DARING TO WAIT ON GOD
Daring Faith: The Key To Miracles
Part 4 October 4, 2015
Pastor Rick 1 Samuel 13:5-13 Matthew 14:25-33
How many of you have ever gotten into trouble simply because you didn’t wait. If you had waited just a little bit longer you would not have gone to that place, you would have avoided that person, you would have kept your integrity, you would still be a virgin, you would not have made that promise, or you would not have signed that contract. Waiting can be a good thing.
We have three issues on the ballot this election, and they are all there because someone didn’t want to wait. Issue one is one about waiting to be fair. Have you ever wondered why there is about and equal number of democrats and republicans in Ohio but with 16 Delegates to Congress, 12 are Republican and 4 are Democrats? It is because of how people draw the districts. In Ohio the party in power draws the boundaries. Notice how the boundaries are drawn.
Issue one would require a bipartisan group to draw the boundaries every 10 years and would forbid drawing boundaries just to favor one political group. The last time the Democrats had power under Gov. Strickland, they could not wait to have the lines redrawn to favor them, so they rejected a bipartisan group being formed back then. Unfortunately for them, they did not see the Republicans being swept back in power in the state, and they got to redraw the districts favoring them. This picture is the result We need to vote yes to Issue 1 to bring fairness and equal representation to our state government.
Issue 2 is about not waiting to give everybody a fair chance in making money. Issue 2 is about not using the State Constitution to give businesses a monopoly to run their businesses and to keep all other competition out. We saw this with the casinos. Only the private companies approved in the state constitution can operate casinos. With all the money they were making, the casinos were sending law enforcement agencies into the small stores that had casino type games in them threatening the owners with arrest and confiscating their machines. Businesses should not be given monopolies in which they get to set their own prices. We recently saw where one drug company went from selling the pill Daraprim from $13.50 a tablet to $750 overnight. We’re talking about a life-saving people to fight off a deadly infection. That’s what happens with monopolies. If they are the only ones to make something, they can charge whatever they want We need to vote yes to Issue 2 and level the playing field for everyone who wants to engage in a business to be able to do so.
Issue 3 is about not waiting for the best way to change the drug laws. Issue 3 is the marijuana proposal to legalize the use of marijuana. The group behind it wants it written in the Constitution that they will be the only group legalized to grow the marijuana for sell. If they can’t keep up with the demand, then other businesses may get a piece of the action. It can only be grown in 10 sites and not a single one is in Cuyahoga County. Ordinary citizens can grow small amounts for their own personal use but they can’t sell it. They do need a $50 permit to grow it out of sight. In Colorado, pot sells for $200 an ounce. You mean to tell me I can grow something that’s worth that much money, but I won’t be tempted to sell it.
You are going to hear a lot of information on jobs being created, taxes being paid, and criminal records being removed. We all know our communities will be heavily targeted for sale and consumption. If we know how to grow the stuff, shouldn’t we be able to grow it, distribute it, and sell it to ourselves. How many of the new growing plants will provide jobs in our communities- None of them. Loraine and Summit County are the closest sites. In Colorado, an ounce sells for $200. Don’t you think our young people are going to still be on the corners selling drugs. The truth is, some of our seniors will be tempted to grow the stuff and sell it.
Only this time they will have the police and the Ohio Marijuana Cartel seeking to put them out of business. It will still be a felony to possess more than 8 ounces of the drug. Our youth will still be going to jail in record numbers but probably for the harder drugs like cocaine and heroin. Since all these tax dollars are going to come in, is any of it going to be directed to providing jobs for inner city youth, to keep them out of the now legal but still illegal drug scene. Our society is so into the rights of the individuals at the expense of everybody else, that we can’t see how we are being exploited by bad laws.
Once the Marijuana Cartel is written in the Ohio Constitution, it will be impossible to take them out with the money they have. The regulation of the industry will not be by elected officials but by people appointed by the governor. In other words, we cannot vote them out. We need to take another look at our drug laws. This issue puts the greed of the investors over the welfare of the people. Retail store owners would have to pay a license fee of $10,000 each year to sell the drug. An unlimited number of licenses would be available to manufacture marijuana candies, lotions, and other products. Manufacturers would have to pay a $25,000 annual fee. Now we have some of you going to jail for selling marijuana cookies without paying for a license. You should vote no on Issue three.
The reality is, most people are not going to hear what I have said, and they will not wait for what’s best for everybody. We have become a society in confusion because we no longer have any moral anchors. People want to eradicate the 10 commandments out of every public place. Yet where else do you learn things like, you shall not kill, you should not steal, you should not lie and deceive, you should honor your parents, you should be faithful to your husband or wife, and you should not lust after things that belong to someone else. If we do not teach this, why are we shocked when people naturally do what comes naturally to them.
We think we should have what we want and have it now. What was the shooter after in Cleveland Thursday night which left a six month old girl dead in yet another drive by shooting. This was the third killing of a child in Cleveland in 3 months. What was the Oregon shooter after in taking the lives of those college students. We see that evil has unleashed itself upon us as a nation. Where there are no absolute values, sin quickly spreads in the hearts of people to do evil.
The Bible tells us In 2 Timothy 3 that as we approach the last days, people will be without love, unforgiving, and brutal. We need to get the message of the power of Jesus Christ to change hearts and lives to as many people as possible. Jesus offers everybody the opportunity to have a life of significance without having to kill anybody.
We as believers cannot allow ourselves to fall prey to the belief that I must have it now. Our technology makes us everything should happen to us instantly. Forget learning how to cook, we have the microwave. Forget learning how to do a lot of stuff, we have Siri and google to do it all for us. Forget about making real friends. Lots of people will be friend us if we just put enough sexy pictures on our facebook page, or share enough intimate things about ourselves or gossip about others. We can become instant celebrities with followers. We can create our own Jerry Springer drama instantly.
God is seeking to raise up a group of people who are willing to find true joy, true happiness, and true significance in Him. I know the temptation is to try to soar to the top as quickly as possible and often times some variation of some sin can get you there in a hurry, but you might not like the price you have to pay in the long run. God has given us a promise in Isaiah 40: Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
Some of you are waiting on God right now. 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 on God for a husband or wife. You’re waiting for God to remove a pain or heal a relationship . You’ve been praying and nothing seems to be happening. That does not mean that nothing is happening. You may be having the opportunity presented to you to see God do a miracle in your life. Sometimes God has to work on us, before God works on the solution. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 3:11 God does everything just right and on time, but people can never completely understand what he is doing.
Daring faith means that sometimes you have to continue to wait upon the Lord, even when it seems like God is not going to come through. King Saul was in a tense situation. He had been told, wait 7 days in Gilgal for Samuel to arrive so that he can offer the sacrifice, before the men go into battle. That seemed easy when the instructions were given. Sometimes we start out with the best of intentions, but we are not fully committed to God no matter what. Saul was a 90% believer. He was willing to obey God up to 90% of the time. How many of you know Jesus did not say, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself 90% of the time? Yet how many of us can identify some areas we know we are less than what God is calling us to, and yet we are content in 10% area of disobedience.
King Saul had a newly formed army. His enemy the Philistines were very powerful and established. They came to the area for the battle with 3000 chariots, six thousand charioteers, and more soldiers than you can count. Saul’s men became afraid when they saw how many men they were up against. During that 7 day period, men started sneaking away from Saul’s camp. Saul kept thinking, “Samuel, you have got to hurry up and get here or I might have to take matters in my own hands.”
Have you ever thought, “ I just might have to take matters in my own hand to solve this problem.” Saul wanted God’s blessing, because he knew, the only way he stood a chance against the Philistines was if God came to help them. He knew God’s blessings was going to come through Samuel the Priest, offering the sacrifices to God. Saul’s knew his men were saying, “it will be seven days tomorrow, if Samuel is not here, I’m outta here.”
Well the 7th day came and Samuel had not arrived. Some of the men started packing up and moving out. Saul is getting more nervous. He wants God’s blessings and favor, he wants a miracle from God, but he convinces himself, the only way to get it is to disobey God directly. How many of us have thought the same thing. God, I know you told me not to do this, but I’m going to do it anyways and then I want your blessing upon the consequences. I just feel as though I have waited long enough for you to do something, and you didn’t so I’m going to. How many of you know that maybe God did not do something, because God loves us too much to do it at this moment? Sometimes God is allowing us to discover how great or how weak our love for Him truly is? Jesus is the one who says, “if you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
Saul often thought that he could by God’s blessings with a sacrifice. He goes ahead and offers the sacrifice to God which he was not allowed to offer because he was not a priest. But Saul was convinced this rule did not apply to him, and he was doing the right thing. Let me ask you this. Have you ever been tempted to do some sin and you thought about it and then you find out that another Christian had committed the exact same sin, but now it seems terrible that a Christian could do such a thing. You even ask what was wrong with that person.
Instead of getting the praise and blessing from God that he had planned on getting, Saul discovered he had miserably failed the test that God had set up for him. Saul had a chance at getting a miracle, but because he was not Daring enough to wait on God, he is going to miss out on a huge blessing God had in store for him.
The tragedy is that Saul was so close to almost having it. He had waited the seven days, but he wasn’t willing to wait through the seventh day. Sometimes you may feel like, I can’t handle this another day. That’s the day, you need to handle it the most, because your miracle may lie on just the other side of that day. In our New Testament reading, Peter was actually walking on water towards Jesus. The circumstances around him changed, and he forgot, he was walking because of the command of Jesus, not because everything around him was going perfectly. He was just a few feet away from Jesus, when he decided to take matters in his own hands by walking in his own strength only to have to cry out,” Lord save me.” Jesus never had any intention of letting Peter drown even in the midst of the raging waves.
You may be going through an intense period of temptation. One of the greatest lies of the enemy is that, the temptation is always going to be as strong as it is right now. That’s not true. God will not allow Satan to keep it at that level of intensity. If you hold firm, it will decrease. If you give in to it, it will be harder the next time to say no to it. Remember, the temptation is not going to deliver to you, what it is promising you.
All that stood between Saul and a possible lasting dynasty was about 1 hours or less. He went ahead and offered the sacrifice and oops. Just as he finished offering it, Samuel arrived. Have you ever had an oops moment where you wish, you had been Daring Enough To Wait On God just a little longer.
When Samuel asked Saul, what he had done, Saul blamed everybody he could. What had happened was my soldiers were deserting me, you didn’t get here on time, the Philistine army was getting ready to attack, and nobody had sought God’s favor with an offering. Well naturally I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering. Saul saw himself as a hero who had come through to save the day.
Samuel said, “the bottom line is this, You did not obey the command God had given you, if you had, your family would have had a long history of kings, but instead God has already chosen somebody else to take your place.”
Just think, Saul lost his battle in his mind because of fear. Fear makes us see a situation a lot worse than it really is. Even if Saul had lost another 100 men by waiting a little longer for Saul it would not have mattered. They odds were no more ridiculous than before. Saul could never allow himself to believe that God loved him and wanted the best for his life. When we reject a clear command from God, we simply do not believe that God wants what is best for us.
God never would have sent Jesus Christ to die for us and raise Him from the dead for us, if God did not have in mind what is best for us. We forget that we live in a fallen world and that everything is not going to go our way. All of our prayers are not going to be met with a resounding yes from God. Sometimes even our good prayers, can be hindrances to what God wants to work in our lives.
But in our memory verse of two weeks ago, we said, “We know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose.” The sooner we accept that God is more interested in our character than in our comfort, the sooner we will Dare To Wait on God for our deliverance.
One of the themes that has come up again and again in our Daring Faith Devotional has been the idea of planting and reaping. There is a natural delay between the time you plant a tomato seed and the time you get to cut a tomato to go on top of your hamburger. After the seed has been planted, there are forces of you over which you have no control, but you have faith that one day that seed is going to produce not just one tomato but several tomatoes. In the end, it does just that.
We have planted the seeds for our 500 Campaign. Each one of us was suppose to believe God for a certain number of people to bring into the life of the church. My goal was four people. I was going to pass out an average of seven cards per week with an invitation to come to church. I have planted at least 200 seeds. Some of you have probably planted even more seeds and some of you have worked harder and have been praying more for the people you have believed God for. The interesting thing is our attendance average has been down. But that has been due more to our members not attending church, than with the newcomers and guests we have had coming to our church.
Instead of becoming discouraged, we are daring to wait on God to begin producing the crop that has been planted since the beginning of the year. If you have not sown your seed for The 500 Campaign into the life of someone else, then it’s time for you to do so. God wants you to win at least one. If you’ve been doing your part, and haven’t seen your seed come to harvest yet, keep on planting and maybe even go back and pour a little water on it.
God can use the smallest of activities to help in this process. One day I was out picking up paper around the church. I didn’t know Cindy was passing by on a bus. She told a fellow passenger, there is my pastor picking up paper. They said that’s your pastor. Cindy said yes, gave them both a card and invited them to come to church. A seed was sown. God had Cindy and I in a partnership relationship with his plan for us that day with neither of us realizing it. You are a link in God’s plan to help build this church. Don’t miss the opportunity.
We launched our 90 Day Challenge a couple of weeks ago. We asked those of you who were not tithing to either begin to tithe or to increase your giving by 20% for 90 days. We asked those of you who are tithing to increase your giving by 10%. Pastor Toby and I have already received a blessing from our sowing in the 90 Day Challenge, in that something we were going to purchase at $19,000 in July, we ended up finding a better deal on for $12,600. That was a $6400 blessing right after our acceptance of the 90 Day challenge. God is willing to pour things into our lives, if we are willing to wait for God to do things in His timing.
We can’t but help be encouraged by the number of you who have already accepted the 90 day challenge. Some of you, this is your first Sunday with a check since the challenge was issued. We want you to give your testimonies to us of how God has come through for you. This month will be our final preparation month for the launch of our new service times at 8:15, 10:45 and 12:30. This will be something that none of us have done before, so it means all of us will be making adjustments and changes, because we want to do all we can in impacting our communities for Christ. We want to do whatever it takes to win people for Jesus Christ.
Our society does not realize it, but it actually needs the church and the message of the gospel more than ever. Filling up our prisons is not the answer to a safer community. Filling people with the power of the Holy Spirit is. When Jesus takes a thief off the street, not only are the streets safer, a child may start getting the love of a father, a mother regains a lost son or daughter, a church finds a new worker, a school inherits someone who now wants an education and a community discovers the great potential inside of a person that it had wanted to lock up and throw away the key. God is the key to the happiness that so many people want. Unfortunately too many people have this false view of God, that God wants them to suffer and go through life discouraged so that He can punish them at the end.
Nothing can be further from the truth. God loves you so much and wants more for you than you actually wants for yourself. No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him.
But the key is a willingness to wait on God, until God says, now is the time, here are the means, now go through the door with my blessing. Remember your verse, “ I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
“God does everything just right and on time, but people can never completely understand what he is doing.” Ecclesiastes 3:11b (NCV)
Jesus’ name. Amen.
