Can You Trust God's Timing?

You know how many things that the devil has kept

you from doing in your life.

That God called you to do because of what might

happen if you did.

And a lot of us, the enemy doesn't even have

to fight us with real events or circumstances.

Just even the suggestion of a.

Disaster is enough to send some of us into retreat.

And so just even the.

Thought that what if they don't like you is enough

to keep you in the house, or just even a

thought if what if they break my heart is enough

to keep you from extending yourself in relationship, or just

even a thought.

You know, many of you are reluctant to get.

Involved in this church because you had a previous bad

church experience. And I understand that because once you.

Have been through a storm. I lived through Hurricane Hugo.

I was eight years old when Hurricane Hugo hit Charleston,

South Carolina.

It terrified me.

I didn't want to spend the night away from home

for two years after that as a little boy.

Because one thing, after.

You have survived a storm, after you have survived bad weather,

after you have survived abuse, what people don't tell you

about is that even after the storm is over, it

still rages.

On on the inside of you.

And the saddest thing in the world is to see

a Christian who has been set free by the love

of Christ, to know that neither height nor depth, nor

anything else in all creation, neither death nor life, neither

angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor

any other power, shall be able to separate me from

the love of.

God that is in Christ. Jesus, my Lord.

What I'm trying to say, some of us need to

fire the devil as our weather man. We have been

consulting the wrong source to find out what our future

looks like. And so now we stay indoors, and we

stay in fear, and we stay in paranoia, and.

We never plant, and we never reap. Solomon said, because

we watch.

The wind, what a weird image. You really can't see

the wind. You can only see the effects of it.

And he says, when you watch the wind, you know, like,

is this a good time?

I'll give you one this what looks like to watch

the wind?

Causing about that phrase watch the wind, and I was like,

this is not a literal message. I'm not using it

to talk about physical storms. I'm using it to talk

about when the sewer goes to sow, he wants the

wind to work with him, and when the wind is

blowing the opposite direction, all your seed smacks you in

your face.

But you ever feel like everything you so just you.

Ever feel like stuff just backfires on you.

You're trying to be nice to somebody. That's the last

one of those I'm doing.

I got appreciate this twice tomorrow, an in my brain cells.

But you ever just been smacked by your own seat?

Because that's what he says. When the wind is blowing

against you. Some of you have had the wind against

you your whole life. You didn't have the right shoes,

your parents didn't make a lot of money.

You had to learn to fit in. You had to

learn how to be tough.

You had to learn how to be hard, and you

learned how to survive a storm. But the problem with that,

the only problem with that is sometimes the wind isn't

even against.

You, but you still feel like it is.

Because your mind is collecting evidence in support of a

verdict that is no longer accurate. See watch the wind.

Try to find out what's popular. It's not popular. I'm

a precious to our students. They've got Rhythm Night coming

up next next Sunday Night. And I want you to

talk about this in some form.

Tim is that.

Watching the wind is like trying to determine what's going

to gain you clout, and then you let clout overrule character.

And watching the wind is trying to be like, oh,

do they like me?

Do they like me? Is this what I need to

be to be?

Like? That's watching the wind? Can I give you another

one that's watching the wind? Is needing to be in

a good mood to keep your commitments.

That's watching the wind.

Because some of my weather systems are internal. And I

found out a long time ago that usually the mood

that you're in when you make a commitment will not

match the mood that you're in when it's time to

keep the commitment.

And so to watch the wind.

Is for those of us who sometimes need to feel

it in order to fulfill it. And Solomon says the

wisest man, the richest man, the man who said that

to do things for Vanity's sake is like chasing after

the wind. He uses this metaphor lot in his book Ecclesiastes,

the Collected Teachings, which are like proverbs, but it's written

in such a way as to convince the knowledge of

the universe and the futility of vanity. He uses this

image of the wind why because it is an invisible force,

And he says, if you are always checking with and

consulting how you feel, you will always find a reason

to contradict your responsibility. So there will always be a reason.

Watch this that you don't feel like forgiving people.

But if you want to be free, you might have to.

Go against your feelings in order to live in freedom.

I'm saying you might have to walk against the wind.

You might have to forgive against the wind, especially in marriage.

I love Holly so much because she decided a long

time ago that I was the man for her. She

reached the verdict on verdict before she ever took my

name as her own. And because she reached the verdict

that she loves me and I'm a good man in

our marriage, she works to collect evidence to support that

I'm the man for her. She could just as easily

do the opposite.

She could find fifteen reasons.

Well, he's only five foot nine, he's bigger on screen,

you know. She could find fifteen reasons I'm usually moody

three and a half days out of seven, she could

find fifteen reasons not to feel that way about me.

But sometimes commitment means facing resistance with resolve in your heart.

You can find a reason to leave this church in

the next three days if you want.

One.

Matter of fact, the law of average says that there's

somebody on your row right now who if you get

to know them, they will give you a reason to

leave this church in the next three days because they will.

Disappoint you with their lack of Christian character.

But if you move one person over on the same row,

I bet you there's somebody on that row that loves Jesus.

There's somebody on that row who is honest. There is

somebody on that role that is sincere.

But you'll never sew. We see, I'm gonna get my

I'm gonna do I'm gonna get my I'm gonna do the.

Tithing thing, but I'm gonna do it after I get

my thing, because the.

Thing after the thing is gonna do the thing.

And in this thing happened, there was the thing, but

the economy, but the presidential election.

You see how we do it.

Consulting the forecast instead of consulting our faith. He who

regards the wind or observes the wind will never sew,

and he who looks at the clouds will never read

because it always looks like it could rain anytime, and

you can't get the harvest in when it's wet. And

Solomon didn't have a weather channel. App and Solomon didn't

have a weather channel. He's dealing with people who would

consult the conditions before keeping their commitments.

Watching the win.

How many people have not started what God told them

to start because they've been watching the wind, been waiting

for more spare time.

Norma, write a book one day. You even keep a

journal right now. I'm gonna write a book one day.

When you're gonna write it, I'm gonna build a cottage

in Maine. It's the thing I'm gonna do one day.

You got some family Landmope.

It's an imaginary scenario that keeps you from an actual opportunity.

Do you see it? Watching the wind is wishing that

you had.

A different wife instead of loving the one that you've.

Got, like Christ loves the church. This is getting good.

This message is gonna be better than your beard by

the time I finish with it.

My brother, and that's saying a lot.

But you know, Peter knew something about watching the wind though,

didn't he? Peter the apostle who was always wanting to

do something impulsive. Sometimes it worked for him, that worked

against him.

But one thing that you got to.

Love about him, he did not wait for perfect circumstances

to say. He didn't wait until he had knowledge to

give his opinion. You ever lived with somebody like that

is terrible. And I noticed something about God, and I

wanted to give this to you, because they have these

things in church. They say, well, God is an on

time god.

Yes he is. He's an on time God.

He's seldom early, but he's never late. Ask Lazarus if

he was ever late. Lazarus, he is about four days late,

decomposing body worms working their way into the eye socket

by the time Jesus got there and Mary and Martha

had set their watch by it.

Ask Peter if Jesus was ever late. Ask him, Ask him.

If one time they did not get sent out into

a storm by the instruction that Jesus gave to go

to the other side. Now, this has been really exciting

to me as I've studied it. This week, because the

real thing of faith is do you trust God's timing?

You know that, right? And that was the test for

Maria and Martha. She said, I am the resurrection in

the life. And she said, well, you know, I am

the resurrection. And she said, well, I know my brother's

going to rise again at the last day. He said, no,

I am the resurrection. It wasn't that she didn't trust

what he was able to do. It was are you

able to trust when God is going to do it?

You can trust somebody's intention, but not trust their timing.

And since I already talked good about Holly in the sermon,

let me just say.

I trust her with my life.

I trust her to be faithful to our marriage vows.

I trust her if she cooks for me or orders

for me off of them you. I trust she knows

what I want to eat more than I want to eat.

She knows me like that. I trust this woman with

everything but time.

When she says it's gonna be thirty minutes, allot three hours,

because she taught me that her concept of time is

different than mine.

One is correct, one is delusional. And I trust her,

I really do. I trust her.

I put her in a room full of supermodels, men,

calendar men, and trust her in there.

But if she said we're gonna leave in an hour.

I would set three alarms because I trust her with

everything but time. Some of us trust that God is

gonna get us to heaven one day. Some of us

trust that he died on the cross for our sin.

We trust him with everything, but let him not do

so at the moment that we want him to do it.

Let him leave us in the fiery furnace. Four seconds

too long and we'll be screaming God getting me out

of this. But God said, the real test for a mature.

Christian is do you trust me with my timing?

Trusting him in the meantime is where maturity is developed.

And Jesus was always doing stuff at a bad time.

He was always going to Jerusalem at the time where

they all wanted to kill him. That's a bad time

to show up when they're looking for you.

To execute you. It's a bad time.

Five thousand men, women and children show up on the

other side. Now, this is right after John the Baptiste.

I just want you to know how often God does

things in our life at a bad time, Because some

of y'all are like right now in your life, like, well,

this is a bad time for me.

God.

And I used to have this friend. Every time he

called me on the phone, he was so respectful. He'll

say good time or a bad time. Always wanted to

know that before he said anything else. And I believe

the Holy Spirit is say him to somebody today good

time or a bad time, and you're like, this is

a bad time.

I'm too old to be doing this now. I'm too

young to be doing this now, I'm too busy to

be doing this now.

I used to have a better job. I used to

have more money. It's a bad time.

But God likes to bless people at a bad time.

He likes to raise people on the Fourth Day.

And when Jesus had heard that John the Baptist had

his head cut off by Harry, it was a bad

time and he wanted to get away from the crowds.

So he went over to the other side with the disciples.

And when they got there, there was a crowd waiting

to get autographs and healing and fish and chips and

all this stuff. As a matter of fact, when he

did the.

Miracle and feeds.

The five thousand, the first thing the disciple said.

Was what it's late. It's a bad time. It's a

bad time. And Jesus, when he took.

The bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to them.

He did the miracle at a bad time. Now I'm divorced,

Now i'm a single mom. Now it's a bad time

for me to be believing God. It's a bad time.

I really wasted a lot of years. It's a bad

time for me to be doing this. I think I

made the wrong decision. I don't even think I'm supposed

to live in Roanoke. I don't even think I'm supposed

to live in Charlotte. I don't even it's a bad time.

It's a bad place. That's what the disciple said. They said,

it's a remote place, and it's already late, so send

the crowds away. And Jesus said, no, I want to

bless him when it's too little and when it's too late,

because I want to bless you when you think it's

a bad time. Teach you how to consult your faith

instead of consulting your forecast.

You got the wrong weather man.

You keep watching the weather, and so now you live

in fear of everything that could happen and everything that

has happened. And as long as you watch the weather,

as long as you keep that wrong weatherman, this is

what God showed me.

The weather is meant.

To be checked, not watched when you sit When you

sit around and watch it all day, it scares you.

Oh everything.

It's good to plan, it's good to make provision, but don't.

Watch the weather.

If you watch the weather, you'll get in your feelings

and you'll get out of your faith.

And now the wind watch this.

Will work against you to contradict the word that God

spoke to you.

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