So yeah, my name is Cedric Evans. I do the young
adults ministry here, and aside from that, I
am usually inside the tech booth on every other
Sunday, but today I am very blessed with the
opportunity to speak to all of your lovely smiling
faces. So I was thinking about what to talk about,
and I had some ideas, and In my opinion, they
were good, but I was just like, Lord, what are
you really calling me to talk about? And then
I was on Instagram, where you get all good inspiration
from. And as I was going through social media,
I came across just a few stories. And I was like,
that's it. Wait on the Lord. I didn't get the
inspiration from Instagram. The stories led me
to what I'm eventually talking about. So within
the past few weeks, it's been extremely eventful.
A lot of both good things and bad things going
on. Good thing, the Israeli hostages were released.
And so, yeah, yeah, praise the Lord for that.
Something that, I mean, I know they've been praying
about it. We've been praying about it. So we're
just thankful that, you know, many of them were
able to make it back home. Good thing. A little
bit of a bad thing. Well, not a little bit. A
lot of a bad thing is that Christians are being
persecuted in, I believe, Nigeria. And I think
Sudan as well. But Christians are being heavily
persecuted in Nigeria right now. And it's just
terrible. I saw a video of a pastor standing
in a large trench and grave for all the dead
Christians. And he's calling this out. He's like,
look at what they're hiding from you guys. Look
at what they're hiding. Another big con that
happened is the passing or assassination of Charlie
Kirk. And another terrible thing was the three
times failed rapture predictions. Now, the rapture
predictions have been interesting because I've
made a lot of jokes about them in young adults,
more than I probably should have. But then I'm
also like, why? Why? That does so much damage
both internally and externally to the body of
Christ. So with the event of Charlie Kirk's assassination,
I saw story after story, we're ready for a civil
war, we're ready for a civil war, we're ready
to fight, riot, all of that stuff. And then I
thought, the Civil War in America was the bloodiest
historical battle amongst America. You're ready
for part two of that? And then with the rapture
predictions and people falling for that. And
getting sucked into this lie is just constantly
believing that, no, it happened, it's going to
happen this time. No, actually next week. No,
the week after. And I'm praying about this. I'm
like, Lord, why is this happening? Why are people
in this state of we're ready to take action,
we're ready to do it ourselves, we're ready to
affect change and all of... the just ungodliness
that in our eyes and do something about this,
even if it means, you know, strong violence.
But then also, why are people falling for all
these failed rapture predictions? Three times
it's failed. People are still falling for them.
Why are people just, you know, ready to say,
Lord, take us now. Let's go. From both of these
reactions to both of these events, I believe
there is something that we're lacking in America
and just across the world, which is this idea
of waiting on the Lord. This idea of, Lord, at
your time. when you're ready to move, when you
are ready to come, when you are going to be the
one to say now, or when you are going to be the
one to affect action in this area. There's this
feeling of impatience, and that's what we're
going to get into today. Oftentimes when we think
of waiting on the Lord or waiting in general,
when we think about waiting, it is a passive
experience. Think about when you're warming up
your hot pockets late at night when you should
just be going to sleep. This is you, you just
put it in the microwave, hit two minutes or whatever,
and you walk away, scroll on Instagram, look
at the dog or something like that. You're not
doing anything that is in relation to the food
being warmed up in the microwave. It's a passive
experience while we are waiting for the food.
My argument is, scripturally speaking, we're
going to see that waiting on the Lord is anything...
but passive. That is a very intentional thing
that we have to do day in and day out, from just
sitting there to actually doing something while
we are saying, Lord, until you return or until
you call me home, I'm going to wait on you. I'm
going to do X, Y, and Z as I wait on you. So
Psalm 37, starting at verse 7. Be silent before
the Lord and wait expectantly for him. Do not
be agitated by one who prospers in his way, by
the person who carries out evil plans. Now, the
word for wait expectantly is a phrase. It's one
word here in the Hebrew language. It is kul.
Cool is often more times translated as whirl
or to spin or dance or writhe or to be in anguish.
Cool is this word. What's also interesting is
this is the only time where cool is translated
as wait expectantly in the Old Testament. So
I'm wondering, I'm like, okay, why is cool translated
in this way? And as I'm reading and I'm studying,
cool is really this idea of you're in anguish
while you're waiting. So now think way back in
the day in ye olde ancient times to when we had
DVD players. So it was ancient for me. Remember
when you would have a DVD player going and then
it would go idle and you would have the logo
bouncing around? What was the thing that we all
did? We were all hoping it would perfectly land
in the corner of the TV screen. At least that's
what I was doing. I was a very easily entertained
child. So I was hoping that it would very perfectly
go right in the center. But frequently it would...
get really close, then it would bounce off one
edge, hit the other edge, and go away. And every
time, I mean, I was staring at this thing for
too long, and every time I'm looking at this,
I'm like, oh, come on, just get in there, just
right there, you're going to get it, you're going
to get it. And then it bounces off. I'm like,
oh. And I would get more and more, you know,
worked up over this because I just wanted to
go right in. and then I could actually start
the movie. But this is this idea of cool. It's
you're feeling this sense of, like, why won't
it just do the thing you want it to do? And this
is cool, but in the context of why we are waiting
expectantly on the Lord, it's so much more than
that. Because The context is the psalmist is
feeling this way because of the latter half of
the verse, as it says, do not be agitated by
one who prospers in his way, by the person who
carries out evil plans. Now, what's interesting
is one who prospers in his way, right? This is
him saying, This is the one who says, this is
the right and good thing for me to do. As Christians
and believers of Christ, we know that our ways
really are not that good. One of my favorite
verses or passages in the Bible is the book of
Judges, specifically how it ends. Now, it ends
after the Israelites, they kind of fight with
each other for a little bit, and then they fight
with some other people, and they were getting
into idolatry, and they were just doing all sorts
of bad things. And then it ends, they were doing
all these sorts of bad things because they weren't
following God. And towards the end of the book
of Judges, it says that they did what they thought
was good. and they did not have a king in that
day. What they should have been doing, as we
know, is that they should have made God their
king and been following his ways, because their
ways led to a lot of ungodliness, idolatry, and
just senseless violence. And this is our ways
without God. Do not be agitated by one who prospers
in his ways. And then it goes on, by the person
who carries out evil plans. Now, this word agitated
in the Hebrew is charda, charda, and singular.
I just had to try to pronounce it more closely.
So charda is the word used for agitated here,
and it means to burn with anger or become furious.
This verse is painting a picture of someone who
is sitting there. They're watching all the ungodliness
go on around them. They're watching all the lawlessness
and sin go on around them. They're watching all
these cheats, liars, and thieves get ahead in
life. They're seeing all of this, and they're
starting to say, what's up with that? They're
starting to feel cool, and they're like, what's
going on? Something is wrong here. Something
needs to happen. We need to do something about
this. And then God steps in and says, hey, just
wait on the Lord. Just wait on me. Don't be agitated.
I know they're doing wrong. I know they're doing
what they shouldn't be doing. I know they're
doing all of this that's getting at you. Don't
be agitated. Don't burn with anger. Don't bubble
up with rage. Wait on the Lord. And this is the
first active process of waiting on the Lord.
It's this continual denial of letting yourself
bubble up and over with rage when we're seeing
all of this ungodliness. all of this lawlessness,
all of this sin go on around us, and it feels
like no one's doing anything about it. So we're
thinking to ourselves, oh, we just need to do
something. This is the first active part of waiting
on the Lord. This is what he says in verse 8
through 9 of Psalm 37. Refrain from anger and
give up your rage. Do not be agitated. It can
only bring harm. For evildoers will be destroyed,
but those who put their hope in the Lord will
inherit the land. This is why God says, refrain
from anger. It's not that God doesn't want us
to do anything about it. It's not that God doesn't
want us to go out and try to be the salt and
light of the earth. It's not that God doesn't
want us to try to push back against whatever
darkness and evil is going on. Quite the contrary.
I think we could argue from Old and New Testament,
God wants us to be involved and wants us to,
you know, sort of hold the line, if you will.
But specifically here, it is do not act enraged
towards the situation. Why? Because you will
bring harm on the situation. How many times can
we all look back at something in our own lives
or in someone close to us, and we think to ourselves,
yeah, I'm going to do something, and then we
get involved in the situation. And somehow, because
we thought we were great, it actually ends up
getting even worse than before. I remember there
was a time where I had a leak underneath my sink,
and plumbing is not my strong suit. So I had
a leak underneath the sink. I tried to, you know,
Mickey Mouse it and do whatever I could, and
then the hole got bigger, and I was like, oh.
About time to call a professional. So that was
me bringing more harm to the situation. Now,
in the context of cool and harder, it is we're
getting agitated, we're getting frustrated, we're
feeling this anguish, and then we go do something
in that frustration, in that anger, and we bring
more harm to the situation. But that's not what
God wants. God isn't in the business of punishing
just for the sake of punishing. It's always just
with him. When people were talking about civil
war, we're ready to fight back, push back against
those who did this. When they're talking about
this, it's important to... really recognize,
would that actually help the country? Would that
actually add justice to the situation of what's
going on, or would it only bring more harm to
the situation? Oftentimes, when we think about
just getting into this righteous mode, such as
a civil war, we think it's going to go so well
for us. Yet no one stops and takes a moment to
think, but what if my friends and family died
because of this? No one ever, very rarely do
we think about how many things could actually
go wrong. But this is why God says refrain from
anger. Again, this isn't saying don't be involved.
This isn't saying don't try to affect change.
It is don't act in your rage against this thing,
lest we bring more harm to the situation. Practically
speaking, for whatever issues that may be plaguing
us, As bad as it may be, before following through
on whatever action we may think we need to take,
before saying, all right, we ride at dawn, before
doing any of that, it's worth asking ourselves,
am I acting from a place of rage? Am I intending
to bring more harm? Would this bring more harm
to the situation? Or is this going to actually
bring justice to the situation? Is this going
to actually be something that God is saying,
yes, do exactly that? Now, what's also interesting
in verse 9 is the word for hope here. Now, just
to reread part of it. for evildoers will be destroyed,
but those who put their hope in the Lord will
inherit the land. Now, this word for hope, in
some translations, if you have a ESV version
or an amplified version, it might read, those
who wait on the Lord. Now, this word is kava.
And personally, I just love doing, you know,
word studies and stuff. I do that all the time
in young adults. I have a lot of fun with it.
What's interesting about this word here, kava,
is sometimes it's used hope, other times it's
wait. The times in which it's used as wait in
the Lord often are synonymous to hope in the
Lord, hoping in Him. Chava simply means to hope
or wait expectantly, as in the thing you know
or believe you are waiting in, you know for certain
that will come to pass. Chava, I am waiting on
the Lord. Why? Because I know he's going to come
to pass. Chava, I am waiting on his promises.
Why? I know they're going to happen. I know he's
going to keep them. It leads to the situation
that we can use Kava to lean on him as an aid
as we wait for him. So Psalm 130, verses 5 through
8. I wait for the Lord. I wait and put my hope
in his word. I wait for the Lord more than watchmen
for the morning. more than watchmen for the morning.
Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for there
is faithful love with the Lord, and with him
his redemption is in abundance. For there is
faithful love with the Lord, and with him is
redemption in abundance. And he will redeem Israel
from all its iniquities. Kava is the word that
is used here for I wait for the Lord, I wait
and put my hope in his word. That's where we
see kava. And it points to the fact that it is
used here pointing to having faith in God as
a confident belief to his promises, that his
promises are going to be kept, his promises are
going to come to pass, that he is going to follow
through. Now, backstory for Psalm 130. This is
one of the songs of ascent. If you don't know
what a song of ascent is, these are one of the
few songs that the Israelites would sing as they
were ascending up to Jerusalem. They would go
up to Jerusalem, and they would sing one of these
songs of ascent when they were especially going
for Passover. Feast of Weeks, and Feast of Tabernacles.
Each of these feasts dealt with sin in some way
or another, where they got to offer sacrifices
for God to take care of their sin and iniquity,
and so on. This is what they would sing, and
it was them saying, you know what? God's going
to deal with my sin. As they're going up to Jerusalem
for one of these three great feasts, they're
just constantly reminding themselves, God's going
to deal with our sin. God's going to deal with
our sin. We're going to wait on him. He says
what he says, and he means what he says. He's
going to keep his word. So constantly, they're
just singing not just this song of ascent, but
a few others as they are continuously reminding
themselves. of his promises that God said that
he was going to do what he said he's going to
do. And we see this sentiment repeated again
in 2 Peter 3 .9. The Lord does not delay his
promise, as some understand delay, but is patient
with you, not wanting any to perish, but all
to come to repentance. Now, Peter wrote this
chapter 3, or at least part of chapter 3, in
response to what people were saying about and
to the Christians. Now, by the time that he wrote
this, Christians had already made their beliefs
known to the world, not fully, you know, to the
extent that it is now, but Christians had already
built this reputation of believing in the Lord
and having this belief that the day of the Lord
is coming. But as Christians were believing in
this and preaching, we need to get right with
God. We need to put our faith in Christ. We need
to turn to him and put our hope in him because
he is coming back. As they were doing this, time
went on, and time went on, and time went on.
And it's likely that the people who weren't going
for Christianity at the time were the people
who were saying, where's your God at? Where's
this Jesus you're talking about? I thought the
day of the Lord was coming. I thought he was
going to deal with sin. You've been preaching
all of this, you know, sin needs to be atoned
for stuff. You need Jesus. Where's he at? I thought
he was coming. Again, speculation that that's
exactly what they were saying, but don't we see
this happening now? Three times have there been
a recent rapture failed prediction. Three times
over. What's been especially hard and sad is
the response from outside the church to the church.
I saw a video where a very prominent, famous
YouTuber, who is an atheist, was online. It got
so big, it reached him and his massive audience,
and an atheist was saying, Yeah, but doesn't
the Bible say, didn't Jesus himself say, no one
knows the day or the hour? And I'm watching this,
and I want to get upset, not at him, but because
of the detriment that has now come upon the church
of Christ. Because he is right. This atheist
who doesn't know God, and I'm not putting him
down saying it like that, but He's an atheist
who is not even actively listening or following
the ways of God, yet he has a point to say, didn't
Jesus say no one knows the day or the hour? And
this is the detriment that gets done to us. This
is the detriment that gets done to the church.
Why? Because internally, what could end up happening
is, people who say, oh, well, I was so sure that
Jesus was going to come this time. But if I was
wrong about that, then what else was I wrong
about? Did he really walk this earth? Did he
really die for my sins? Was he actually the Son
of God? And then the detriment externally is,
see, it's all fake. It's not real. It's not real
is the detriment that comes from outside the
church onto us. Now, we've got more groundwork
to build up and say, no, it is. That's just wrong.
That's weird. It's wrong. But here's the point.
Psalm 130, 5 through 8, and 2 Peter 3 and 9 both
get at this idea of staying reminded of the promises
of God. This idea of meditating on the promises
of God. This idea that I might not know when,
but I know he's going to do something. He said
it in his word. From the perspective of Psalm
130. It was, he's going to deal with sin. And
he did. Centuries later, after the psalm was
given, and they started making a tradition to
sing this, can you imagine the Israelite who
was singing this, and then they got news of Jesus,
and then they were like, wow, he did it. He dealt
with our sin. He dealt with our sin through the
person of Jesus Christ. And now, on the other
side, on the side of 2 Peter 3 and 9, we look
at this and say, He did deal with our sin through
the person of Jesus Christ. And guess what? He
is really coming. I don't know when. I don't
know the day. I don't know the hour. If in Psalm
130 he said he was going to deal with sin and
he dealt with sin, then I could even more trust
him to say he's coming back and he's really coming
back. The second most active process in waiting
on the Lord is being reminded of his promises.
constantly having this mindset that he said it,
he's going to do it. I just need to keep believing,
keep having faith, keep pursuing, keep living
my life as if the promises of the Lord mean something,
because they do. Now, the imagery used in Psalm
130 is that of a watchman waiting for the sunrise.
Now, historically speaking, the watchmen on the
walls, they were probably most likely some guards
who would watch out to see if there was any intruders
or enemy attackers coming against Israel. These
were watchmen on the walls, and they would just
watch out, make sure everything was fine. There's
also some debate and speculation that maybe it
was also some of the priests or someone else
who would watch for the first light so that they
could say, okay, there's the first light of the
sunrise. We can start the morning sacrifices
that Israel would do. In either case, they both
had the job of watching for the first light of
the sun. They didn't necessarily know when exactly
they would see the first light in the morning,
but it's likely never did they ever think, you
know, Abraham, I've been on this earth for 53
years. I don't think the sun's going to rise
in the morning. It's likely they all had the
same belief that the sun always rises in the
morning. We see the sunlight. Every day. Don't
know when. Don't know when exactly in the morning
it's going to happen. But I know it's going to
happen. It's funny because aren't we in that
same state? In the darkness of the world as if
we were at night and we're watching out for our
Lord. Don't know when he's coming back, but we
know he's coming back. The watchman didn't say,
eh, the sun will rise when it does, but rather
the watchman, they were actively looking for
the sunlight. They were actively waiting and
watching for the sunlight. They were actively
waiting and watching for the light of the sun,
even as we are waiting for the sun and his light.
watch out for him and stay reminded daily of
the time that God will put an end to sorrow once
and for all. The danger is if we stop meditating
on his promises, if we stop living like he truly
is coming back or even, you know, zoomed out
more than that, if we stop living like God said
it, so he's going to do it with that same excitement
and zeal and focus mentality, we run the risk
of becoming lackadaisical. And when we're lackadaisical,
we're lazy and unenthusiastic and, you know,
just all sorts of bad stuff. The danger in becoming
lackadaisical is... perfectly summed up with
the end of the ministry of Elijah the prophet.
In my opinion, this is very well summed up of
what this dangerous state looks like and why
that's not good for any of us. Now, for those
of us who may remember, Elijah the prophet He
had that great battle of him versus about 400
prophets of Baal, right, in Israel at the time
when Israel was starting to worship Baal, and
they were giving more credence to that because
the queen Jezebel was, you know, bringing in
all her, you know, bad prophets and all that
stuff into the culture of Israel. He has this
moment where he versus all the prophets say,
all right. Showdown. Which God is real? If your
God calls down fire and consumes your sacrifice,
your God is real. We'll worship that God. We'll
worship Baal. If my God is real, you all die,
and we are going to worship Israel. They all
agreed. They said, that sounds good. Long story
short, Baal didn't show up. He was in the bathroom,
and then God showed up, and boom. all the prophets.
I'm glad you guys like that joke. I just thought
of it right on the spot. But yeah, God showed
up, and all right. So he left feeling like, he
likely left feeling awesome. Israel's going to
get back on track. We're done listening to the
prophets of Baal. We're done, you know, following
this. Cool. It seems like, probably in his mind,
hey, we're probably going to get back on track
and, you know, start following God like we used
to. Now, fast forward to the next chapter, 1
Kings chapter 19, verse 1 through 5. Now, Ahab
told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how
he had killed all the prophets with the sword.
So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say,
may the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely.
If by this time tomorrow, I do not make your
life like one of them. In other words, you're
a dead man. Elijah was afraid and ran for his
life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he
left his servants there. While he himself went
a day's journey into the wilderness, he came
to a broom bush, sat down under it, and prayed
that he might die. I have had enough, Lord, he
said. Take my life, I am no better than my ancestors.
In other words, Elijah reached his point. Elijah
reached the point where he said, you know what,
God, I'm done. About ready to throw in the towel,
Lord. Now, I believe he was genuinely serious
about walking away. No part of the context of
the ministry, especially, or not ministry, no
part of the context of the beginning of the passage,
as well as what we'll see later on, suggests,
no, wait, Lord, I was just kidding. Or, no, wait,
Lord, I was just throwing a little fit right
now. I'm ready to go. I believe this was him
saying, Lord, I am, I'm done. Like, I'm at my
breaking point. We've all been there. We've all
been at the point where we've had a really bad
day, and then the breaking point is you stub
your toe, and then all sorts of words come out,
but not those words because we're sanctified.
We've all reached that point where we've said,
I've had it. I'm done. So just to fast forward
in the interest of time, Elijah says this. God
shows up. And then he goes on a journey, about
three days journey ride away. And he, you know,
gets provided for by God for a little bit. And
then he talks to God. And God said, I'm going
to get your attention. And God sends a strong
wind, an earthquake, and a fire. right? Earth,
wind, and fire, to get his attention. And it
works, sort of. So, 1 Kings chapter 19, verse
13 through 18. When Elijah heard it, he pulled
his cloak over his face and went out and stood
at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to
him, what are you doing here, Elijah? He replied,
I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty.
The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn
down your altars, and put your prophets to death
with the sword. I am the only one left. And now
they are trying to kill me too. The Lord said
to him, go back the way you came. and go to the
desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint
Hazael, king over Aram. Also anoint Jehu, son
of Nimshi, king over Israel. And anoint Elisha,
son of Shephat, from Abel, Meholah, to succeed
you as prophet. Jehu will put to death any who
escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put
to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. And
then the Lord says, Yet I reserve seven thousand
in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed down
to Baal, and whose mouths have not kissed him.
End of passage. Man, the Lord knows how to mic
drop, doesn't he? You know, this kind of reminded
me of this moment where my wife, her dad is a
chiropractor, and he owns his own office and
practice, right? So she once went to go visit
him at one of his offices, and when she gets
there, he has a patient who had been asking her
dad for a job, right? Because he just needed
money. But he was also a patient. So my wife
shows up and she's doing, you know, she starts
working on paperwork and the guy's like, oh man,
why is she doing it? Like, I could do it. Like,
come on, bro. I could, that was supposed to be
for me. I could do it. And he's like, look, she
doesn't need to be here. Just saying all sorts
of stuff, unnecessary stuff. And then my father
-in -law says, I don't owe you a job. And then
right before he and my wife walk out the room,
he says, oh, by the way, this is my daughter.
And they walk away. And he's like, you know,
like the Pokemon meme. That's kind of like how
he left it. That's how God left this situation.
This Elijah, this guy, woes me, Lord. I'm the
only one left. They've all abandoned you. I'm
like the other ancestors. I'm just like them.
Woe is me. I'm the only one who's zealous. And
God says. There's 7 ,000 Israelites that are
still faithful to me. 7 ,000. Now, this is speculation,
but a lot of the times, when it would count people,
it was mainly counting the men. Speculatively,
It could have been 7 ,000 men plus their families,
including their wives and their children that
are still following him. Speculative, speculative.
But for now, 7 ,000 is a lot. Woe is me, Lord.
I'm the only one. I'm all that's left. I'm having
too much fun with this. But this is the danger.
That Elijah fell into because he wasn't reminded
of the promises. He fell in that lackadaisical
state, this unenthusiastic state, this laziness
state, this undetermined state. And what happened?
He completely overlooked the mission field that
was actually set before him. 7 ,000 people. Still
following God. Still would have heard the prophet
of God. Still would have followed him. But this
is the danger that we risk running into if we
forget to remind ourselves the promises of God.
If we get to live like God really keeps his promises.
If we forget that God's really going to do what
he said he's going to do. In our carelessness
and lack of determination, we can overlook every
area that actually needs attention. Ugh, the
last five people at my job didn't want to hear
me talk about God, so I'm done. But what about
the sixth person that's been silently praying,
Lord, reveal yourself to me? Ugh. That person
is so lost. They won't be saved. Don't waste
your time on them. But what if someone said that
about us? Or did someone say that about us? And
here we are. Well, it's hopeless trying to get
young ladies not to abort their babies. They're
going to do it anyway. Why even bother? Is that
what God wants? Us to just give up? Would he
want us to give up on any cause that advances
his kingdom and preserves goodness and light,
even while we are currently waiting on him right
now? Practically, practically speaking in our
lives, waiting on the Lord does not always seem
easy. Sometimes it can appear appetizing to want
to give up or get careless when you live the
life of steadfastness for so long. Elijah was
steadfast for a while, and he was very zealous.
He was waiting on the Lord. Then he got tired.
He got scared. But the warning is, please...
Don't assume it's over just because you feel
like it's over. Last I checked, we're all still
down here on earth, so therefore it is not over.
Psalm 37 verse 37, wait for the Lord and keep
his way. and he will exalt you to inherit the
land. You will watch when the wicked are destroyed.
How do I not overlook what is to be done? How
do I not become lazy while I'm waiting for the
Lord? Super simple. Keep his way, and we are
all experts at that. So, no. While we could talk
for an endless amount of Sundays just on keeping
His way. Here's something to really just think
about. Yes, keep His way, study the Word, read
the Word, apply the Word, but it's about getting
to faithfulness, and it's about getting to a
steadfast and disciplined area. Which is a fancy
long way of saying, rather you feel like it or
not, you do it. Now, I want to apologize right
now. It's about to get slightly emotional. Christiana
did cry when I brought this up at first service.
So yesterday, I had the honor and pleasure of
doing the tech booth for Tom Johnson, who...
I went on to be with the Lord. Now, my wife and
I, we've been at this church for about two years
now. A little over two years now. I did not interact
with him very much, but I was so blessed to hear
all these stories about him just from the tech
booth alone as I was recording. And I'm listening
to this story after story. Tom Johnson, the snack
king. Tom Johnson, who just had this calming
presence on children, who was there for the kids,
there for youth ministry. Tom Johnson, who said,
oh, the government said we can't do baptism.
Let's do it anyway, because we obey God more
than we obey man. And then there's a story that
I heard from a... Jeannie Venderbrink. And she,
forgive me if I butcher it, but she told a story
about how she one day saw him taking out the
trash for children's ministry or for the youth
ministry at Hosanna. And she said that, she was
like, wow, that's a real man of God right there.
And I was sitting in the booth and I was like,
that's it, that's it right there. Because personally,
as the last few months, just a fun little thought
I've been thinking about is this. There are so
many prominent Christian leaders and figures
in the public space right now, or in the past,
right? Charlie Kirk, he was a Christian. He was
very out and loud about his faith. Votie Bauckham,
who also recently passed away, he was very out
and loud about Jesus Christ. You know, people
like Frank Turek, a very, you know, professing
Christian apologist, or Ray Comfort, Ray Comfort,
you know, all these Christian leaders and people
that generally, when you say the name, you know
who we're talking about, right? And, you know,
they fly to all these places, they preach the
word, they defend the faith, they do all this
stuff, and we see it from our living rooms and
all of that, and we're like, wow, look at what
God's doing with them and through their lives
and all of that. But I've been, just kind of
been chuckling to myself because as great as
they are and they've done a lot of good, Hundreds
and hundreds of millions of Christians exist
where when you say the word faithful, everyone
thinks of that person in their community. And
we will never know their name. They're just regular
people. They don't have a super glamorous life.
They just get up. They love their wives. They
love their children. They love their husbands.
They serve at church. They bring an extra lunch
pail for someone else. They take out their trash.
They provide snacks. They do all these things.
Not super glamorous. But faithful. Steadfast.
Disciplined. And I was blessed to, when I was
in the booth, I was like, that's it, that's it.
Because hearing all these stories about Tom Johnson,
I was like, he's the guy who the public, you
know, the person in China, they probably won't
hear about Tom Johnson, not the way that we've
heard about him. But he was a faithful guy. With
just hearing the stories about him, I'm like,
wow, that's an amazing guy. He lived out Psalm
37 verse 37. He lived out Galatians chapter 6
verse 9. Galatians chapter 6 verse 9 says, let
us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap
at the proper time if we don't give up. So, in
closing, hopefully thus far we've seen how it's
not passive, waiting on the Lord. It's a very
involved process. It's a very active process
all throughout. We actively refrain from reacting
in rage to the lawlessness going on around us.
We actively remind ourselves of the promises
of God so that we know how to live out. just
being faithful. We actively focus continuously
on Him in excitement and confident expectation
of His appearing. We actively stay vigilant to
the opportunities to serve God, to serve others,
and to push back against any evil and injustice
and wrong that we see that goes against the Bible.
We actively say, Lord, as I wait, for your return,
I will be faithful. How long do we wait on the
Lord? Well, if the fourth rapture prediction
is true, we won't wait very long. No. Don't know.
Don't know how long we have to wait, but we'll
be blessed doing it. He's never late. It's always
just on time. No one knows but him. Rather, that's
next week, next year, next century, or even in
the next hour. What matters more right now is
are we in the position to say, I am waiting on
him? those of us in this room and watching online,
are we in the position to say, I am waiting on
the Lord. I do have my hope in the Lord. Not
just hope that He's going to make it all better
for the whole world, but even hope on a personal
level, hope that He's going to wash me clean,
that He has washed me clean. It's a hope like
no other when you know that we have a personal,
strong relationship with the Lord because he's
provided that for us. Hope like no other. And
if anyone does not know that hope, I invite you,
just pray. Lord, I don't have that hope. It doesn't
have to be a... super loud, stand up right now
declaration. It's even in our own hearts. The
Bible says if we confess with our mouth and believe
in our heart, we will be saved. Romans 10, 9
through 10. Even right now, if anyone is saying,
even in your own heart of hearts, I don't have
that hope, Lord, but I want to. I do believe
that you rose. I do believe that you died on
the cross for my sins. I do believe you rose.
Lord, will you be my hope? I believe if anyone
were to say that right now, even just that, you'll
be saved with the understanding that, Lord, if
I don't have my hope in you, I don't have my
hope in anything living. I don't want to be lost.
I don't want to experience, you know, You know,
eternal separation from you, which is the second
death. I want to hope in you. I want to wait
on you. I want to be with you, Lord. Let's pray.
Lord, thank you. Sometimes it's not easy. As
we wait for you, we get beat up down here. We
get abused and roughed up, Lord, but in spite
of all the challenges, in spite of how hard it
is, how hard it has been, how hard it may get,
we hope in you, Lord. We are actively waiting
on you, Lord. We are actively doing the work
that you have called us to do. We are actively
meditating on how you are a promise keeper. Your
word comes to pass. Lord, it is our hope that
we see you again. Not hope as in maybe we will,
maybe we won't. Hope as in we have an expectation
too. A confident expectation. Why? Because you
made it possible. Because you said, if we'll
turn to you, if we believe in you, if we trust
in you, that we will be saved. We will see you.
We will partake in the inheritance that you have
for us. I pray that if there's anyone in here
who might feel in here or online, who might feel
that tugging on the heart, that they would just
say, Lord, I believe. I want you to be my hope.
Please be my hope, Lord. Lord, I pray that you
watch over that person. I pray that if they have
made that choice, that they would know that they
have a family, that they are always welcome here,
that they can talk to anyone here. And Lord,
as I pray that as we get ready to close in worship
and go about the rest of the week, that this
study remain on our hearts and that we be constantly
reminded of you. constantly waiting on you with
great joy and great expectation. In Jesus' name
we pray. Amen.