Transcription
Have you ever been in a hurry when God wasn't? One of the most difficult things in life is to sit in God's waiting room. God's waiting room is when there's something beyond your control that you can't speed up. An answer to prayer, a miracle, a change in a situation and you want it to change, but it is totally out of your control and you have to wait on God.
The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 3:11, "God does everything just right and on time, but people can never completely understand what he's doing." Boy, is that the truth. We don't know always what God is doing, and we certainly don't know when he's going to do it. And so much of life we spend waiting on God's timetable. How do you keep on believing while you're waiting on God?
If any man had to wait, it was Abraham. God gave him a promise that he'd have a baby who would become a great nation which later became the nation of Israel. But Abraham had to wait 100 years for that baby. That's a long time to wait. What do you do while you're waiting on God? The Bible says five things.
Number one, you need to first understand the six phases of faith. God always takes you through a predictable phase and stages of faith. The first phase of faith is when God gives you a dream, an idea, an ambition, a goal. God gives you a dream. And at age 75, God gave Abraham a dream. He said, "I'm going to make you into a great nation." But that's just the start.
Phase two is a decision. And a decision is when you decide to act on that dream. A dream without a decision is worthless. And every dream of God has a risk to it. It has a part that you have to to uh take a step of faith out. Abraham had to leave his existing homeland and go to a place where he never knew. He had never heard of, never heard of, never been there. And so, he took a risk. And when God gives you a dream and says, "This is what I want to do with your life." There's going to come a point you have to make the decision to say, "Okay, God, I'm going to go after your dream for my life, not my own dream."
Once you've done that, you move into phase three. And phase three is delay because the dream is never fulfilled instantly. When God gives you an idea of what he wants to do with your life and when he actually fulfills it, there is always a time gap because he wants to grow you. He wants to build you up. 11 years after God gave Abraham his dream, Abraham still didn't have a child. And when he's 86, it says, "But Sarah still had not borne any children." What's happened in those 11 years? The answer is nothing. He was just waiting on God. He's tempted to doubt, tempted to despair, tempted to take detours, but God says, "No, you're going to wait for the fulfillment of the dream I've given you."
Then comes along phase four, and that is difficulty. God not only lets you wait for a while, but while you wait, he lets you have some problems. Isn't that fun? And so, you go through the stage of difficulty, where things go from bad to really bad to worse to impossible. And you notice that at age 99, Abraham still didn't have a son. He's 99. His wife Sarah is is 89. And uh he still, it says, "How can a son be born to a man my age?" Now, what's worse is that God changed Abraham's name? His name originally was Abram. And God changed his name to Abraham, which means father of a great nation. Now, imagine this. He walks into a 7-Eleven. And the guy says, 'What's your name? Father of a great nation. Oh, how many kids do you have? None. How old are you? 99. That's kind of embarrassing, folks. It's a test of his faith.
But eventually, God fulfills the dream. And at age 100 and his wife is 90, Sarah, they have a miracle baby. And they name him Isaac, which means laughter. Because they laughed at that thought. I mean, Sarah's 90 years old. We know she didn't believe God when God said, "You're pregnant." because she laughed. Any woman who really believed God at 90 and figured she was pregnant would have cried. But she laughs and God laughs and Abraham laughs and Isaac is named after laughter. And they have a miracle boy. And I think this is great.
But then comes the most difficult phase of faith of all, number five, dead end. And at dead end, God allows your dream to seemingly die. Abraham was asked to give up the miracle child. God says, "I want you to sacrifice him back to me." Now, get this. Abraham wakes 100 years, gets a baby, he starts to grow up, and God says, "By the way, now I want you to give him back to me. I want you to sacrifice him to me." Abraham's thinking, "What kind of God is this? Is this a cruel joke? He's asking me to sacrifice the very dream child that was promised to me." And he looks, he feels pretty hopeless.
How do you know when you're at a dead end? You feel hopeless. Some of you are at a dead end in your marriage right now. Some of you are at a dead end in getting married. Some of you are at a dead end when you look at your budget, when you look at your career, when you look at your friendships, your relationships. Some of you are at a physical dead end and your your health is falling apart. And when you're at this stage, you start to de doubt God's wisdom and love and you say, "Why is this happening to me? It's out of your control." Well, congratulations. God is getting you ready. He is preparing you for the final phase of faith, which is deliverance. And the greater the dead end, the more hopeless the situation, the greater the deliverance is going to be. The more of a miracle it'll be. You go, "Wow, that was God. Only God could have done that. And so God is getting you ready for a miracle. The miracle of deliverance.
Now, everybody in this room, God's going to take you through these six phases of faith many, many times in your life over and over again. You'll go from dream to decision to delay to difficulty to dead end to deliverance. And then he'll do it again, and then he'll do it again to keep you growing in your faith. In fact, everybody here is at one of these stages right now. Some of you are in the dream phase. You're getting an idea. Some of you are in the delay phase or the difficulty or the dead end phase. But you have to understand how God works if you're going to learn to be patient and keep on believing when you're waiting on God.
The second thing you do when you're waiting for deliverance is you remember what God can do. Remember what God can do. The situation may be out of your control, but it's not out of God's control. So, you don't focus on what you can't do. You focus on what God can do. What can God do? Well, look at this verse. Romans 4:17. Read it with me. Abraham believed in God who gives life to the dead and who creates something out of nothing. Folks, that ver verse right there is the definition of a miracle. Because in a miracle, here's what happens. Either God gives life to something that's dead or he creates something out of nothing. And that's what it's all about. That's what God can do. He can give life to a dead career, a dead marriage, dead dreams, dead finances. And he can bring something out of nothing. Jesus said anything is possible if you have faith.
Now I want you to notice something. This is very important. What did Abraham put his faith in? Look at that verse. What did he believe in? Did he believe in himself? No. Did he believe in his feelings? No. Did he put faith in faith? You know, like I'm just put faith in faith. No. Did he practice positive thinking? No. He believed in God. Now, I believe in positive thinking. We've talked about this many times, but positive thinking and faith are not the same thing. You hear these songs about positive thinking like, "I believe that for every drop of rain that falls, a flower grows." Folks, that's bologoney. If every drop of rain produced a flower, the world would be covered with flowers. We'd be tiptoeing through the tulips. That's just not true. And positive thinking works in one situation. It works in situations where you have control over the situation. If, for instance, you believe you're going to do a good job at something, you'll probably do a better job than if you didn't believe it. But positive thinking is worthless in things that are out of your control. You can say, "I hope my mom is going to live, but that's not going to change anything." You can say, "I hope that he doesn't get hurt in that accident, but that doesn't isn't going to stop him from getting hurt. I hope my team wins. I hope I get a job." That's just wishful thinking. Positive thinking is worthless in situations out of your control. Especially when you come to a dead end in life. When you come to a dead end, you need more than just a nice happy thought. You need faith in God. You know, I could say, you know, I believe I look like Brad Pitt. I could say it all the time I want. It isn't going to make me look like Brad Pitt. What's going to happen is the only thing that changes circumstances is faith in God. Faith in God works when things are out of your control. Now, here's a little secret. Most of life is beyond your control. So, you need faith in God far more than you need just kind of happy, positive, you know, think pretty thoughts. When you get to a dead end, you need to remember what God can do. Notice this verse. What is impossible with men is possible with God.
The third thing you do when you're waiting on God is rely on God's promises. Rely on what God has promised. The Bible says in Romans 4:18, "When hope was dead within him, Abraham went on hoping in faith. He relied on the word of God." Have you ever felt that way? that hope was dying inside of you. How do you know when hope is dying inside of you? You start using the word never. I'm never going to get married. We're never going to have a baby. I'm never going to be happy again. I'm never going to change. Abraham went on hoping in faith. This isn't just wishful thinking. This isn't just positive thinking. This is hoping in faith. Faith in God. You keep on believing. How do you keep on believing when you feel like doubting, when you feel like giving up? Well, it says there he relied on God's word. And nothing is more reliable. Now, I hope you've gotten this by now. You've got to get into God's word. If you're going to be a man of faith, if you're going to be a woman of faith, you have to get God's promises in your life. Even here once again, we hit it again. Rely on what God has promised. He relied on the word of God, and that's what kept him going. When hope wanted to give up, you need to read this book, study this book, memorize Bible verses. Matthew 19:26, with God everything is possible. And Galatians 5:6, the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. When you get the promises of God in your life, you will be able to hope in faith rather than giving up.
Now, when you come to a dead end, rely on the promises. Notice this next verse. While God was testing him, and that's what waiting is. It's a test. Abraham still trusted in God and his promises. So he offered his son Isaac. Now this is a test. Isaac grows up and God says, "I want you to give him back to me. I want you to sacrifice him to me." But Abraham didn't panic. I would have, but Abraham didn't panic. God said, "Give me your son back. Sacrifice him to me." But he didn't panic for three reasons the Bible tells us. One, he believed that God would raise him from the dead. Hebrews 11:19. Second, when he's telling his servant, "We're going up the hill to make the sacrifice," he says, "we'll be back." Not, "I'll be back, but we'll be back." He fully intended the son to come back with him. And third, when his little boy Isaac is walking up the hill with him and he says, "Daddy, where's the lamb we're going to sacrifice?" Abraham says, "The Lord will provide." He had every intention and no doubt that God was going to spare his son or resurrect him from the dead. Why? He had the promises of God.
Now, here's the big test in your life. What are you going to do when God says to you, "I want you to sacrifice your greatest dream." That is the ultimate test of faith. When God says, "The thing you value most in life, what you want most in life, what you crave most in life, will you offer it on the altar to me?" This is a test. Will you do what Abraham did? Will you hope against hope? Will you hope in faith? And will you rely on the promises of God? Look at the next verse. Romans 4:18. Though it seemed Abraham's hope could not be fulfilled, he did become the father of many nations exactly as God had promised. Notice the word seemed. Things are never as bleak as they seem. If you look at them from God's point of view, the disciples followed Jesus around for three years and they thought he was going to bring in the kingdom and set up a kingdom. They'd all be rulers and one day they look up and Jesus is hanging on the cross and he's dead. You talk about a dead end. They are devastated. He's the Messiah. He's the son of God. How in the world could he be hanging on a cross? They didn't know that Easter was just a couple days away. God specializes in turning dead situations around and resurrecting situations that look hopeless when we rely on the promises of God. Notice he says he became the father of many nations exactly as God had promised. A promise is only as good as the integrity of the promiser. And God cannot lie.
The fourth thing you do when you're waiting on God, recognize the facts in faith. Face them, but face them in faith. Recognize the facts of your life in faith. Romans 4:19 and 20 says, "Without weakening in his faith, he," that's Abraham, "faced the fact that his body was as good as dead, and Sarah's womb was also dead." He's being pretty blunt here. Yet, he didn't waver with unbelief. God's Word translation says, "Through faith, he regarded the facts." Abraham recognizes that he and his wife are beyond childbearing years. He's 99. His wife is 89. And it is a medical impossibility that they're going to have children. Now, he doesn't deny the facts. He faces them with faith. This is very, very important. Get this. Faith does not ignore reality. Faith does not pretend you don't have a problem. Faith does not act like it's no difficulty. Faith is not denial. Please hear that because a lot of people think it is. Let me give you a definition of faith. Faith is facing the facts in your life without being discouraged by them. That's faith. It's not denying you have problems. It's not denying you have difficulties. It's not denying you're facing a dead end or hopeless situation from a human standpoint. It is facing the fact of problems in your life without being discouraged by them. That is true faith.
Some of you are facing cancer. Some of you have loved ones who are facing cancer right now. You cannot deny the diagnosis, but you can defy the verdict. Big difference. You cannot deny the diagnosis. I don't have cancer. Yes, you do. They don't have cancer. Yes, they do. You cannot deny the diagnosis. That's fantasy. It's denial. But you can defy the verdict. And you can fight it and say, "We're going to work at this and we're going to do all we can to beat it and defy the verdict." You see, this is very important because there's a brand of Christianity out there that says, "Deny all your problems and just smile, smile, smile." That's not Jesus. That's Polyiana. You know, it says, you know, I'm not sick. Positive confession. I'm not sick. I got 104 temperature, but I'm not sick. Or, you know, I'm not in debt. I'm on the verge of bankruptcy, but I'm not in debt. Faith is not asking you to deny reality. It never does. Faith asks you to face the reality in your life without being discouraged by it. It's not living in denial. Faith is not clinging to the past. Faith is not stubborn foolishness. Please understand this. If you're still waiting for eight tracks to make a comeback, let it go. It's over. It ain't coming back. If you're still waiting for that special guy or girl to invite you out on a date, that person from high school, and it's your 50th reunion, let it go. That puppy's not coming home, just let it go. Grieve deeply, but let it go.
Some of you need to do some legitimate deep grieving in your life that things have not turned out as you planned. That what you dreamed for your life isn't going to happen, but you don't have a pity party. You believe that God knows best and you say, "Yes, it didn't turn out the way I planned, but I believe God has a better plan." That is faith. Yes, things did not work out the way I thought, but but I believe God is not through with my life and he's working in my life and God has good things in store for me still. That is faith. It is facing the facts in faith. It's not fantasy. It's just not being discouraged. One of the things I've told pastors for many, many years, it's an old cavalry military rule. It says, "When the horse is dead, dismount Okay. Don't keep beating the dead horse. And when a dream dies, you just dismount and saddle another one because God's not through with you. God is not through with you. Some of you wanted to get married, but you never did. Some of you wanted to have children, but you never have. What do you do with a blocked love? Pull yourself into a cell. Build your build a shell around yourself. Be self- concerned. A prickly pair. I'm never going to let anybody get close to me again. I'm not going to let anybody hurt me. I'm going to hold in my emotions. Of course not. What do you do when a love is blocked? You redirect it. You rechan it. You know that story I've told you several times about Corey Tinboom when she was a young woman was engaged to be married and all of a sudden the the boy broke up with her and married a friend and she was devastated and she never did marry went through life as a single woman but she redirected her love. She didn't pull herself into a into a little shell and she became one of the most loving Christian leaders of the 20th century, influencing millions and millions of people. She redirected her love in a new direction.
How do you keep on believing when you feel like giving up? You do these five things. First, you need to understand the six phases of faith that God will take you through over and over and over. Then you remember what God can do. He can do anything. Then you rely on God's promises and remember what he's promised to do. Then you recognize the facts of your life in faith. You don't deny them. You recognize them, but you don't get discouraged. And finally, you rejoice in anticipation. In anticipation, you expect, you joyfully expect God to act in your life and to do good things. Even if it's not the way you planned, he will do good things. You expect him to act. Romans 4:20 and 21 says this, "Abraham never doubted. He believed God for his faith and trust grew ever stronger. And he praised God for this blessing even before it happened. Wow. He was completely sure that God was well able to do anything he promised. Notice even before it happened. That is real faith. When you thank God for something after it happens, that's gratitude. When you thank God for something before it happens, that is faith. And the highest form of faith is thanking God in advance. God, I don't even know how you're going to work this out. I'm at a dead end, but I thank you in advance that you know what you're doing. I thank you in advance that you're going to work it all out. One day, Jesus went up to a tomb and some people had asked him to raise Lazarus from the dead. And he walks up and he prays, "Father, I thank you that you've already heard me." What was he doing? thanking God in advance.
When God delivers, there are three kinds of deliverance. The first is circumstantial deliverance. And in that type of deliverance, God changes the situation. He miraculously turns the situation around. And God will do that many, many times in your life, but he's not going to always do it. He will do many miracles in your life, but he's not always going to change the situation. Sometimes he does personal deliverance and he changes you and you get a bigger perspective. You get a deeper faith. You get a larger character. You get a better attitude and God changes you and leaves the situation. Personal deliverance. But there is some pain in life that is only going to be relieved through ultimate deliverance and that is heaven. One day we're going to a place, those of us who know the Lord, where there is no sorrow, no tears, no suffering, no sadness. And that is ultimately the deliverance that God wants to offer to you.
Now listen, God has not promised to take away all your pain. God has not promised that all your loved ones are going to live for as long as you want them to live. God has not promised that you will not have any difficulties, that you will never have any dead ends, never have any delays. He has not promised to take away all your pain. He has promised to give you the strength to handle it. And he has promised that one day ultimately he will deliver you to heaven where there is no sorrow, no suffering, no sadness, and no pain. The Bible says this, "We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." What is the glory of God? The hope of God's glory is heaven. But there's only one way to get there, through Jesus Christ. You don't work for it or earn it. It's through Jesus Christ. Now, the Bible word for deliverance is the word salvation. That's what salvation means. Jesus Christ is your savior. He is your deliverer. and he will deliver you. And that is a far cry from just positive thinking. You see, all the world can offer is wishful thinking. The world hopes for the best, but Jesus Christ offers the best hope. Let's bow our heads. Are you at a dead end this morning? Jesus Christ can turn your hopeless end into an endless hope. So whatever problem seems hopeless to you, I urge you to give it and your life to Jesus Christ right now. Say Jesus Christ, I give you my problems and I give you my life. We ask you for miracles in Jesus name. Amen.