patience.
There's there's amazing number of references in the Bible that
describe that and encourage it. But ultimately, as Christians
who know the Lord is our Savior, we're waiting for his return.
I mean that that that should be not only our hope and our
expectation and in a time like the pastor's family is going
through our comfort, but it should be our motivation.
He's coming back and those who we know or or who we believe
have not trusted Christ as our Savior.
The fact that he's coming back should motivate us even more to
be a witness to them and to work to reach them with the gospel.
Because if they don't trust him before he comes back, there may
be some opportunities during the tribulation for people to be
saved. But why?
Why let them wait if we can reach them or at least give them
the gospel? And, and, and we can't, we can't
save anybody and force anybody to be saved.
But, and the Lord doesn't tell us to do that.
He tells us to plant the seed to give them the gospel.
And that's what we're supposed to do.
And we've seen from the children of Israel in Saul's example,
that impatience and not waiting on the Lord results in sin and
error. And I think in our own lives,
you can think about something that that you were asking the
Lord for and you were praying about whatever it might be.
And you know, we're, we're great at saying, Lord, your will be
done. What we don't say is, but could
you do it right now? Because that's, that's what we
think it means. Lord, you know, I really need
the Lord, You know, we, we really need a building.
We, we really need this resolved.
And, and Lord, could you do it tomorrow?
And it's hard sometimes to to make ourselves say, Lord, I want
not only your will, but I want it in your time because both of
those are what's best for me or for our church or for whatever
the situation may be. And so how can we be patient and
wait on the Lord? And I've got five points with a
few verses that that we'll we'll discuss here.
And then, then we'll be done. First of all, we can pray for
patience, for God's direction, and for God's peace in the
situation because a lot of times when we're impatient, it's
because we just don't have peace.
It's like, I want this resolved. A very immediate example this
morning that the printer stopped printing halfway through the
bulletin printing. There was a toner cartridge.
It was out of toner and I'm tech.
I texted the pastor and he had told me last night when he
called me to talk about printing the bulletins, he said, yeah,
you can just call me or text me. So I'm sending him texts and
he's not responding. He's not responding, he's not
responding. And so finally I said, OK, I'm
going to give him till 9:00 and then I'll call him.
And I call him. It rang, rang, rang, went to
voicemail. I'm like, OK, he must not have
his phone on, but that's OK. And unfortunately, Doc came in
and said let me check with Josh. And so he got Josh and Josh
said, Oh, yeah, there's this box there.
Well, I had seen that box and it said toner black.
We needed a color cartridge. So I'm like, OK, that's black
toner. I'm not even open the box until
Josh said, yeah, open that box. And and that's where the toner
cartridge was. But I was getting all, you know,
like we need to get these bulletins printed, OK, We can
make do with 48 instead of 100. And I was getting really
impatient. Like, Lord, I need you to help
me with this. And, you know, anytime now would
be great. But it all worked out.
We got them all printed and it all worked out.
But you know, it's, it's we let ourselves get stressed sometimes
instead of just trusting in the Lord and asking him, you know,
Lord, you got this under control.
I know you want these bulletins printed so everybody can get a
bulletin. You're going to make it work one
way or another, or we're going to work it out.
You know, you're going to work it out without all the bulletins
being printed. So but First Thessalonians 517
again and a well known verse says pray without ceasing in
everything, give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you. It didn't say in things that go
well, give thanks. It said in everything, give
thanks. So even when you're stressed and
you're feeling impatient and you're like, I really need this
to get done now. I, I, I just, I can't wait.
I can't wait. The service is getting ready to
start and we don't have the bulletins done.
And you know, it's like, Lord, thanks for the opportunity to be
here. Thanks that we printed 48
bulletins before the printer stopped, you know, or, or
whatever the case may be, but pray for patience, for God's
direction and for God's peace in the situation.
Secondly, this might be one of the hardest ones because it goes
with the second, with the Third Point as well.
But secondly, get our focus off of ourselves and where it needs
to be, which is on Christ. That's why we're here to serve
him and and and to carry out the ministry that he left us with
Hebrews 12/1 and two again, well known passage.
Wherefore seeing we are compassed about with so great a
cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin
which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the
race that is set before us. Verse 2 looking unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was
set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and
is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
You know, we try to do things in our flesh and you know, like it,
like the printer, the bulletin example, you know, I'm trying to
serve the Lord by getting things ready for the service.
That's a good thing. But when I forget to say, Lord,
I know you got this and I'm going to trust you to take care
of this and you're going to bring Doc in here and he's going
to get a hold of Josh and it's all going to be fixed.
But you know, when we try to to focus on ourselves, not only do
we contribute to our impatience, but we bring out that that part
of us that none of us really like to think about much, that
self-centered, selfish part of us that that says, I got this, I
can take care of this. And, and although we don't say,
Lord, I got this, I don't need you right now, we say it with
our actions. And, and so we need to, to get
the focus off of our off of ourselves and, and focus on
Christ and, and what he's wanting to do in US and through
US. Thirdly, again, sort of along
the lines of the second point, get rid of our pride.
Realize we're not in control. The Lord is.
Ecclesiastes Chapter 7 verse 8. Better is the end of a thing
than the beginning thereof, and the patient in spirit is better
than the proud in spirit. Pretty direct point.
Isaiah 55 verses 8 and 9 talking about the Lord being in control.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways
my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my
thoughts than your thoughts. You know, so many times we get
so stressed and impatient and worried about things that the
next day don't matter at all. And maybe not even the next day,
maybe the next minute or the next hour, you know, and, and we
look back and say, I was so stressed over that.
Why was I so stressed over that? It it all, you know, it, it
first of all, it wasn't that big a deal.
It didn't really matter. And, and second of all, it all
worked out. The Lord worked it out.
But I think part of that is, you know, we, we want the Lord to
work. And again, you know, Lord, I
want your will to be done in everything.
But could you do it on my timeline?
And I say it tells us, you know, the Lord said, my thoughts are
not your thoughts. You know, for the heavens are
higher than the earth. So are my ways higher than your
ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
The Lord's going to resolve this building situation in the way
and at the time that is best for Mount Victory Baptist Church.
Now we pray that the Lord would do it sooner because it's nice
to have a nice full church, which I hope we'll have this
morning in the preaching service.
But you know, it's restricting to some extent because a visitor
comes in and has a hard time finding a place to sit.
They may not come back because they had a hard time finding a
place to sit. So we want, we want that, but
but the Lord's going to work it out because he's got a plan that
goes all the way to the end of this world and every detail has
already been worked out and decided.
We don't know it. And that's a good thing because
we would probably do something stupid if we knew it.
But his ways are higher than I weighs.
He's in control. Then first Peter, chapter 5,
verses 5 through 7. Likewise, ye younger, submit
yourselves unto the elder. Yeah, all of you be subject 1 to
another and be clothed with humility, for God resisteth the
proud and giveth grace to the humble.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God,
that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon
Him, for he careth for you again.
The Lord's got this, but it's so hard for our flesh to let go
sometimes. And it's so hard for us to, to
say, you know, I, I've tried to, to take care of this and either
I've gotten nowhere or I've gone backwards and, and Lord, I just,
I need to stop and I need to just trust you and need to let
you have it. And that's something we not only
need to do every day, but we probably need to do it many
times a day because there's so many things that come up during
the day. And life is so busy.
And, and it's easy to, to get so focused on what you got to do at
work or what you got to do around the house or what you're
doing serving the Lord at church or, you know, there's just so
much going on. And it's easy to get in the
flesh and, and, and to just say, well, I can do this.
You know, I've got, I've got to keep busy.
I got to, I got to keep doing this and, and I can take care of
it when we really need to just let the Lord have it.
You know, Paul said I die daily and that didn't mean physically
dying, but he died to self daily.
He, he sacrificed his flesh daily so that he could be
totally under the control and influence of the Lord.
We should realize, as the scripture tells us, one way to
get rid of pride is realize we have no reason to be prideful.
Isaiah 64 verse 6, again a well known verse.
We are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousness are as
filthy rags and we do, we all do fade as a leaf and our
iniquities like the wind have taken us away.
We have no reason to be prideful.
You know, God gave us all the breath that we breathe this
morning and gave us the ability to even get out of bed this
morning an hour earlier than we were used to.
But you know, without Him, we're nothing.
We're not even here. And so we have no reason to be
prideful and then finally realize that God is working in
our life. James chapter 1 verses one
through 4. James, a servant of God and the
Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes which are scattered
abroad. Greeting my brethren, count it
all joy when you fall in the divers temptations, knowing
this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be
perfect and entire wanting nothing.
Patience is is not. You know, there's a saying
patience is a virtue, but it's a very difficult to obtain virtue
of you know, I know some people who are are are I, I consider
them to be very patient. Most of them are older than I am
and they've had the benefit of the wisdom of years and and
possibly the wisdom of their own experience back when they were
younger and weren't as patient as they are at the at the age
they are now. But you know, the Lord is
working in our life and he puts things into our life to
strengthen our faith and that the verse says the trying of
your faith worketh patience. And he's working on us all the
time as long as we're here and he leaves this year, he's still
making us. He's still working in our life
and and helping us to grow. Hopefully, if we have the right
heart to it and are willing to submit ourselves to him to allow
him to work on us and, and to to grow us as Christians into
better servants for him. I mean, the verse says that you
may be perfect and entire perfect there doesn't mean
literally perfect. I know that's been covered
before. It means complete wanting
nothing. And so get rid of our pride and,
and realize the Lord is in control and, and let him have
control and surrender ourselves to him #4 get busy serving the
Lord. And I realized that there's
almost an inherent contradiction because you can get, I think it
is possible to get too busy serving the Lord.
And sometimes when you get busy serving the Lord and get too
busy serving the Lord and you neglect the other parts of your
life, particularly your family and your own personal walk with
the Lord, that can cause the stress that leads to impatience
and, and leads you to, well, you know, I mean, I can't, I can't
tell the pastor I'm not going to do this, that I don't have time,
you know, or I can't not show up for visitation today when I
really need to spend time at home or, you know, whatever the
case may be. And, and you really get
impatient with how things are going and you get impatient with
yourself, which doesn't help you.
And indirectly, you're impatient with the Lord because so many
things are going on in your life and you can't seem to find a way
to, to get it all to fit together and just straighten
out. But but fundamentally, one of
the ways to, to, to be patient and to, to wait on the Lord is
to be serving the Lord. There's the old saying, and I
don't mind is the devil's workshop.
You know, a mind that isn't saturated in God's Word is also
the devil's workshop. You know, get busy serving the
Lord. But, but, but make sure you have
a good, solid, consistent walk with him that requires, in my
opinion, and and I think the scriptures back this up.
You need to be in the word of God every day.
I'm not going to say how much because that's something I think
the Lord can show you, but you need to be in the word of God
every day and you need to have a time of prayer every day.
That's how you maintain that walk with the Lord.
And and that's also, I think how he gives you the peace to be
patient. The Bible, so incredible.
This has been said many times before.
I know you've all heard it several times, but you know you
can read the same passage 10 different times and get 10
different things out of it. And it's the exact same words,
but the Lord uses it in different ways as you read it
and you open your heart and your mind to it that you know it can
change you if you will open your heart and allow it to change
you. And you can see things.
It's like I never saw it that way before.
And and so getting busy serving the Lord is another way to to to
develop patience. And then the last point, and I
think all these points are important, but the last point
claim God's promises Isaiah 26 three that will keep him in
perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee because he
trusteth in thee. Think about that.
That will keep Him in perfect peace.
I have a hard time imagining exactly what that's like.
I hope I've experienced it some. Because I've trusted the Lord
and I've kept my mind on Him. But I mean, think about what the
Lord is promising there. But it requires whose mind is
stayed on thee, because He trusteth in thee.
You know you can't keep your mind on the Lord if you're not
trusting Him, and I think the opposite is true too you You
can't necessarily trust him without keeping your mind stayed
on him and and staying in his word and realizing all of the
promises that he's given us. Hebrews 13 five Let your
conversation be without covetousness and be content with
such things as you have. For he has said, I will never
leave thee nor forsake the. You know, the pastor preached a
message not long ago about how to how to be content, how to
live a life of contentment. And that was one of the verses
he he used. And and that's a very well known
verse to talk about. Be content with such things as
you have. But but look at the back half of
the verse, the second-half of the verse where he has said I
will never leave thee nor forsake thee.
That's a promise. No matter where we go, no matter
how far we stray, he's always there and he's always ready for
us to renew our relationship with him and and to renew our
fellowship with him. No matter how far we strayed.
You know, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. If we straight away, he's always
ready to take us back. How many people do you know like
that? You know, there's a lot of
people that, you know, if you have done something that
offended them or or hurt them in some way, they're A1 strike
person. You get one strike with them and
then they want nothing to do with you.
You know, I guess to use a modern technology term, they
will ghost you. Not that I even really know what
that means, but you know, but think about all that the Lord
did for us to save us. And then when we disobey him or
we walk away from him, he's still standing right there
saying, I'm ready to take you back.
There are conditions, but I'm ready to take you back and I'm
ready to have the same relationship and and fellowship
with you that we had before you decided to walk away.
And so clean that promise. Finally, James chapter 5, verses
7 and 8. Be patient therefore, brethren,
unto the coming of the Lord. Behold the husbandmen,
husbandmen waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and
hath long patience for it, until he received the early and latter
rain. Be also patient.
Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
We were talking yesterday, George and I were talking about
the service and, and the order of service and everything.
And he said, well, you know, normally the pastor when he gets
up and Sunday mornings we do him and then he, he reads an article
or, or a missionary letter or something about, you know,
something that's going on. And, and I said, yes, we're like
current events type of thing. And I said, well, I don't know
that I have anything like that. And he said, well, you know,
prophecy and, and the Middle East war, but not jokingly.
I mean, look at what's going on in in the Middle East right now.
And in the Book of Revelation, Jerusalem is the center.
There's a lot of stuff that happens in other places in the
Book of Revelation, but it all centers around Jerusalem.
And, you know, it is what's going on over there now a a late
stage to the to the end times. And in the latter days and the
coming of Jesus could be, you know, we keep thinking about the
man. It's, it's so bad, you know,
things are so bad. The Democrats are so bad, the
liberals are so bad. You know, they, they trying to
do this and trying to do that and abortion and, and all of
these things. And, and I agree wholeheartedly
that in my lifetime, the things I've seen in my lifetime, George
and I again were talking yesterday during the the Bible
time about back when we were younger and when I grew up in
North Carolina, on Sundays in Winston Salem, NC, there was I
think 1 restaurant that you could eat at.
I don't believe any gas stations were open, No grocery stores, no
department stores. You know, there were no shopping
malls way back then, which tells you how old I am.
But, you know, people respected the Lord's Day and we were, in
my opinion, a much more peaceful society and less stressful
society because of that because we took that day as a day of
rest. Whether even the people I knew,
some people in my neighborhood that they didn't go to church
for all indications, they were not saved, but they didn't mow
their yard on Sunday. There were no Little League
games on Sunday. There was no travel sport that
that kids do on Sundays. It was it was a much simpler
time and and so in my lifetime, things have in my opinion gone
down and and in a negative direction substantially.
But let us not forget that the apostle Paul thought he was
going to go up in the rapture. Then we should, you know, talk
about the rapture and, and then we shall we all be together with
the Lord in the air. And back then, they weren't
worried about losing their tax exemption or maybe being
arrested for preaching on the street.
They were worried about having their head cut off.
And at least in America, we haven't gotten to that point
yet. I acknowledge there are some
places in the world that Christians are being murdered
just because they're Christians. But but it hasn't happened in
America. And so is the Lord going to be
coming soon? I hope so.
It's like the last verse in
Revelation. Even so, come Lord Jesus,
because it's only going to be great when he does come for us.
But Jesus was very careful, particularly in the Olivet
Discourse and in other places in the New Testament to tell his
disciples, not only does not any man know the day or the hour of
the coming of the Lord, he didn't even know, only his
Father knows. And so we, we can't get as as
one phrase I've heard, and I probably won't get it exactly
right. We can't get so heaven focused
that we're earthly worthless because we're not in heaven yet.
We know we're going to be there one day, but we're here to do a
work for the Lord. And I think one of the ways we
can do that work in a more effective way is if we strive to
be more patient and we strive to wait on the Lord.
And ultimately it comes down to do you really believe that his
way and his time is the absolute best solution to whatever the
issue is, whatever the issue is, because it is.
I mean, the Bible tells us that very clearly.
And do you also believe that his ways and his knowledge is so
much higher than ours that we almost insult him by trying to
do things in our flesh as opposed to saying, Lord, I
surrender this to you. You work through me to get it
done. Use me as a tool in your hand to
get it done, because in my flesh I can do nothing good.
And so when we serve the Lord, let's try to to be more patient
and, and, and try to focus on waiting on him and trusting him
because that's really what it comes down to.
Waiting on him is trusting him that he's going to do it in his
time. I hope this has been a blessing.
Let's have a word of prayer and then we'll be dismissed.
Father, again, thank you for the opportunity to be in your house
this morning and to open your word and, and to look at your
word and, and search for wisdom and guidance to live our lives
in a way that's pleasing to you. Father, I pray that you would
help us to be more patient and Lord, to wait on you and let you
work your work in your time in our lives and in our ministries
and in our church. Father, just blessed now.
I pray that you would bless in the next hour.
Blessed Brother Jim, as he preaches, give him exactly the
message we need. Lord, fill him with your Holy
Spirit. And Father, help us to open our
hearts to receive it. Lord, most of all, if there's
anybody with us this morning who's never trusted Jesus as our
Savior, I pray, Lord, that today would be the day of salvation.
Lord, again, bless the Boots family, take care of them,
comfort them, keep them safe if they're traveling today.
Lord, and just have your way and will and everything that's done.
Father, may you be glorified in everything we do here in Jesus
name, Amen. Thank you.