God, Are You There? | When God Feels Slow

Well, I want to welcome you.

This is uh week three of our series God, are you there?

We've been we've been addressing uh this tension that everybody feels at some point in their life with Jesus, and that's a waiting season.

What's it look like to wait on God?

How do we do it in a way where we don't lose our way?

And and uh over the last few weeks we've been looking at the lives of different people throughout scripture, and and um I I think uh today we're actually gonna go to a guy named Simeon.

If you've never heard a sermon on Simeon, I know this probably will be the first one you've ever heard on this guy named Simeon, and so we'll get to that here in just a moment.

But I know that for a lot of us, waiting is not uh an exception to your life and your your walk with Jesus, it's part of it.

There's there's seasons where you will be between a promise, a revelation, something that you've received from the Lord or you're believing for, and then there's going to be a time that you have to go through before you actually have that.

You see that, before you experience whatever that might be.

And for some of us, it's a spouse.

We have a spouse that we've been believing God for to um, you know, maybe, maybe just come to faith.

I mean, I know we have several people in our church.

Your spouse isn't here today because they're just not even sure where they're at with Jesus.

And so you've been in this season where you've been praying that for for some of you, it's been years.

Some of you, you have a you have a child that's that's far from God.

There's reconciliation that you're waiting for.

Some of us we're just like, uh we just got broken relationships.

I see that a lot, whether it's it's a spousal relationship, a child, or otherwise, we're we're waiting for God to come through for us.

This week, uh I think probably because it's Christmas, and so I really was thinking about this a lot, but um I have family that don't that don't live here, and it's something that's hard to explain to people who don't live here is that just because you go to the post office and they tell you two days or five days shipping doesn't mean it's going to get there in two to five days, right?

Like that that people don't that don't live here.

If you're new to Williston, I'm helping you right now.

I'm just letting you know.

Like that the prime is not a shipping thing, it's just a TV thing.

That's all that that is.

You just get TV out of it, you don't get prime shipping out of it, okay?

So there's no such thing.

And this is for a lot of you, this is what you do every week.

Like, this is just how it goes for work.

You order a part and you're just like, when is it gonna be here?

You know what?

Just get it to the nearest metropolitan area, we'll drive there and get it.

Like, I know that's what a lot of us will do.

And then Christmas just sort of exacerbates the whole thing.

It's like, my goodness.

I've learned that when it says out for delivery, that could mean multiple things.

It could mean it's almost here.

It could also mean that it's in my knot, waiting for you to go get it.

It means all kinds of different things here in Williston.

And one of the things I I noticed about, uh I just thought about with this whole like shipping thing is like for a lot of us, it's like you got the money, you know, you got the plan, you know what you need, you know when you want it, you you're you're you're tracking it, but it comes when it comes.

And you can call 10 people and you can rage about it, and you can you can throw a fit, or if you're like me and you're so fortunate to have a platform where you get to lament to a group of people about how terrible it is.

I just have to get this off my chest.

Whatever that might be, you can do whatever you want, but it comes when it comes.

And see, how you wait is actually what reveals your character.

How you wait in that season is what is how you find out what's inside of you.

And all of us, all of us, as a human thing, we want things now.

We want them when when we want it.

Our team this last week was was just reminiscing.

There's actually, there's actually, believe it or not, there's a couple of us that actually still remember the dial-up days, okay?

And so we were live, we were just sort of reminiscing about how long it used to take to load a web page or something simple like that.

And and just we are our in our culture, in this cultural moment that we're we are all wired.

I don't care how you grew up, you're you're in a cultural moment where we're all wired to believe that we can have what we want right now when we want it.

Just so you know, the Lord will push on that.

And this is one of the things that we've talked about through this how to wait on the Lord is that he will push on that.

You will have things that you believe that you want, and you are convinced you know how it's supposed to go and when you're supposed to have it.

But he will push on that because what what he what he'll do is he he pushes on.

Are you building this and are you waiting on this?

And are you are you are you are you building your life on anything other than him?

And the waiting season is what reveals that.

And like I said, he'll he'll push on that.

We like formulas.

I like formulas.

I in fact, I love I love like decision-making matrixes.

That's how I think.

That's how it's just like moving forward.

When you walk in, I want you to run through this formula, I want you to run through these steps.

That's how my brain works.

And so I that's how I coach people.

We love formulas.

Why?

Because they work.

You do X, you do Y, you get Z.

Like you, you you want to get a product, you follow these steps.

That makes sense.

And I and sometimes, and sometimes that's that's helpful.

But I find that a lot of times, especially in a waiting season, we're looking for a formula because we want to make it happen.

But you need to understand that God won't submit to your way of life.

God doesn't do that, He doesn't submit to your way.

And I think that's what we're often wanting if we really want to get down to the lowest common denominator at what the heart of the issue is.

In the waiting season, God's reminding us He's God, and you and I are not.

And He just says, I'm not gonna do it your way, and we do it my way.

God does have a process.

God does have a process for these things.

It's often behind the scenes, it's it's unseen.

I love how it says it here in Habakkuk chapter 2.

Habakkuk 2 · chapter mention

He says, the revelation awaits an appointed time.

Kind of an obscure verse.

The revelation, the promise, the answer to your prayer, it waits an appointed time.

Did you know that even Jesus arriving on the scene, the whole Christmas story, the Bible says that that was at an appointed time.

There's a preset, an appointed time for that to happen.

Though it linger, wait for it.

I think some of us need to hear this in this series and asking ourselves this question.

God, asking God this question, God, are you there?

Several years ago, you know, I've been through, again, waiting seasons are not the exception to your life, it's part of your life with Jesus.

And I remember going through a waiting season several years ago and being very, very frustrated.

Honestly, I was angry.

And I had some people that it was very easy to be angry at.

And I and then I got I got like a revelation.

It was like, I'm actually not frustrated with these people.

It's actually I was just angry with God.

This is the truth.

And I got like a I got a word picture to myself.

I remember I was sitting on the couch, actually, it was Bethany, we were sitting on the couch together, and we were watching a show, and I and I got this word picture, and I and it was this it was that I thought, I know I wouldn't have said it out loud because I I I at least been around the block enough.

I wouldn't have said it out loud because when you say it out loud, you just go, of course, that's that's silly.

But inside, this is really what I was really thinking.

This was what my prayer life reflected.

In my mind, I had this vision that God was up there in heaven, just kind of like holding one hand behind his back.

And I think that's what we often think.

That's what we're tempted to think in a waiting season.

God's up there just with a with a hand behind his back, kind of holding out on you.

You need to hear this.

God's not messing with your life.

He's not, he's not messing with you.

He's not trying to just hold out on you just for the sake of toying with you.

Like God's in the business of shaping you.

He's in the business of forming you.

That's why I'm telling you that in the waiting season, if you if you are building your life on anything other than Jesus, he'll push on that season.

He'll push in that, no, he'll push on that, and it usually happens in this waiting season.

We don't we tend not to struggle with this thought.

The waiting season, the formation season, the process to being formed.

We don't usually struggle with that idea in in terms of other parts of our life.

Like many of you, you you have a skill, a craft that you're gifted at.

And if someone were to show up to your place of work this week and they were to say, Hey, I'm gonna start doing what you do, you would say, That's that's great.

And then when they're frustrated that they're not as good at it as you are that day, you'd say, What are you expecting?

This is gonna take many years, right?

You would say, No, no, no, this doesn't happen overnight.

This takes time.

You're gonna have to you're gonna have to go through a season where where you're gonna have to be formed and shaped.

And I'm just telling you that your your faith walk is no different.

God is in the business of of shaping you.

And and it looks like the waiting season is like God with his hand behind his back.

It can feel like you've been forgotten.

No, no, no, no.

There's just because you don't see something, doesn't mean that there isn't things happening.

The waiting season, something very real is happening in the in an unseen realm, and God's process is not a wasted time in your life.

We're gonna look at this guy named Simeon.

Over the last few weeks, we spent the first week talking about uh the nation of Israel, and they were in the wilderness.

We talked about this waiting season of being at the bottom of Mount Sinai and Moses going up and down the mountain and just what that waiting season looked like for them.

And last week we talked about Hannah, and again, the waiting season of wanting to be pregnant, wanting a child, and asking God, and then God eventually coming through for her.

But how she handled that waiting season.

And today we're gonna look at this guy named Simeon.

Simeon is a really obscure, inconspicuous character in the Bible.

He's actually right at the very beginning of Jesus' life.

He says he's in the temple.

It's a really unique story.

So here's Jesus, he's born.

Day one, he's born, and and then day eight, he's he's circumcised.

Again, this is Jewish tradition, this is what the law required, and so they were, they were, they again, the idea is to be holy and devoted to the Lord.

And Mary and Joseph are good parents, and so they're they're following this, this, they're they're they're they're they're following their Jewish ways.

And so day eight, he's circumcised.

Day 40, you present your child in the temple.

It's kind of like a child dedication, very similar to that.

Present your child, dedicate him holy and devoted to the Lord.

And that's what that's what they're doing.

Here's Mary and Joseph, and they're they're dedicating Jesus.

He's on the scene, and they go to the temple, and there's this guy, Simeon.

And that's what we're gonna pick up.

This is Luke chapter 2, verse 25.

Luke 2:25

You can open your Bibles or follow along on the screen behind me.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout.

He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him.

It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Messiah.

Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts.

When the parents, when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace.

For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.

The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him.

Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that thoughts of many hearts will be revealed, and a sword will pierce your soul too.

This is a privilege.

Here's Simeon.

Simeon had received a promise nearly 40 years before this event, that before he would die, he would see the Savior that everybody's been waiting for since the very beginning of the book.

I mean, that's a that's an incredible promise.

What an incredible privilege to be that person, to be the to be the one that that's gonna, God goes, of all the people that are gonna recognize everyone else has had angels had to show up and tell them, hey, this is it.

And Simeon, Simeon got a promise.

And the promise was when you see him, you're gonna recognize him.

It's an incredible privilege to be where Simeon's at.

It's funny, no one ever talks about Simeon.

No one ever talks about him.

I I know kids got all their Christmas plays this time of year.

I'm sure a lot of them are already done.

You know, they probably did that this last week.

And you know, you got you got Barry and Joseph and the farm animals, and you got the wise men.

Simeon's never in the picture.

He's never in.

No one ever, no one ever wants to be Simeon.

No one ever thinks about Simeon.

It's just like, who's the elderly man singing a prophetic hymn when Jesus is born?

It's Simeon.

Nobody cares.

That's that's Simeon.

Simeon's life.

He's just overlooked.

But it's important, it's an important story because the Bible's really the Bible spends some considerable time on him and says that this is not just this isn't just some elderly guy who's uh a footnote in the in the story.

He he's a guy that's been waiting.

He he's he's been waiting for this.

And I I I one of the things I love about the story of Simeon is is that he's that he is older, but he hasn't allowed his age to be his reason to disengage from church.

He's there.

This is the temple, this is where they gather, this is where they worship, this is a hub for their community.

And he and he's not he's not passive, he's waiting, and it's a very active thing.

And you need to know that.

Like when the Bible talks about waiting, the idea of waiting biblically is an active step.

It's not a God told me that that's great, I'll put it on the shelf and then I'll just forget about it.

And maybe one day if it happens, it happens.

No, no, no, no.

That's not a biblical version of waiting.

Biblically, waiting is it's in the front of your mind.

You don't forget about it, and you're on your toes, and you're actively waiting and you're engaged.

You're not disengaged because you're frustrated and bitter.

You're engaged because you know God's promised something and you're ready, full of faith, on your toes because you know God's gonna come through for you.

And that's Simeon fully engaged, not some cranky old man in the temple, but actively interceding.

He's actively in tune with the spirit, engaged in his in his community.

I love that.

It's one of the things I love about our church.

This is a multi-generational church.

And if you don't know that, our kids is overflowing, our student ministry is honestly super healthy.

It's incredible, it's so encouraging to see that.

But I also look around, I see a lot of grandparents in the room too.

I see a lot, it's a multi-generational church.

And if anybody ever told you that somehow church growth, reaching new people, living on mission, living for the Lord, tapping into your mission is somehow reserved to those who are under 50.

I think you just you need to reject that.

That's not true.

That's not true.

Multi-generational.

That's one of the things I love about this.

He's not disengaged, he's engaged, he's in the spirit, in tune with the spirit, in step with the spirit, waiting 40 years.

40 years.

Let's be honest.

Let's let's be honest.

Simeon gets, God has spoken to me.

I'm going to see the savior before I die.

We all trust Simeon.

Simeon's a valued member of our community.

Yes, we've all been waiting for this.

All right.

A year goes by, you know, just give it some time.

I mean, it's a year, you know.

Four years go by.

Oh, yeah, Simeon did say that.

Okay.

Decade goes by.

I think Simeon's lost it.

I think you know people are thinking this.

It's like, I don't know.

That's kind of weird.

I don't know.

That's been it's been two decades now.

Are we really still hanging on to that?

Three decades?

Really?

I mean, I can only imagine.

I can only imagine the pressure that Simeon felt.

And guess what?

And probably not even externally.

I mean, I would imagine around year 25 he just sort of stopped talking about it out loud.

And it and I just can't imagine the voices in his own head, just like, you're an idiot.

That was bad food, not the Holy Spirit.

That's probably, he probably had that thought a couple times.

Like, what what is what are you hanging on to?

That's a bit foolish.

And just think, you told all those people too.

Now you really look like an idiot.

You're really stupid.

If those lies sound familiar to you, um, that's because that's because the enemy doesn't need new ones.

The old ones are still really effective.

That's right.

And I think this is why we can learn this from Simeon, because Simeon's life, what we can pull out of Simeon's life is not unique to him.

It's not even, it's not even necessarily unique to like a handful of waiting, key waiting seasons in your life.

I think the things, the lessons we can pull from Simeon, yes, are become extremely important in the waiting seasons, but I also would say they're critical to what it looks like to live a life following Jesus, like trusting God.

This is what he's doing.

He's trusting what God has said to him.

He's trusting him when it honestly, what God said when it doesn't make sense.

Because I assure you, after 30 years, it didn't make sense.

But he hangs on.

Why?

Because he trusts God.

And and not for no reason.

I mean, God's got a track record.

God's got a track record.

This is it.

I mean, God, God has Simeon has his Bible.

God has a track record of speaking prophetically.

He spoke through the prophets.

This is a familiar, they're they're familiar with this.

He knows and he's seen, and he knows God has a track record of coming through.

God's word, God's promises.

Now, I I'm gonna tell you this that the things that Simeon battled is really no different than the things that you and I battle, because because again, somewhere along the way of receiving a promise and seeing it happen, there's a whole lot of stuff that happens in between that in that space, a lot of your feelings get in the way.

Really, really?

Oh, I I know what's true, but I don't feel like it's true.

And that's simple to say, but when it's when you're feeling it, that's real.

And if you're not careful, you'll start believing your feelings over what God said to you.

And that's I'm saying you trust God to trust him when it doesn't make sense.

When's it not make sense?

Well, it doesn't make sense when you when everything in you feels something different than what God has said.

He doesn't trust his feelings when your expectations aren't met.

I mean, if you miss that, go back to go back to week one of our series.

I I I I can trace back most people's departure from the way of the Lord with a with a missed expectation, disappointment, unhappy.

Unmanaged.

What do you do in those moments?

What do you do with your impatience?

Do you trust God even when it doesn't make sense?

I love how 2 Peter chapter 3 says this.

2 Peter 3 · chapter mention

Verse 9, the Lord isn't really being slow about his promise, as some people think.

I mean, not right there.

I mean, the title of today's message is When God is Slow.

And then here we are.

He's actually not slow.

That's just straight out of 2 Peter.

No, he's being patient for your sake.

He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.

Why is it taking so long, though?

Why, why?

Why do I why do I have to wait this long?

Like God, God, I feel like you're holy because you're God.

And if you and if you wanted to, you could just, you know, you could be my genie and you could snap your fingers and you could, you know, make this happen.

God, why is it taking so long?

Could it be because there's other people involved?

You know, you're waiting for God, God, I'm ready.

I've gotten ready.

I'm doing everything I can do.

It's like, yeah, but could it be that there's other people involved in your in your situation?

Could it be that other people are impacted by the season?

Like what you're waiting on and asking God for.

Could it be that it's actually not all about you?

Could it be that God is working?

Like, I know we want to see it in the seen realm.

We get consumed with this.

What we see and taste and feel and hear.

Like we get consumed with the seen realm.

The Bible, the Bible is really clear.

This what's seen is temporary.

It's what is unseen that's eternal.

And God works in the unseen realm.

He works primarily in the unseen realm.

He works first in the unseen realm.

And we get impatient because we want to see things now.

Now.

I get it.

I really do.

I understand.

It's hard because this feels so so real.

Again, do I trust God even when it doesn't make sense?

Well, or how about this question?

What if I do everything I'm supposed to and it still doesn't work out?

I mean, that's a real concern.

And I'm sure, I'm sure, especially when we're in that waiting season, we felt that, okay, well, if I keep doing it Jesus' way, what if what if God doesn't come through?

Could it be that that your delay delays aren't always like a no and a denial?

Sometimes, sometimes the the waiting season is is a protection.

Like I'm just telling I'm telling you, you need to expand your imagination.

God is bigger than you think He is.

Your world isn't the depths of the world.

Like God is way bigger, way more capable.

He has way more resources, he has way more, his abilities are endless.

And we think, oh, if I can't see it, then there must not be a way forward.

You need to, you need to like unleash your imagination.

No, no, no, no.

God's way bigger than you think he is.

You have not given him nearly enough credit.

He's way more capable.

And you're in this waiting season.

Could it be that it's for your protection?

Well, I don't see it.

I know you don't see it.

Because you don't see the unseen realm.

It's unseen.

And God has a process and he's working in it.

Could it be preparation?

Well, preparation for what?

Trust him.

I know you can't see around the corner of time, but he can.

Could it be for salvation?

Well, I am saved.

Maybe it's somebody else.

I'm just saying we gotta, you need to expand your idea of who God is.

We limit him significantly, just purely on our on what we think about him.

We think our world is big and his world is small.

And I'm just telling you, it's infinitely opposite of that.

I love going to the mountains.

I take guys up to the mountains every year, and I'm looking forward to this next season.

I got several more guys, and we're taking this next year.

Can't wait.

I love I love doing that.

Going up the mountains and you know, just uh as an annual thing and just having an experience of asking, seeking, knocking.

And so I again you've heard me tell stories about some of that.

And I love doing that.

One of the things when you when you get in like backcountry and you go and you climb or you hike, you know, you're usually following a trail.

And oftentimes there's a sign on a trail, and it'll tell you, like, hey, this is the way.

But some sometimes, especially when you get in the backcountry, there's not always a sign.

You're just sort of, you got a map, you're just you're kind of like navigating a little bit.

And every now and then you'll come to a trail, and you'll be like, wow, like that, clearly, that's got to be the way.

Because it's wide open, and because it's obviously lots of people have taken that, it's like really trodden down.

There's like you could just tell lots of people taking that path, and then you look at your map, and you're like, Yeah, but it says it's that way.

You know, you get and you're just like, I this, and that doesn't look well, and that does, and see, this is this is why following the Lord, this is why following God can be so confusing at times.

This this exact reason right here, it's like, will I will I will I trust what makes sense to me when the path is wide and it's well traveled and it makes a lot of sense because it seems like a lot of people are taking this, or or will I trust what the map says?

That's not the way, it's actually that way, and I know it's a little bit less traveled.

Will I trust God or will I trust what I can see right now?

Well, I do trust will keep you from quitting.

This is an important part.

Trusting God will keep you from quitting, but trust also needs some direction because because you can go you can go through life trusting God and still bulldozing your way through life, which is why not only did Simeon trust God, but his ear was in tune with the Spirit.

He was listening to the Spirit.

He's he is he's listening to the Holy Spirit.

This is an important part because I think sometimes we just think like God has sort of just like plopped us down here and he's just kind of waiting to see what we make of it.

And we forget that that it's actually partnership, that he actually has plans to do life with you through his Holy Spirit in your life.

Look at what it says about Simeon in verse 26.

It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Messiah.

He receives a promise from God that was rooted in a relationship that he had with God.

He receives a promise that comes on the other side of his relationship with God, and it says that it's the Holy Spirit that revealed it to him.

You know, I've had many moments in my life like this, and I know you have too, where maybe you've you've been in church for a season, you've heard, maybe you've read a certain portion of scripture many times, maybe even heard me teach on it a handful of times.

And then one day you show up, maybe you read it, you hear something, and you just go, whoa, I didn't I didn't see that before.

Whoa.

That that didn't really mean anything to me till now.

And and what that is in that moment is that it just goes to show you that this isn't some game in a mentalist scent.

Like this is a moment.

That's a moment when the Holy Spirit illuminates something in your heart, illuminates something and brings something to life.

He's speaking to you.

The Holy Spirit can do that.

I again, again, we we think way too small of who God is and how he wants to interact with us.

We look at the Bible and we just go, it's just a bunch of little great stories and you know, great moral code, and uh it's a great ethical book.

And oh, I'm just yeah, oh, I'm I'm a Jesus for all the words because I love how he does life, and I just think that's great.

It's good for the children.

And we just have a very low, low view of what it is that God is speaking to us.

I'll give you one example.

Did you know that Simeon's name actually means to listen?

It comes from the Hebrew word Shemema, which is the Shema.

Jews to this day will say the Shema prayer every day.

It comes out of Deuteronomy 6, chapter 4, and it says, Hear, O Israel.

That means Shema.

Listen, O Israel.

The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

They go on from there.

Listen.

They would have said that every day.

Do you think it's a coincidence that his name is Simeon and that he happens to be the one who is listening to the Spirit and is actually the one to first recognize the Savior when he arrives on the scene?

Do you think that's it's not a coincidence?

I'm just telling you, God is showing you something.

He's he's you you want a code, you want to, you want a process, you want to, you, you, you, you want to you want a formula.

Here it is.

Trust God and listen.

Listen to him.

That's good.

Look, I love how this says it.

This is the John 16.

This is Jesus talking about the Holy Spirit.

He says, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it's to your advantage that I go away.

For if I do not go away, the helper or the advocate will not come to you, but if I depart, I will send him to you.

Look how he says it just a couple chapters here before.

Chapter 14.

Look what he says here.

The helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Again, he the God is God is God is.

This one thing I love about the the Christmas season is that it's a reminder that God is not distant.

He is the God that has come to you.

I said that's the whole message.

Emmanuel, the God who came to us, and not only did he come to us physically, but then even when he left physically, he gave us his Holy Spirit so that we would not navigate our lives by ourselves, that we could be in partnership with him.

And I say this a lot.

We we say this a lot at Freedom Church, and we say, don't push the influence of the Holy Spirit out of your life.

Listen to what I'm saying, don't miss this.

Don't push the influence of the Holy Spirit out of your life.

I love, I've talked to many of you over the years, and you'll tell me stories about how, you know, I was debating whether to go here, take that job, do this.

I was debating how to how to handle this situation with my children in this particular season.

And then you go, and then I was reading.

And then I was having a conversation with my spouse.

Oh, and then I was, and or I heard something this weekend, and you have these moments, and you're like, and it clicked to me in that moment.

I knew what I needed to do moving forward.

I go, well, well, that's the Holy Spirit speaking to you and wanting to lead you and guide you.

And I love hearing that.

Don't push the influence of the Spirit at your life.

But then I talked to others and we're just like, Yeah, I don't get that.

Yeah, I'm not hearing that.

Yeah, I don't, I don't, I'm not, what are you, what are you talking about?

I'm gonna I'm gonna tell you this right now.

God is speaking.

It's not God is speaking to you.

His Holy Spirit, that what we just read in John 16, John 14 isn't isn't the exception.

He's saying this is the norm.

He will bring back to your remembrance and he will teach you all things, and he will speak to you.

When he's not, we don't, God's, we don't have a God not speaking problem.

We have a us not hearing problem.

How do you push the influence of the spirit?

I don't know, we we get all these goofy ideas, especially when you talk to people, it's always takes religious people to come up with the goofy ideas.

It's just like I always notice when people are new to faith, they don't bring the goofy ideas.

It's like they need to get around the religious people to give them the goofy ideas.

Well, the way you always comes down to like church tactics.

Well, the reason that we're not here in the Holy Spirit is because we're not singing the right kind of song and we're not doing it the right kind of way, and we need to we need to make room for this, we need to make room for that.

And it's just like, no, let me tell you how you push out the influence of the Holy Spirit.

Do life your way.

I'm just telling you, it's literally that simple.

Do life your way.

Come on.

There's the Jesus way, your way.

Do life your way.

And it's not that God goes, well, you know what, if you're gonna do life your way, then I'm not talking anymore.

No, no, no.

What it is is you make a habit of tuning him out.

Eventually, you don't even have to try anymore.

You're so desensitized to his voice, you don't even notice him anymore.

You are you want the truth?

You do life your way long enough.

Here's what eventually happens you start thinking that your voice is the Holy Spirit.

Oh, no, no, no, this is no, it's not.

There's a Jesus way, and then there's your way.

You do your way long enough.

I'm gonna tell you right now, tune out, push out the influence of the Holy Spirit.

And I think Simeon's a great example.

He's a great example because I would imagine Simeon has a lot, had a lot of pushback, similar to what we would probably feel, especially as we're walking on our journey with Jesus.

It's just like, do you really believe this stuff?

You're you're waiting for this.

You you're you're saying you're trusting God for reconciliation, you're relieving God for you know, X, Y, and Z, whatever that might be, whatever your waiting season looks like.

And it's I I can imagine Simeon felt the same way.

But see, Simeon's not on his own.

Yes, he has a promise, but he's also got some power.

Because he's thriving, he's in tune with the Holy Spirit.

So trust, trust will keep you steady, listening will keep you in step with the Holy Spirit, but that leads to the last thing.

And I think this is this is probably the part of Simeon's story, I think for most of us, where we fight God the most.

And that's his timing.

This is the part that's that's probably the most difficult for many of us.

We we it's difficult to embrace God's timing for things in our lives.

Again, multi-generational church, I know, I know because I'm I've I've I've prayed with many of you.

You've got either a spouse or some of you've got adult children who are far from God, and you're going, I want them to love Jesus.

I want them to love his church, I want them to be back.

You want that, but you know you can't you can't force somebody to love Jesus.

You can't force them to love his church.

You can't for you can't force that, and you know that, and that's why it's that's why it's so hard.

You can't, you can't, you can't make those things happen.

There's a timing to this, but there are things you can do.

Like, like Simeon, you can be present, you can still be leaned in, you can still be listening, you can, you can still be believing.

Look at verse 28, Luke 2.

So Simeon took him, talking about Jesus in his arms and praised God, saying, Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace.

I think, I think what's as important as what is said is what is not said.

See, what's not said is Simeon holds Jesus and he goes, Oh, he doesn't start crying and go, oh God, I wish I wouldn't have got so discouraged all those years.

He's not lamenting about how he just sort of like, oh, I forgot about that promise because he put it on the shelf and decided to distract himself for 40 years.

No, no, no, no.

He's not on his heels, he's on his toes because he's he's actively waiting.

He didn't forget about it, he's not discouraged.

I'm gonna tell you, I mean, listen, four years feels like a long time.

40 years of being on his toes, full of faith, in active part in anticipation, waiting on the fulfillment of God's promise.

And here he is.

When it finally arrives, he's not embittered, he's not so, he's not discouraged, he's not going, God, finally, all right.

What took so long?

Why not 39 years ago?

Why not last year?

He doesn't say any of that.

He's ready, he's looking, he's on his toes, he's full of faith.

And I want you to see this.

Waiting isn't proving that you're strong.

Like I don't need you to prove anything.

Waiting is you and I admitting that we're not God and He is.

But you know, for all of our impatience about wanting God to be faster, and again, this is the part, this is the part that waiting pushes on.

Because it's easy to say, I want to build my life on Jesus.

The waiting seasons reveal if you really are building your life on Jesus.

Because we want God to move, but we forget that He didn't actually wait for us when He sent Jesus.

We forget that waiting, our impatience reveals that we forget this.

Like He stepped into our world at the right time, lived without sin, died for our sin, got up again.

Which means your future isn't writing on your performance, it's not writing on your timeline, it's not writing on your control.

Don't miss this point.

This isn't some small point.

The waiting season will push, will push.

It'll push on you.

Are you building on anything other than than him?

Because you want him to answer your prayers.

We make our allegiance contingent on whether he comes through for us and he's going, Did you forget that I didn't wait to come to you?

Are you, did you, did you forget that?

And see, because he did that, you can actually trust him.

You can trust him without fear, you can actually listen for his spirit without being full of anxiety.

You don't have to go into despair because the timing isn't lining up with what you want.

Like you can do all of those things.

And some of us right now, we're in this like waiting season.

It's spouse stuff, it's reconciliation stuff, it's it's a it's a child who's far from God, it's a closed door, it's a it's a layoff, it's a you know, and any number of things, a delayed answer.

And you're hearing the same tired lies.

Quit, it's dumb, it's foolish, there's a better way.

This pastor don't know what he's talking about.

I don't know what it is.

Simeon stands up in scripture and he says, No.

Waiting can be holy, waiting can be spirit-filled.

Waiting can be the place where you recognize Jesus and you hold on to hope again.

I'm gonna end on this question for you.

Will you trust what God said?

Will you listen to his spirit, embrace his timing without becoming bitter in the middle of it?

Let's pray.