God Heard Your Prayer, But Here's Why You're Still Waiting transcript

Have you ever been in a hurry when God wasn't? Some of you right now are waiting on God. You're in God's waiting room. You're waiting for God to open a door. You're waiting for God to give you a job opportunity. You're waiting on God for an answer to prayer. You're waiting for clarification. You're waiting for new direction. You're waiting for God to remove a pain or heal a relationship. And you go, "I don't get this.

I've prayed and nothing's happening and there is a delay." Why does God delay things when clearly he could answer every prayer instantly? Well, if you had every prayer answered, you'd be a selfish little brat because you treat God like a vending machine. God and he just pull the trigger, boom, I got it instantly. And God sometimes has to work on you before he works on the solution. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 3:11 there at the top of your outline, God does everything just right and on time.

But people can never completely understand what he's doing. Well, duh. If you did understand everything God was doing, you'd be God. God is God and I'm not. And so, I don't understand what is just right. And I don't always understand what's on time. So, today I want us to look at what do you do when you have to wait on God? Daring to wait on God. I want to ask two questions. What do I need to remember when I'm in the waiting room of life?

And what do I need to do when I'm in the waiting room of life? Because this is an element of daring faith. Waiting is as much faith as taking initiative. Waiting can be as much of a matter of trust as it is taking a risk or any of the other things we've looked at over the last 10 weeks. What do you need to remember while you're waiting on God? And what do you need to do? Let's look at these. First, let me give you five things you need to remember.

And you're going to need these, so write them down. When you have asked God for something and it hasn't come yet and you're in that delay period where you haven't seen the answer to your prayer, what do you do? You remember five things. Number one, remember there's a natural delay between planting and harvesting. And we talked about this in the message on the laws of sewing and reaping. There's a natural delay between planting and harvesting.

When I I I have a garden and I when I plant seeds, I plant a seed. I don't go out the next day to expect to see full-grown tomatoes. When I plant uh uh carrot seeds, I don't expect to go out the next day to see carrots. There's always a delay between planting and harvesting. There's always a delay between sewing and reaping. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 3, there is a time for everything and there is a season for every activity under heaven.

There is a time to plant and there is a time to harvest. There is a time to scatter and there is a time to gather. This is simply talking about seasons. You always get the results of what you plant in life in another season, not in the same season. You don't plant and harvest in the same season. Many of you have planted seeds in in daring faith, financial seeds, seeds of service, seeds of sacrifice. You're not going to have the harvest immediately.

You just need to understand that it comes, but it comes in another season. Write this down. I reap in a different season than I sow. And during that season of waiting, you wait quietly. You wait expectantly. Uh you wait um patiently in faith. I remember that there's a natural delay between planting and harvest. So when I put in a request, it's not going to be instantly fulfilled. There is always a delay. Number two, second thing I need to remember is that there is an unseen battle going on.

There is an unseen battle going on. There is a spiritual warfare going on in a realm that we don't even understand. We don't see it. We don't feel it. But in the cosmic heavenlies, there is a spiritual war in other dimensions between good and evil, between God and Satan, between angels and demons. And the fact is, you're caught right in the middle. And if you're a child of God, Satan hates you and he wants to mess you up.

The Bible tells us in Ephesians 6:12, we're not struggling and fighting against human beings, but against evil spiritual forces in the heavenly realm. the rulers and the authorities and the powers of darkness. Now, what happens, what I'm say, what this verse is saying is that when you send up a prayer, there's often a battle on how that's going to be answered. And Satan starts throwing while you're waiting, while you're in the waiting room, he starts throwing darts at you.

The dart of doubt, the dart of discouragement, the dart of disappointment, the dart of delay, the dart of depression. And he starts throwing these darts at you. and he says, "We shouldn't we should be aware that he's going to try to try to get you down." Now, the truth is we don't really know this much. And the Bible doesn't even tell us that much about the spiritual warfare that's going on behind your prayers, but we do get a glimpse of it in one book of the Bible.

It's in the book of Daniel. You may have never even seen this passage in Daniel, but it's the one time in the Bible. It shows the spiritual warfare going on behind the answer to the prayers that you have prayed and the things that you're trusting God for in your life. Let me read it to you. It's here on the screen. Daniel chapter 10 says this. Daniel had a vision and he had a vision of an angel come to him. And the angel says to Daniel in this vision, "Daniel, God loves you deeply." And he loves you deeply, too.

And God has heard your prayers since the very first day you humbled yourself. And let me just say this, when you pray a prayer, God heard the very first one. It's not like he wasn't listening until number 95. God has heard every prayer. He heard your prayer from the very first moment. The angel said, "God loves you deeply and he heard your prayer since the very first day you humbled yourself." And he says,"I the, the angel have come in answer to your prayer." But now here's the interesting part.

The evil angel prince of this kingdom opposed and blocked me for 21 days. He said, "Your prayer hadn't been answered for 21 days." Said, "I was opposed in this spiritual battle." So Michael, one of the archangels, intervene to fight for me because I had been blocked from coming to you with the answer. Is that the wildest verse you've ever seen? There is a dimension beyond your prayers that we don't and we don't even have any more than that in scripture about it.

But the Bible tells us that Daniel had a prayer. It wasn't answered. It wasn't answered. Once answered, he's starting to get discouraged. The angel shows up says, "I'm here to get the answer. We heard it from day one, but we've been in a battle over this." And it was such an intense battle that Michael Archangel had to come down and help me with this battle so I can come and tell you the answer's on its way. I don't know any more about it than that.

I just know that this is not as simple as you think it is. So, I want you to write this on your outline. A delay is not a denial. A delay is not a denial. When a a an answer to prayer is delayed, it doesn't mean it's not going to be answered. There may be some kind of spiritual warfare going on behind it, and you got to keep praying. A delay is not a denial. Number three, the third thing we remember the first that there's a natural delay between planting and harvesting.

That there's a spiritual delay because of the spiritual warfare that's going on. Number three, there's another reason for delay and it's this. Remember, God is preparing me for a blessing. God is preparing me for his blessing. When you have an idea and you ask God to do something in your life, God usually has a bigger idea and usually has a better idea. And he's going to have to prepare you to get you ready for a bigger and better answer to your prayer.

And he usually has to take some time getting you ready, preparing you. And the first thing God wants to do before he answers your prayer for a job, for a mate, for for a child, to get married, what whatever your prayer request is, he first he wants to get you ready because God's more interested in changing your character than he is in answering your prayer. because your character is what you're going to take to heaven.

And here's what the Bible says in First Peter chapter 1. There's wonderful joy ahead. That's that's the inevitable answers to our prayers. Even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while, and this includes the delays, these troubles, circle this, test your faith. The troubles you're going through right now, this is a test. They test your faith. so that it is strong and pure, just as fire tests and purifies gold.

And your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. Some of you are going through the fire right now. Keep going. What do you do when you're going through hell? You keep going. You don't want to stay there. You keep walking. When you're going through the fire, you keep going. He says, "These troubles are there to test your faith." You might write this down. Waiting is always a test. When you're praying for something in your life and it hasn't happened and you're in that delay, you're in that time zone, you're in that season between harvest and and sewing.

Waiting is always a test. It tests your character. It tests your trust. It tests your faith. It tests your endurance. It tests all kinds of things in your life. Waiting is a test. In fact, Paul compares waiting in life, waiting on God. When you really want something, it hasn't happened yet. Paul compares it to being pregnant. In Romans chapter 8, he's got a great analogy here. I love it in the message paraphrase. Romans 8:24-28, Paul says this, "Waiting does not diminish us." It doesn't diminish us any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother.

We are enlarged in the waiting. What we don't see is what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become. Just like a pregnant woman, the longer we wait, the larger we become and the more joyful our expectancy. Meanwhile, when we get tired in the waiting, God's spirit is right alongside helping us. And if we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter cuz he, the Holy Spirit, prays in us and for us.

And he knows far better than we know our he knows us far better than we know ourselves. And he knows our pregnant condition. And that's why we can be so sure that every [clears throat] detail in our lives of love for God is working into something good. That's a powerful passage. Now, he's saying here that it's just like being pregnant. It's just like being expectant. Now, in an expectancy, they don't call it expecting for nothing, do they?

Because when a woman has a a baby, she's expecting that baby. And he says, "This is what it's like to wait on God. You know it's coming. You know it's going to happen. But this is what you got to do. You got to wait." Number four, the fourth thing to remember. I need to remember when I'm in the waiting zone that I'm in good company. I'm in good company while I'm waiting. Millions of saints before you have sat in God's waiting room.

You're not alone. In fact, if you're in the waiting room right now, you're waiting on a job, you're waiting on an answer, you're waiting on a prayer, there are a lot of other people sitting around you right now who are in that same situation. Millions of saints have sat in God's waiting room. You're in good company. Hebrews 11:2 says this, "People who lived in the past became famous because of their faith. And every one of those people had to wait.

Think about Hannah who had to wait years to have the baby that she was praying that God would give her. Think about Joseph who God gave him a dream of being a a ruler and he had that vision from a very young childhood age and he ends up being put in prison for 14 years for a crime he did not commit, falsely accused of rape. And he spends 14 years in a prison and dungeon in Egypt waiting. God knew exactly where he was.

He was preparing him. Moses waits 40 years in the wilderness to know his purpose in life, to know his next assignment, to know what he's supposed to do with his life. Abraham waits a hundred years before he has Isaac, his first child, through Sarah, the promised child. God had promised him years before. He waits. He's 100 years old. Noah had to wait 120 years before it rained. You think you you're in a waiting period?

How'd you like to wait 120 years? And the whole time you're building an ark and everybody's coming say, "What's an arc?" Said it's a big boat. Why? Cuz it's going to rain. What's rain? I said it never rained up to that point. Can you imagine building a ark in your front yard and how your kids, your teenage kids are all embarrassed? My dad's a nut. You know, how long's you been working on the boat? 120 years. Why? Cuz it's going to flood.

What's a flood? God waited thousands of years before sending the Messiah. We get in a hurry. God is not in a hurry. Look at this verse on the screen. Hebrews 6 says, "After waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised. But the waiting is essential to faith." Number five, the fifth thing to remember. I remember there's a time delay between planting and harvesting. I remember that there's a spiritual battle going on.

I remember that God is preparing me for the answer. I remember that I'm in good company while I'm waiting. And number five, I remember that God always keeps his promises. That's what you need to remember when you're waiting on God. Because unlike other people, you can count on God to come through. You can count on God to come through because over these 7,000 promises in the Bible that he has made, he's staked his reputation on.

So what you do in the waiting room is you don't focus on what you can't do. I don't have the money. I don't have the talent. I don't have the connections. I don't have the opportunity. You don't focus on what you don't have. You focus on what God does have, what God can do. And one of the ways you focus on what God can do is through the promises of God. Promises can help you focus on God and his unlimited abilities instead of you and your limited abilities.

The Bible says, "Anything is possible if you have faith." Habach 2:3 says this on the screen. God says, "At the time I have decided, my words will come true." You can trust what I say about the future. It may take a long time, but keep on waiting. It will happen. Some of you need to write that verse down on a card and put it up on your refrigerator. God says, "My word will come true. You can trust that if I say it, it's going to happen.

It may take a long time, but keep on waiting. It will happen. I remember the 13-year battle for land in this church. And the church, we started praying for land the first day we started the church. And we prayed and we looked at hundreds of pieces over the next 13 years. And we had one failure after another and one failure after another and one fail and that piece fell through and that deal fell through and that deal fell through and that deal fell through.

And a lot of people got discouraged and a lot of people thought, well, we're never going to get land. But I never felt that way. Why? Because I knew that a delay was not a denial. This piece of land here in Lake Forest was not even on the map when Saddleback Church started because there was no such thing as the city of Santa Margarita. And there was no such thing as the city of Foothill Ranch. And nobody had even mapped or partitioned this piece off.

There was no Portola Parkway. El Toro Road was a two-lane road. There was no toll road. It it was in no man's land. Nobody even knew it. But God before the foundation of the earth had planned where Saddleback Church would have its first campus. >> Amen. >> He knew. And it was just a matter of time. And all of those things where we had the delays and the denials and the dead ends and all those things where we had one defeat after another, God was working on us.

And I had said all along, God's much more interested in building disciples than he is in building buildings. And so we went from one service to two to three to four to five to six. And I kept going, God, anytime now. You know, just soon not have to do 100 services a weekend. God knew and his timing is perfect. He's never early. He's never late. At the time I decided my words will come true. You can trust what I say. It will be a fact.

It may take a long time. Now, there over 7,000 promises in the Bible. When you're in the waiting room, that's a good time to memorize scripture. If you're in a waiting room right now, you're waiting on what's next, Lord. You're waiting on a new job. You're waiting on a new an answer to prayer. You're waiting on a doctor's report. Now is the time to memorize scripture. That's what you remember. What do you do? That's what you remember in the waiting room.

There are four things to do. Write these down. Four things to do in the waiting room. And just for fun, I put them in an acrostic just cuz I know you'd expect me to do that. So, w ai T. Wait. Four things you need to do when you're in the waiting room of life. The W stands for this. Write down the lessons I'm learning. This is extremely important to the building of your faith. When you're in the waiting room, the first thing you do is write down the lessons that you are learning because waiting is always the season to listen.

And waiting is always the season to learn. And when you're listening and learning, then you need to write it down. God has some things he wants to teach you before he answers your prayer. God has some things he wants you to learn before that seed that you're planting in daring faith sprouts. He wants to teach you some things. God is more interested in your character than your comfort. But you will forget the lessons that you learn in the waiting rooms of life if you don't write them down.

And you know what happens when you don't write them down? you forget him. And what what happens when you forget him? He has to take you through it again. That's no fun. That's unnecessary pain. Some of you have been through the same pain eight or nine times. Why don't you write down the lessons this time so you don't have to go through it for the 92nd time? You know, Moses led the children out of Egypt across the wilderness to the promised land.

It should have only taken you can walk that distance easily in a few weeks even with a large crowd. It took them 40 years. What in the world were they doing for 40 years walking around in a circle? God was giving them one test after another saying, "Will you trust me?" There are seven tests. And every time they'd fail a test, he'd say, "Another lap around the wilderness." And in that wilderness, they were not there by accident.

Waiting in the wilderness has a purpose. Some of you are in the wilderness right now. I want you to write this down. The way to the promised land is through the wilderness. You can't get to the promised land without going through the desert. And you've got to go through that waiting period. You've got to go through that desert. You got to go through that dry spell. You've got to go through that wilderness, waiting in the wilderness for a purpose.

The way to the promised land is in through the wilderness. And the lessons that you're learning in the wilderness, please write them down. The Bible tells this to Moses. Numbers 32 3:2. At the Lord's direction, Moses, notice God commanded him to do this. Moses kept a written record of their progress. Are you keeping a written record of your progress in the Christian life? Are you are you writing anything down? Keep a journal while you're waiting.

And here's what you do. You say, "Now, I'm not talking about a journal is different than a diary. A diary is about what you do. Today, I had a mocha frappuccino. Nobody cares." A journal, you don't write down what you do. A journal is anytime you learn something, you write that down. You write down the lesson. A diary is for events. A journal is for lessons. I have always learned in the waiting periods of life that little lessons lead to big successes.

Some of the tiniest lessons I've learned in dry periods, in depressing periods, in discouraging periods are the keys to big successes in my life. Little lessons lead to big successes. So you write them down. Deuteronomy 11:2 says this, "Remember what you have learned about the Lord through your experiences with him." As I said, if you don't remember, God has to take you there again. And that's painful. Now, here's a good prayer to pray.

Look up here on the screen. Psalm 119:33 is a good prayer to pray when you're in the wilderness. God, teach me the lessons for living so that I can stay the course. So, I don't wander around. Teach me the lessons for living so I can get through this with the minimum amount of time. I don't want to be here for 40 years. I don't want to be going in circles. Teach me the lessons for life so I can stay the course. When you're in the waiting period, you're between jobs, you're between goals, you're you don't know what's next, you say, "Teach me, Lord.

I want to learn the lessons." That's the W. Write down the lessons that I'm learning. The A in weight stands for this. This is really important. Act as though I already have it. Act as though I already have it. This is called faith. And when you have deposited a seed, a seed of finances like many have done with daring faith, a seed of talent in service, a seed of energy, a seed of reputation, when you when you've had a need and you planted a seed, what you do while you're waiting for that seed to grow is you act as though you already have it.

This is faith. Now, we typically when we're in the waiting rooms in the wildernesses of life, you know what we do? We don't do that. What we do is we wonder and we worry and we whine. That's what we do in the waiting room's life. First we wonder why Lord why? We wonder and then we worry HOW LORD HOW how are you going to do this? And then we whine when Lord when are you going to answer my prayer? So instead of wondering and worrying and whining, you need to learn to act as if you've already got it.

You act in faith. Here's how Jesus puts it. Mark 11:4, Jesus said, "I tell you, whenever whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours." Now, I want you to pay attention to this verse. Believe that you have received it and it will be yours. Do you notice the change in tense there? >> Yeah. >> Believe that you have received it. That's past tense. Past tense. Believe that you have received it.

And then he says, "And it will be yours." That's future tense. What in the world is Jesus saying? Believe that I've already got it in order to get it. That's exactly what he's saying. You said, 'Hang on here, Rick. Are you telling me I got to believe something is so even though it isn't so in order that it becomes so? Yep. That's called faith. When you thank God after you get the answer to your prayer, that's called gratitude.

When you thank God before you get the answer to your prayer, that's called faith. When you act as though you've already got it, then you'll get it. That's faith. Believe that you have received it. Past tense. and it will be yours present in. Let's go back to the pregnant woman. Every pregnant woman does this. What I've just talked about, she carries inside her body the promise of a baby. And she's getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

And even though she can't see that baby, she's never seen that baby, she knows it's there. She's confident that it's there. And she can feel that baby there. So, even though she's never seen the baby, she starts preparing in advance for the baby's arrival in faith. And first, she starts eating differently. She starts taking better care of her body. She starts sleeping differently. She starts going out and buying maternity clothes cuz she knows she's going to get bigger.

She starts stocking a nursery. They have showers. She gets clothes. She gets diapers. She gets all the paraphernalia, the changing tables and the rocking cribs and all of the all the kinds of stuff. And she's doing that in faith. They don't call it expecting for nothing. She's expecting a baby. She hadn't seen that baby, but she's acting as though it's already here. She doesn't want to wait and for the baby to be born and then go, hm, I probably ought to have some clothes for this little dikeke.

I probably ought to have some diapers, maybe some bottles, maybe maybe even a place for the baby to sleep. No, those things are already done in advance. She's preparing in faith because she's expecting. And she knows that that baby is coming. It's just a matter of time. And I once asked Kay when she was pregnant and one of our kids what it felt like in the last trimester. She said, "It's like you're at the top of Space Mountain and the only way out is down.

You know, you're going to go through that. There's no way out. It's not like, "I think I'll go back to the ticket and ask for a refund." No, you're going through the ride. And so, she she hasn't seen that baby, but she's expecting it. She's believing it in faith. And she'll wait as long as it takes until the child is delivered. She acts as though she's already got it. She starts preparing for that baby. [snorts] Now, let's just take this in a real practical way.

Let's say some of you are out of work right now and you're you're you're looking for a job and you're you're waiting for a job and you're maybe you're waiting on God to get a job and you've been praying, "God, I need a really good job." Okay, question. If you had a job, how would you act? start acting in that way right now. First place, if you had a job, would you uh lay around all day in your pajamas and not take a shower?

No. If you actually had a job, you would set an alarm and you would get up and you'd get ready and you'd put on work clothes and you get then that's what you need to be doing right now. You need to start acting like you've got the job. You don't wait till you get the job to act like you got job. There's no faith in that. You act in advance. You believe a thing is so even though it isn't so that it becomes so and you do it now.

And you set the alarm and you get the clothes and and and whatever you need to do. I want you to write this down. Waiting is not passivity. Waiting is not passivity. You do all you can to get ready. There is a difference between passively waiting in fear and apathy and expectantly waiting in faith where you take action. You get prepared and you act as though you already have it. [clears throat] God does this. Do do you know that that God goes to Abraham 25 years before he has a son and changes his name?

He says, "Your name's Abram, and I'm going to change it to Abraham." And Abraham says, "What's that mean?" Abraham means father of many nations. So for 25 years, Abraham, Abram changes his name and he's called Abraham. How do you like this? He walks into a bar. What's your name? Father of many nations. Oh, great. How many kids you got? None. How old are you? 100. Hm. Interesting. How'd you like to live with that? Look at this verse on the screen.

The Bible says in Romans 4:17, "God calls things that are not as though they were." And that's called faith. Everything God created, he spoke into existence. He calls things that are not as though they were. And he says,"Abraham, you're the father of great nation." He hadn't had any kids yet. He's speaking it into existence. He says to to to Gideon, "You're a mighty man of valor." That was the last thing Gideon was. He was a weakling and a coward.

He says to Peter, "You are a rock." Peter was Mr. Impulsive, Mr. Foot and mouth. He was anything but a rock. God speaks it into existence. And he says, "You do it the same way." He says, "Like I've made you a father of many nations." All right. Act as I already have got it. The I and wait is the third key you do while you're waiting on God. this imitate the habits that grow strong faith. I need to imitate the habits particularly of people of strong faith.

You can imitate people of strong faith and look at the habits that they do. Find their skills, find their patterns, find their habits and follow that. Imitate that to grow strong in your faith. In other words, use the time while you're waiting to develop personal maturity. Let me show you some verses. 1 Peter 1 6 and 7. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith, daring faith and patience, that's waiting, through faith and waiting, through faith and patience, who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

He says, "That's the kind of people you ought to be imitating when you're in the waiting room. We don't want you to be lazy. Don't sit around passively doing nothing. He says, "Imitate those who through faith and patience inherit have inherited what God has promised." Paul says it like this in Philippians 4:9. Keep on putting into practice all that you learned from me and heard from me and saw me doing. That's called imitation.

So when you're going through a period of waiting, you should look around and find a stronger Christian, a godly woman or a godly man and and see what they're doing and imitate their faith. The Bible talks about this multiple times. Talks about in Hebrews 13:7 and other places. Imitate their faith. We all learn best by models. That's why, you know, during Daring Faith, I've been giving you testimonies. I mean, even today, I passed out a another sheet that you can pick up on the way going out and one of the pages is just a list of testimonies.

Why? Because we grow in faith by reading the faith of others. You don't grow in faith by not hearing about other people's faith. But you do grow in faith when you read about other people's faith. And that's why we've been every week we've been giving you testimonies because the Bible says imitate the faith of those who've grown strong in the faith. Keep on putting into practice. Now I want you to write this down. This is very important.

Don't get anything else. Get this one. When you're in the waiting room of life, don't put my life on hold. Please write that down. Don't put my life on hold while I'm waiting for my big break in Hollywood. While I'm waiting for my ship to come in, while I'm waiting for an answer to prayer, while I'm waiting for the girl or the man of my dreams to show up, don't put your life on hold. Waiting is not inactivity. It is not idleness.

It is not laziness. It is not passivity. It is not apathy. Waiting is the time to develop habits and skills that you're going to use later on. Say it again. Waiting is the time you develop the habits and the skills that you're going to use later on. Many of you know the story about my year of depression. 1980 we started the church. At the end of 1980, I stood up to speak and I passed out while I was preaching. Fainted flat out.

And I went through 1981. I was depressed the whole year. And uh I uh you know my goal was not oh God build a great church. It was oh God get me through Sunday. Can I put one foot in front of the others? I'd go and I'd preach a service and I go home and get in bed. In that entire year of darkness and depression, God taught me habits and skills that prepared me to handle enormous amounts of stress that I would have never had if I hadn't gone through that waiting period.

And I learned in that year of down and discouragement and waiting to juggle more balls than you can possibly think of. And God was putting skills and habits in my life during the downtime. If you're going to lose, you want to lose in preeason, not at the Super Bowl. It's okay to have some early losses in life because that's when you can learn. Don't put your life on hold. Instead, imitate the habits that grow strong faith.

What are those habits? Ah, I'm glad you asked. Let me give you five. The Bible says there are five things you should keep on doing. Keep on, keep on, keep on, keep on. And that means even in the wilderness, even in the waiting period, you need to keep on doing these things. Number one, keep on praying. When you're in the waiting room, keep on praying. Matthew 7:7 says, "Keep on asking and you will be given what you ask for.

Keep on looking and you will find. Keep on knocking and the door will be open." That's actually the correct Greek because it's a participle. It's a continuation. It's a continuing uh uh verb that says, "Keep on doing it. Keep on asking. Keep on seeking. Keep on knocking and you will get your answer. Keep on praying." Number two, keep on serving. Never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord enthusiastically. This sharpens your skill.

You know, most of you guys know I I train pastors, and I I meet a lot of young pastors who they don't want to do the menial things in ministry, and they don't want to serve God in a small way. They only want to serve God in a big way. Well, you don't get to serve God in a big way unless you've served God in a small way first. If you're faithful in little things, then you'll be faithful in much. And and and and they want to say, I've had guys tell me this, actually use this phrase, I want a significant ministry.

And I said, here's what you do. Forget having a significant ministry, going to a significant ministry. Just make your ministry significant. Don't look for a significant ministry in life. Make your ministry significant. There are no great ways to serve God. There are only small ways to serve God done with a great heart. And that's true greatness. A and so you serve God with a great heart and you make the ministry service successful.

Why do I say keep on serving? Because that's another meaning of the word wait. Wait doesn't just mean expect something to happen that hasn't happened yet. Wait also means to serve. Have you ever had a waiter at your table? Why do they call that guy the waiter? You're the one who's waiting. You're waiting on the food. Okay, you're waiting on him, not he's waiting on you. Well, it's two different meanings. When you say, "I'm waiting for something to happen." That's what you're doing.

But wait also means to serve. And that's why servers are called waiters. And ladies in waiting are women who serve the queen. Because the word wait doesn't just mean to expect. It also means to serve. And when you're in the waiting room in life, that's a good time to practice serving. To find a ministry and just get involved. Don't sit around doing nothing, waiting for your ship to come in. Get out there and just start serving.

Number three, keep on praying, keep on serving. Number three, this is in the scripture, keep on going to small group. Keep on going to small group. Hebrews 10:25 says this, don't give up your habit. Notice small group is a habit. Don't give up your habit of meeting with other believers. Instead, keep on encouraging each other. Some of you got in a daring faith small group and you did it for all six, seven weeks and now you go, "Okay, well that was good.

Now I'm going to just drop out of group." That's dumb. Keep on going to small group. If you want to change groups, fine. You don't like the people you're in, I give you permission to change. Okay? Just say, "I need a different night." Fine. you know, are you you know, I'll go start a new group, whatever. Like that you you know, it's like if you're in a group and you didn't really like it, it's like, well, it's like a doctor.

You don't like your doctor, you say, I'm never going to go to another doctor. No, you just find another one. You go to a restaurant, you have a bad meal. I I'm going to give up eating. That's stupid. No, you just go to another restaurant. If your if your group didn't meet your needs, congratulations. You learned some love to love people. Maybe it were difficult for you to love. Get in another group. But whatever you do, keep on going small group.

Don't give up the habit. Keep on. Number four, keep on sewing. Ecclesiastes 11:6 says this, "Keep on sewing your seed, for you never know which ones will grow. Perhaps they all will." And you've sewn a seed in daring faith. But daring faith is actually going to start now for the next three years. And we're going to be sewing for the next three years. Keep on sewing your seed. You never know which one will grow. Perhaps they all will.

And then number five, keep on believing. Keep on believing. The Bible says you must keep on believing the things you have been taught. You know they are true. The point is stay active. You The big point I'm trying to make is that waiting is not passivity. God cannot steer a parked car. I'm waiting, God. Well, turn on the ignition and just start driving. Where? Anywhere. God can direct a car that's moving. He cannot direct a car that's stalled.

Get involved in a ministry. Get involved in service. Get involved in a small group. Do the things that you know you could be doing, developing skills and habits now to prepare so that when that baby arrives, you're not caught off guard. The delivery is a joy. Write down the lessons. Act as though I already have it. Imitate the habits to grow strong faith. And the T we learn from scripture in the waiting rooms of life is to trust God instead of panicking.

Trust God instead of panicking. Now, there's a couple facts that you can trust about God. One, God is never in a hurry. You can know that for sure. And number two, God is never late. You can know that for sure. God's timing is always perfect. Now, what happens in those times where it appears that God is late? In the times where it appears God is late, God is getting you ready for a miracle. I could give you so many examples of this in scripture.

For instance, Mary and Martha in the Bible had a brother named Lazarus. Lazarus was one of Jesus best friends. Lazarus got deathly sick and he lived in a city called Bethany. Bethany was just a few miles from where Jesus was, maybe 3, four miles. It's just out of town, out of Jerusalem. And they sent word to Jesus, "Jesus, can you come over to our house in Bethany? Your best friend Lazarus is sick. He's deathly ill. And it takes Jesus three days to go about five miles.

What's going on here? When Jesus finally gets there, he could have easily got there in a in an hour or two. It takes him 3 days to go a few miles to see his best friend who's dying. And when he gets there, they say, "Too late, Jesus. He's already dead. We've wrapped him up and we've buried him in a tomb. You're too late. Sorry, you're a little late. You missed the timing on your best friend." Well, Jesus wasn't late because Jesus had already in his mind what he was going to do.

His goal was not to heal Lazarus. His goal was to raise him from the dead. His goal was not to just make him well. His goal was to do a miracle of astronomical proportions. Sometimes God lets a situation get so bad only a miracle will do. Don't give up your faith. Hold on. Hang on. Do the things I've just taught you how to do because you're getting ready for a miracle. Jesus walks up the tomb, says, "Roll the stone away." They roll the stone away and he says, "Uh, Lazarus, come forth." Now, I'm glad he said, "Lazar," because if he just said, "Come forth," every dead person in saring is going to come out at that point.

But he calls him by name, Lazarus, come forth. He comes out, and it's interesting when he walks up to the tomb, he says, "Father," they overheard him praying this. "Father, I thank you that you've already heard me. Father, I thank you that you've already heard me. And I'm even saying this just for the people around me. He already knew what he's going to do. God already knows what he's going to do in your life next month, next year, and next decade.

And his plan for you is good. And you need to trust him. And you need to relax. And when you're in the waiting room, you need to just say, "Okay, he's not early. He's not late. He's always on time. and I will trust God and I will do these things. I'll write down the lessons and I'll act as though it's already happened and I'm going to uh keep on doing the habits. I'll keep on sewing and I'll keep on sharing and I'll keep on serving and I'll keep on believing.

I'll keep on going to small group and I'll keep on praying because God's timing is perfect. He's not too late. I'll close with this. Many years ago in my backyard, I planted bamboo around our pool area. I'm kind of a student of bamboos. Some bamboos grow very very slow and some grow very fast and some grow slow slow and then fast. Here's how you take a how you grow a typical piece of bamboo. You cut a piece of bamboo off like this and you cut it in half and you stick it in the ground and you water it for a year and nothing happens.

Nothing. And you water it for the second year, the bamboo, and nothing happens. and you water it for the third year and nothing happens. And you water it for the fourth and the fifth year and nothing happens. And you fertilize it and on the sixth year you water it and nothing happens. And on the seventh year it sprouts. But once it sprouts it takes off. Some bamboo can grow 1 meter or 3 feet in 24 hours. Some bamboo can grow to 9 ft in about 4 days.

It just when it takes off, it takes off. I tell pastors, some of you were in bamboo churches [laughter] and you're in a little church and you've been watering it and watering it and watering it and watering and water and about year six, you say, "I give up. This isn't going to work." And you leave and the seventh guy comes in on the seventh year and it sprouts and he gets all the credit. But you did all the cultivating.

Your life is like bamboo. And you may have been thinking, I have been working on this and working on this and working on this. And I have been I have been studying the Bible. I have been serving. I have been tithing. I have been believing. I have been planting seeds. You may be in year six. Don't give up. Because when that thing sprouts, it could grow nine feet in about three days and it just takes off and you go, "Whoa, what just happened?" God just did what he wanted to do.

Last verse on the screen. Galatians 6:9. So let us not get tired of doing what is right. For after a while, at the right time, we will reap a harvest of blessing. But here's the condition. If we don't get discouraged and give up, I will not, as your pastor, let you give up. I will beat you. I'm just giving up. I'm giving up on God and I'm giving up on the Bible and I'm giving up a small group and I'm giving up a tither.

Then I'm coming to your house and I'll take you. I say you are in year three of the bamboo story. You have no idea what you're going to I am so glad that in the darker days of my life I did not give up on God. But I'm even more glad I'm more glad that he didn't give up on me. He knew what he was going to do in my life and I didn't and I had no idea. But during the dark days, I was learning the skills and I kept on praying and I kept on giving and I kept on serving and I kept on believing and I kept on trusting and the bamboo sprouted.

Psalm 56:3. Even when I'm afraid, even when I'm afraid, I will trust you. That's daring faith. Even when I'm afraid, I will trust you. That's daring faith. Now, listen. Some of you think you've been waiting on God, and God is waiting on you. What you have been thinking is, I'm waiting on God. But what you're really thinking is, I'm waiting for the fear to go away and then I'll do it. I'm going to wait for the fear to go away and then I'll make this commitment.

I'm going to wait for the fear to go away and then I'll do go after my dream. I'm going to wait for the fear to go away and then I'll I'll start tithing or give to daring faith. I'm going to wait this fear go away and then I'll whatever you got on your mind. Let me tell you a little secret. It's not going away. It's not going away. God's not going to take that fear away. The only way you get through that fear is you must move against it.

You must move through it. You must move against it. You must do the thing you fear the most. It's not going to go away ever until you move against it. And you do the thing that you're anxious, you're scared, you're worried about doing. And you step out on faith. And when you jump out into the air, you're going to find you land safe in the arms of God. Let's bow our heads. Would you pray this prayer? Dear God, I realize that the waiting room I'm in, maybe you're waiting on me to demonstrate faith and I've been afraid to trust you.

I've been afraid to commit to you. I've been afraid to step out in faith. And the waiting room is really one of my own making. And in some sense, I've put my life on hold because of the fear, but no more. Because I realize the fear is not going to go away by me just hoping it goes away. And so I commit myself unreservedly to you. And even when I am afraid, I will trust in you. And I'm going to keep on praying and keep on serving, keep on going to my small group, keep on sewing, keep on believing.

I'm going to write down the lessons that I'm learning. I'm going to act as though I've already got that answer to prayer. And like the the expectant mother, I'm going to start preparing by learning the habits, learning the skills, and trusting you instead of panicking. If you've never opened your life to Jesus Christ, say, "Jesus Christ, please come into my life right now and make yourself real to me, I want to learn to love you and trust you.

And I want to dare to wait on you and trust that your timing is perfect." And I ask this humbly in Jesus name. Amen.