Developing A Daring Faith III, The Difficulty Of Delay

Anyone else have a little bug that went by this week, for like 24 hours or less, and you just kind of felt woozy and hoozy? How many people had that? Let me just be honest. Go ahead and breathe on your neighbor now and say, I don't have it anymore. There was something that was permeating all around. There was an interesting couple of days around the office this week as people went in and out of consciousness of things and so on. How many of you have a question when you get to heaven you want to ask God about? Something you just don't understand right now? Come on, how many of you have questions? Let's get on, let's get open, all right. I have a question. If nothing sticks to Teflon, how does Teflon stick to the pan? Come on, do you know that? I don't know. Or here in driveways and drive on parkways. No, drive on parkways and park on driveways. How many of you ever find yourself parking on your driveway and then when you go to work you're parking on the driveway? No, I get it right. How come when I'm in my car looking for a particular address or location I turn down the volume on the radio? You ever do that? Where is that place? What does that have to do with it? How about this one? If Danny's is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, right? We never close. Why do they have locks on the doors? Why do they have interstate highways in Hawaii? They do. Where are they going? Here's one that's more recent. Why are there braille dots on the drive up ATMs? Have you ever seen that? You drive up and there's these little... I don't know, but I got a question. Do you have a question you want to ask? Maybe if you're like me I have some much more serious ones and today we're going to look at one that I would say is much more serious. There are questions that we all have about why it seems that we wait so long for some of our answers. Why does it take so long sometimes it seems for God to deliver us, to break through into our situation? Why is it difficult to see faith through to the end? Have you ever asked that question? If you haven't, I don't know where you've been living. In a few minutes I'm going to share with you something from the journal of the Apostle Paul. In fact, why don't you just in preparation for that turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. We're going to look at his journal in just a minute and I'm going to read you a little portion of my own journal and the journal of one other person before we're done today. All of which expressed something of the difficulty of dealing with delays in hearing from God and in seeing our faith come to full reality. Now in this series we're in the series called the five phases of faith. Okay, in developing a daring faith and we're looking at five phases of it. And we've looked at discerning where we are. We've looked at the dream that God would give us. We've looked at the decisions. Last week we talked about knowing God's will and making a decision. Many of you said that was a helpful little thing to see kind of like that journey. If you weren't here you might want to get that tape though you can't see it. I think there's some helpful things. Today we're going to talk about the difficulty of delays. There's rarely an exception. I can't say it never happens that the prayer doesn't just, but rarely does God just give the answer right away. Most everything in scripture tells me that there's going to be a delay from when God speaks it or you pray it and it happens. How long did Noah wait for the rainstorm to bring the ark up to speed? Hello? How long? 120 years. It took him 120 years to build that ark until it rained. You think people thought he was crazy all those years? What are you doing? How long did Abraham wait to have the fulfillment of his son Isaac from God? Approximately 25 years. 25 years he waited. He tried his own and we're going to talk about that, but it didn't work. Joseph, he was in prison. I mean God had told him that this is going to be a problem, but he ended up in prison. He said you're going to rule over your brothers and everything, but he ended up in prison. It took him years. How about David? He was anointed to be king. Remember that? Did he step right up and take the throne? The next day what did he do? No. Saul chased him around the countryside with an arrow and with a spear trying to kill him. And you can see all these illustrations of scripture. Paul had this Damascus road experience, powerful encounter with God. Did he step right up? No. He went out three and a half years alone waiting for God to raise him up. Probably the most vivid picture I can think of in scripture about waiting and delay are the children of Israel taking the promised land. Look at the top scripture. Pull up your outlines now. It says when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them directly though that way was shorter. See there was a delay implicit right there. And folks, can I tell you, I just came back from that area. You don't want to be delayed in that desert. You think this is hot. That's another 15 to 20 degrees hotter and it's barren and there's nothing there and there's no shade trees and it wouldn't be the kind of place you'd want to wander for four days let alone 40 years. But what's really going on in our lives when we have times of significant delay? When we experience the suffering of postponement or disappointment or seemingly endless delay? Is it just a cosmic mystery? I guess I'll never understand God and you just kind of write it off. Is it simply God playing the minor keys of our life to bring about a song that pleases him? I mean this opens up a really big question about pain and suffering, doesn't it? And sorrow and its place in the world and in our lives. But today I just want to talk about the difficulty of delay. In other words, when you have a promise from God, when you have a hope from God, when you have something you're believing God for and you just seem to be, well, put on hold. How many of you ever been, how many love to be put on hold when you make a phone call? None of us do. What happens when you get put on hold? Well, sometimes, how many like when they play music? Isn't that nice? Oh man, I wish they did. No matter what's on there, that doesn't seem to help you. How many like it just to be blank and you can just do something else while it's going? Now they have recorded messages where they say, you know, your business really matters to us. Thank you for staying on the line another five minutes, you know, that kind of thing. I wish they'd just get honest and say, you know, all of our agents are drinking coffee and telling stories. And when we feel like it, we're going to pick up the phone and talk to you. But there are times that we call unto God and we feel like he puts us on hold. What's going on? What is that about? Well, first of all, can I say this quite honestly? The first thing you should do is you should rejoice that God took the call. I know God's line is never busy. He does hear your prayer. He's not off somewhere doing something else. And folks, that is a deep, profound truth if you really get a hold of it. God does hear your prayer. But then it seems he may just put on the hold button. Okay, hang on a minute. And then things begin to happen in our lives. And I can't begin in a very short time to spell out the whole issue of what's going on in times of delay. But let me just give you two ideas. This isn't even on your outline. One thing he's clearly doing is he's preparing you for what's about to happen when the dream, when the prayer is answered, when the dream is fulfilled. Look at the rest of that verse. Top of the page. For God said, if they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt. See, one thing that's happening is God is changing you to prepare for what it is he wants to do in you. If it's a new job you're praying for, he's preparing you for the job that he's going to give you. Maybe it's a new relationship. He's got to do some things in your life to prepare you for the person that he's getting ready for you. If it's for wisdom, for a ministry, all those kinds of things. God is working in you during that time. He's bringing about something in your character. I love Romans 5, 3 and 4. Just jot that reference down. Jot it down. Romans 5, 3 and 4. We rejoice in our sufferings, Paul writes, because we know that suffering produces perseverance. Perseverance, character, and character is the basis of our hope for the future. But the other thing that God is doing in us when we are put on hold is this, folks. I believe God is teaching us how to trust in God alone for whatever we face. You see, we discover in these times of delay all kinds of things in us that we want to try to accomplish. But God is saying, I just want you to know that I will be the one that will take care of it. This problem really isn't about you and your need being met. This problem is about getting to know me. This dream that you have isn't about you rising up into some kind of fulfillment. This dream that you have is about exalting me. And there has been a switch, hasn't there? Those of you who've been Christians for quite a while. I'll tell you what, I see it here in this church, but I see it all over. I see people. We started an orientation in ministry around the needs of people. Something happened about a decade ago in ministry when the church woke up to the fact that out in the body at large there was just, there was pain, there was need, there was dysfunction became a word, there was rejection, there was loneliness, and there were people with problems and addiction. And a whole focus grew up around those needs called a need meeting ministry. I mean, I understood that. But what began to happen was that over the years we quietly began to change the focus of the church away from God and on meeting needs. I just want to say from this platform, the focus of the church should always be God. We are secondary. God is what this life is about, not our needs being met. And you know what, North Way people, 11 o'clock service people, that is a problem in this culture. We have made God into someone who meets our needs, not into someone that we have come to see. And that is true. We just need to examine our hearts and ask God to show us about that. That's why Paul writes so many times and powerfully in scriptures, in the book of Philippians, he says it, I think most powerfully, Philippians chapter three, if we could flash that up. What is more, he says, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ. How many of you could look at that verse and say, you know, that's where I'm living right now. I mean, I count everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ. For whose sake I have lost all things, Paul writes. In Philippians 3.10, I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his suffering. Can I say, you won't know the power of his resurrection until you've entered into the sharing of his suffering. And we're going to just talk about that for a little bit. One of those sufferings is delay. One of the things that we have to just endure to know him is delay. Because God wants to work in you, his character, his love. David Wilkerson, how many of you get his little newsletter? I just recommend it to you. If you'd like to get it, you can call the office. He writes this in a place called Wits End, was the name of the article. He says this. He says, God is not surprised by your ordeal. In fact, it is happening because he wants to produce something in your heart to reveal his glory in you. You mean, God has a purpose in what I'm going through, what my delay is about? Absolutely. It's about revealing his glory. It's about knowing him for who he is. So what do you do? That doesn't necessarily help you sometimes. What do you do? Let me give you very quickly, I'm going to kind of speed this up a little bit in this service, four things not to do. And in so doing, you'll know what you should do. All right. I'm just going to say them out loud. First of all, four things not to do when you're in delay. Don't fear. Don't fret. Don't faint. And don't forget. Just fill in those four blanks right now. Don't fear. Number two, don't fret. Number three, don't faint. And number four, don't forget. Could you say them with me? Don't fear. Don't fret. Don't faint. Wow. Let's look at those. Don't fear. You know, last week we spoke about getting right up here to the crossroads. And if you don't really know what you're supposed to do, what comes up? You know, fear. What if I make the wrong choice? You see, and what happens to us if we get out there in the desert, we get out there and we're just not sure, we're waiting to hear. We, just like the children of Israel, become afraid. Look at the first scripture in the Roman numeral one. They would not enter the land. They said, we are afraid the people are stronger and taller than we are. You see, fear grows as time goes on. The longer you're on hold, the more your fear tends to grow. And the closer you come down to a deadline, the more your fear. Someone here this morning, I believe this is from the Lord, someone here is facing a decision and you're real close to making it and fear is just mounting in you that it's going to fall apart because you've been waiting a long time. How many of the men that are here today have been part of Promise Keepers? Let me see your hands, please. You know, it's a powerful thing. It's been a great thing. And you look at the leaders of the Promise Keepers moving here, I say, well, they must be godly men. They must be really plugged in. They must have it all together. Randy Phillips tells this story. Randy is the president of Promise Keepers, Bill McCartney, the founder. Randy tells last year, just a little over about a year ago, in Southern California, they were planning their big men's event in the outdoor Anaheim Stadium. They had rented the stadium to seat 60,000 men. Listen to this. Ten days before the event, they had 16,000. It looked like a total disaster. Randy was, he was afraid. And Randy tells of how he had come to his wits end and said, you know, with 16,000 men in a 60,000 seat stadium, what would that look like? You know, it's a drop in the bucket, basically. And he said he was crying out to God one night and he said, God, you got to do something. And guess what? God was putting him on hold. And as it got down to just nine days away, he said, God, you've got to do something. And then he heard God pick up the phone and God said, why? And Randy said, I wanted to say, because you know, men need to be saved and men need to be committed to God and their families and their churches. And he realized that that wouldn't have been truthful, although that was truthful. Absolutely. That wasn't really why he was asking. He said, he realized what he should say is, well, because we're going to lose a lot of money here and I'm going to look bad. And that's why you got to do something. And he said, in that moment, God's conviction just came over him and he repented. And he said, Lord, I've gotten everything all wrong here. And I'm afraid. And I don't know if you know the story, but that was one of the biggest men's events to date. They had 60 some thousand that showed up. God did move powerfully. You see fear grows because we look at human resources and we realize, Hey, we can't do it. We don't have it in ourselves. Now take your Bibles, would you please? And look at Paul and his journal in second Corinthians chapter four. Here's what he says. He says, we have this treasure in jars of clay. If you don't have a Bible, you are unable to follow me. And I'm sorry about that because I can't put all the scriptures on here, but just listen carefully. We have this treasure in jars of clay. What's the treasure? Hello? What's the treasure? We really need to back up here. What is the treasure? It's Christ, right? We have this treasure, the presence of Christ in jars of clay. The literal Greek word is clay pot. Turn to your neighbor right now and say, don't ever call me a clay pot. That's what it says to show that this all surpassing powers from God and not from us. Look at Paul's journal says we are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed perplexed, but not in despair persecuted, but not abandoned struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body for we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus sake. Listen to these verses so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. Verse 12. So then death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. Talk about a deep verse. There's, there's, there's Paul saying in my own strength, I don't have it. I can't pull it off. I don't have the resources. I can't make it happen. But he says, I have this treasure and because of this treasure in me, there's hope. There's possibility. You see, instead of focusing on what you can't do, what you can't commit to most of us, when we get into a time of delay, we look at ourselves and we say, I can't pull it off. I can't make it happen. I'm not sufficient. I'm not adequate. And we focus on that. And if we focus on our inadequacy church, listen, you will be afraid because God will thrust you out there where you can't make it happen on your own. He will do it as a parent, as a businessman or woman, as a Christian, because God wants you to get to the point where you need to turn to him and say, God, but I have this treasure. You see, instead of focusing on you, if we could put this up on the overhead, focus on God's presence. He is the one that's at work inside of you. Not positive mental attitude, not trying harder, not self-help tapes, but God, God's presence. How many of you think that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were a little bit afraid when they were about to be thrown in that furnace? Daniel chapter 3. You know, that furnace was created just for moments when the king got kind of unhappy with people and he had these bond slaves. He said, stoke that furnace up seven times hotter than normal. It was so hot that the people that were firing it up died in the process. And Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego looked at that thing and they realized, I mean, I believe that they called 911. God, you know, God, are you there? God, you know, if you're there and I'm on hold right now, I'm about to go. God, if you're there, pick up. You know, it's done. But I love what they said. They said, you know, even if God doesn't deliver us, we're still going in because we trust him. Read it, Daniel chapter 3. What happened? Huh? What happened? King Nebuchadnezzar looked in there and said, how many men did we throw in there? And his servant said, three, master. He said, I see four. And the fourth has the visage of a son of God. What happened? In the midst of the fearfulness of that situation, the presence of God came and secured Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Can I say to you, if you're in the midst of a time of delay and the furnace is raging, just trust that the presence of God, focus on that. He's there with you. Look at Isaiah 41.10 on your outline. I love this verse, Isaiah 41.10. Read it with me. Fear not for I am with you. Do not be dismayed. I am your God. I will strengthen you and I will help you and uphold you. It's a circle. Fear not. Okay. Fear not. In whatever situation you're in delay, if it's your job, if it's your marriage, if you're your kids, if it's healing, fear not. God is with you. So number one, don't fear. Number two, don't fret. You know, when the delay goes on for a while, we tend to get uptight. We tend to get a little bit worried and we start to complain. The Israelites were great complainers. Look at numbers 21, four and five there under Roman numeral two. On the way the people lost their patience and spoke against God and Moses, they complained. And the Bible says they complained a lot. In fact, they complained so much that numbers 14 says they complained themselves right out of the promised land. God takes complaining very, very seriously. If you have a complaining spirit, you better, I just urge you to seek God about that. And all of us tend to complain once in a while. But these Israelites, they complained a lot. They complained, you know, when they started the journey, they complained for the delays. They complained about their leader, Moses. They complained about the water they didn't find. They complained about the food. Then God supplied the food and they complained about the kind of food, manna. Can you believe that? They complained about manna. They didn't have to go pick it or work for it. They just went out and picked it up. What are we having for breakfast? Manna flakes. What are we having for lunch? Manna burgers. What are we having for dinner? Manna kebabs. What are we having tomorrow night? Manna cutty. And they griped about manna until they just got sick of it. And God said, you know, I've had it with this. It's so easy. I mean, we do not like to wait in America. Oh, man. You know, and this is, how many of you ever prayed for patience because you know you need it? Very foolish prayer. Okay. It's easy to gripe when you have to wait, isn't it? Because you need to do something to let out that frustration. I mean, I was just in the Giant Eagle. You know, you go up to an eight-item line, right? It says right there, eight items. And you have to wait. And the people complain and they gripe. It wasn't me. No. There was a guy in the line that had like 18 items because I was counting them. But I wasn't complaining. I was the guy. And I had gotten in line a little bit. No one was there. But boy, the people behind me, they let me know. Boy, and they complained. All right. The truth is, folks, we don't mind waiting if we can just complain about it. As long as we can complain, well, you know, all right. But God says, don't gripe. Don't let this become a threat, you know. Have you ever been in a hurry for God to act and He is not in a hurry? God is never in a hurry. And when you need Him to come through, you've got to do it now, God. It's just He almost automatically says, just hang on. I'll do it when I'm ready. Instead, you see, look what it says, Proverbs 19.2. Impatience will get you into trouble. How many testimonies could we have on that one? We fret when we're in the middle of a delay, when we don't look to the end. Paul, if you look at 2 Corinthians 4 in his journal, if he says, if he stopped halfway in, if he said, we're hard pressed on every side. If he stopped there, he could have fretted. But he says, but I'm not crushed. He could have said, I'm perplexed and gotten into fretting. But he said, but I'm not in despair. You see, don't draw a conclusion about God's activity in the middle of your mess. Look to the end. Then you'll see that God has not forgotten you and He will. He will supply for you. So important that you do that in the very middle. Instead of looking at the middle, focus on God's ending and then rest in the Lord and He'll deliver you. And by the way, in the middle of that, please don't try to help God along. You know, God, you gave me this promise. I guess I better get on with it. Abraham is the greatest illustration of someone trying to help God out, isn't he? What did he do? You remember what he did? You know, God said, I'm going to give you a son that will become your progeny. And they're going to be my chosen people. And Abraham didn't have this child for a number of years. And he said, well, Hagar, he goes to his wife, Sarah, and says, can I just, look, I need to help this out. I'll go to Hagar and we'll have a kid. And that'll be the one. And he goes and does that. And he says, look, a kid. Great. This is God's promise. And God said, no, that's not my problem, but I'm going to bless them anyhow. And now today, I forget what the number is. It's about a billion. Isn't there about a billion Arabs? I know there's a billion Muslims, maybe not a billion Arabs, but there's a billion Muslims and there's hundreds of millions of Arabs. And I just, I tell you, I have just seen the Dome of the Rock, which is the most contested holy site in the world, where the Jews and the Arabs are still contesting. Really, what that is is sibling rivalry. Because Abraham decided he was going to help God out. And God said, in my time, I'll bring about the fulfillment of my promise. Look at that last scripture. Turn the page. God has set the right time for everything. Circle right time. There's going to be a time. You just rest in the Lord and he will supply for you. All right. Number three. What's the first one again? Don't fear. And the second one? Don't. And the third one is don't think. What does it mean to think? It means you just kind of give up. You see, if you allow fear to get a foothold and then you start to fret, it's very difficult not to think. And the Israelites, they did. They started, they wanted so badly, they wanted to give up. Look what it says. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses. If only we had died in Egypt, we should choose a leader and go back to Egypt. Folks, when you start saying things with your own mouth, like we ought to go back, if only, it's a sure sign that you're in discouragement. And you're second guessing the word of the Lord. And you're wondering, maybe God didn't speak to me. Maybe I haven't heard. Maybe it isn't what I'm supposed to do. If only things were different. I got to go back. I want to tell you something about the good old days. May I? They're gone. And in fact, they probably weren't as good as you think they were. It's the new day that we're here to bring about. You know, watch out for doubt. Doubt creeps in. Doubt creeps in. And you know what doubt is like? Doubt is like a fog. Doubt is one of those things that's hard to put a handle on. Doubt is sort of broad and sort of vague. I have found that when I'm struggling with something and I begin to doubt, if I make myself write down what is it that I'm really concerned about here, it's hard to nail down. Doubt sort of rolls in. And have you discovered it's hard to make progress in fog? Yeah, it's real hard. I challenge you, if you're doubting something in your life right now, you're doubting God, you're doubting a decision, you're doubting leading, and you're not sure why, write down exactly what it is and press in on the specifics. And then you'll find something. It'll begin to lift because God's word will emerge back into your life. We're prone to faint when we allow doubts to rule our mind. Instead, we should be persistent and pray and ask God to fulfill what he's promised. Folks, if Bill Torbett's testimony didn't say anything else to you, it should say to you, don't faint. Trust God. Press ahead. He is able. Number four, don't faint. And number four, don't forget. You know, when things go on for a while, our memory starts to get a little clouded over. Our dreams and our previous victories and our other blessings start to get faded. God's goodness, his power, his presence start to kind of drift in the background. How many of you are facing something right now that you know God can do because he's done in the past, but all of a sudden you're wondering, I wonder if he's going to do anything. We're like that. We tend to forget what God has done when we're in the midst of waiting for him to do something. Look at Psalm 106. They forgot the many times God showed them his love, and they rebelled. He saved them as he promised, but then they quickly forgot again. A hundred times. I mean, you could tell me what the next bit of dialogue is going to be. Watching that movie has helped me to realize, I mean, it seems to me that those Israelites had a very short memory. I mean, if I'm seeing it correctly, you know, the 10 plagues come, the first born are killed, they all have this wonderful journey that begins, and a few days later they're at the Red Sea, and they forget what God did to get them out, so they think they're going to die at the Red Sea, and on and on it goes. I mean, they just keep doubting God. Oh, no, I got through the Red Sea. Now there's no water. I'm going to die. Oh, now there's no food. I'm going to die. Well, wait a minute. God, God will supply. Don't forget what he's done. Instead, you see, we let doubts come in when we ignore God's Word, and we instead should focus on his promises, all right? Remember God's promises. Folks, for every problem you face, there is a promise that God has given. Every problem that you face, there's a promise that God has given, and God will bring it to pass. Look at Habakkuk. This is a great verse. Look at this. These things won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, do not despair, for these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient. It will not be overdue a single day. I love that verse. Now, I shared in the beginning the message that I wanted to read something from Paul, which I have, and something from my own journal, because what I've shared today with you is not just a theory. It's not an outline that I read or something that I just was told about. I want to share with you an area of delay in my own life, and this is really personal, as I conclude today. You know, there's always been delays in the ministry at North Way, always. I mean, even from the very beginning, Lord knows there have been delays associated with this facility. There still are some delays. I can't tell you how strongly I feel with our elders and our development team that we need to face the possibility, the challenge of paying off this bridge loan so we can start focusing some of our resources in the ministry, and I believe we're going to do that. I think there's been more personal than that. About not quite five years ago, if you were in North Way that long, you know that I developed some significant pain in my lower back. It wasn't the kind that most is generally experienced by people, you know, where you have a short episode of stabbing pain that lasts a few days or a week or two, and then it goes away. It wasn't a disc problem, as is very common, or a muscle spasm, but it was rather a chronic, everyday sort of nagging pain. It was caused by a fracture in one of my vertebrae, something that could have been there a long, long time, and maybe was just more recently exacerbated, but it really caused some problems. How many of you were here four years ago when I preached from a stool? All right, a lot of you saw that, and you haven't seen me do that for a few years, so you probably thought, well, he's doing great, and I have been doing well. I really have, but the pain has been progressing, and very slowly the nerves in my leg have started to get impinged by this this problem, and it's creating some tingling and some numbness and things like that to come and go, but the bigger battle has been with frustration and with the deterioration of my ability to function, and I have to say that I've been on hold. The first month when this all happened, I sought the Lord, and he gave me Jeremiah 33.6, which says, nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to him. I will heal my people and let him enjoy abundant peace and security. I put that promise on my bathroom mirror, in my car, in my Bible, in my head, and I've been claiming it for four and a half years, and I've cooperated with it through exercise and diet and supplements and therapy and chiropractors and some physicians, and I've taken everything people have suggested, everyone's secret remedy, you know, salt baths to shark cartilage, you name it, but the problem isn't really getting any better, and it's slowly worsening. The doctors tell me if it goes untreated, that the pain will just slowly increase, that arthritis is already beginning to get, the vertebraes are resting against each other, and that the nerve damage will eventually result, which would mean that I'll lose some leg strength, and it's a pretty bleak picture if it goes untreated. You know, many times I've said to the Lord, you know, I'm on hold here, God. It's okay, and can I tell you this? During those years, God's been giving me grace, grace to function in the ministry, grace to go through the building project, grace to work out and stay in relatively good shape, and grace to grow in compassion with many of you who've been suffering with different things. So while I've been