God, Are You There? | Don't Lose Your Way While You Wait

Are you familiar uh with the season?

Season of life where maybe you caught a a vision for what your future could look like, but you're also keenly aware that you're not there yet.

You don't know what I'm talking about.

Maybe a season of your life where you would say, I'm not the kind of person I used to be, but I definitely haven't gotten to where I believe God is like wants me to be.

I call that the in-between season.

The in-between, living in the in the in-between.

It might look like a job for you right now.

Maybe, maybe you have a job, but you're like, this is not like my dream job, and I'm like really hoping I'll get a new job soon, like one I enjoy, but you're you're wondering when that's gonna happen.

Maybe you lost a job and you're like, okay, I I need a job.

When is that?

I don't even care what it is.

I just say, when is that gonna happen?

Like maybe you're in this in-between season.

In-between seasons can be a little bit difficult.

Maybe it's a relationship.

You're like, well, I I I would like to be married.

Like, where's my spouse?

Like, I'm asking God, I thought that was a noble thing.

When when is that gonna happen?

You're in an in-between season.

When you're in an in-between season, sometimes you'll you'll even start asking things like, Why, God?

That that'll be a question that often comes up.

Why?

Why?

Why why does why do I why am I in this place where I'm waiting for for you to heal my body?

When is that gonna happen?

In in-between season.

I've met several couples over the years who who are trying to get pregnant and and just not able to just struggle with infertility, and then there's another invite for another baby shower and then and another baby shower, and it's just kind of like, uh, so happy for you.

But like, really, when's my season?

Like, in-between season.

Lots of them.

There's a lot of stories in the Bible that talk about this season.

There's a lots of there's lots of stories of of people in the Bible who are caught up in this sort of in-between season, this this space between between God said and God actually did it.

That space.

Really common.

Waiting, waiting for God.

Here in a few minutes, we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna go through.

Um, I'm gonna go back to the the story of the Israelites in Egypt.

Y'all remember that story?

You've either read it or you watched a movie about it, so you got some familiarity about the Egyptians in slavery in Egypt.

I'm gonna give you like a I'm just gonna give you like a breakdown of what that story looked like.

Here's the here's the people of God.

God's chosen people, the Israelites, and they find themselves enslaved in this place called Egypt.

It's it's uh they're there for 400 years.

They're enslaved.

And and then and then God shows up and he he comes to them through a guy named Moses.

Remember this story?

Ten plagues, the whole the whole thing, right?

He shows up through a guy named Moses and he says, Hey, by the way, this is not the end of the road.

There's actually a place God wants to take us, he wants to deliver us from slavery, and he wants to bring us.

The Bible calls it the promised land.

We're gonna call it freedom.

It's a picture of what it looks like to be free.

He wants to take them out of slavery into freedom.

Now, when I go through this story, keep in mind, this isn't just a story about Israelites and you know, thousands of years ago, some people, this is actually all of our story.

This is actually, if you if you miss it, this isn't just a history lesson.

This is actually meant to tell all of our all of our story.

Let me show you what it what it actually looks like in real time, like what it looks like.

If you were here a couple weeks ago, we got to celebrate a bunch of baptisms.

How about that?

There you go.

See, this is a picture of God bringing people out of slavery, our sin, and he says, I'm gonna take you somewhere way better.

I want to take you to a promised land.

I want to take you, I want to take you to a better place that involves a lot more freedom.

Isn't that exciting?

Aren't you glad to be at a church, at a place like this, where there's life change happening and we're actually seeing this play out?

Yeah, that's a that should encourage you.

I always say this, it's like, I don't want to be a part of a dead church, I want to be a part of a living church.

And this is how you know that the church is alive because there's life change happening.

That's right, that's how you know it's alive.

Isn't that wonderful?

So here we are.

Here's the again, this is their story.

This is our story.

This is all of our story.

We were once caught in slavery, and then here comes God, and God wants to take us to go ahead and start my graphic again.

Start go from slavery to a place called the promised land to freedom.

But here's the problem.

This is if you read the story, here's the problem.

When they when they're going on this journey, right?

They're going on this journey, there happens to be this place called the wilderness in between.

In fact, in fact, our story here in a minute we're gonna pick up, it's actually at a mountain called Mount Sinai.

Now, again, this isn't just their story, this is our story.

Slavery, the place that you and I once were, right?

This is the place that we, this is the stuff we used to do, the places we used to be, we used to be associated, the people we used to, the that the habits that used to enslave us.

And then God got a hold of us.

He says, Oh, I got a better place I want to take you.

I got a better place, but but we don't just like wake up and snap our fingers, do we, all the time and feel like I finally made it.

This is the promised land.

Most of the time we find ourselves in this place, right here, the wilderness, the place that we we probably go, yeah, that's kind of where I'm at.

Because I don't feel like I'm there yet.

Slide.

Slide.

Here we go.

There it is, right there, where you are.

Thank you.

Second service.

That's where we get it.

Okay, yeah.

This is where we're at.

The place you were, but you you you gotta go through this place.

And this isn't a fun place.

There's a reason the Bible calls this the wilderness.

And here, our our story, we're gonna pick our story up here at a mountain, but but we'll see what God says to them when they're here and they're on their way, He He He says some things to them.

He he says something.

This is a major theme, you see, when you when you read these stories through through Exodus and Leviticus, Deuteronomy, you'll read this in their in their stories.

God continually tells them, don't go back to the ways of the Egyptians.

Don't go back to your to your to your old ways.

It might surprise you, like when they were in captivity in slavery, they they they they knew that they were God's people, but they were 400 years in Egypt.

They had adopted the ways of the Egyptians.

By the way, don't gloss over what I'm saying.

This is for all of us.

Remember, this isn't their story, just their story.

This is all of our story.

They had picked up some ways along the way, and and and in fact, they picked up ways, it was normal to them.

They picked up these normal ways, and then God comes in, 10 plagues, three through Moses, boom, delivers his people, Red Sea, takes them to the base of the mountain.

But hold on a second, they still got a whole way of thinking and living and ideas and beliefs that are deeply ingrained.

And God says, Hold on a second, though, don't go back to the ways of the Egyptians.

But this is also what God tells us.

I'm taking you somewhere, don't go back to the ways that I delivered you from.

Don't go back to your gossiping ways, don't go back, don't go back to those things that you once called you once called freedom, but only to find out that when you tried to stop them, yet you couldn't because it wasn't freedom, it was actually slavery.

Don't go, don't go back to the place that God delivered you from.

Now there's a process that happens because if you read this story, the people, when they're in the wilderness, they're not exactly great models for how to go through the wilderness.

All right, if you're if you're familiar with the story, it's pretty brutal, actually.

In fact, when you read the story, from our perspective, we get to read the story and gloss over it.

We don't actually have to live 40 years in the wilderness with them.

But when we read the story, we're like, you idiots, like what are you thinking?

Or maybe that's just me when I read the story.

I think what are what were you thinking?

And but that's because we have an advantage, right?

I get to read it on a few pieces of paper.

They had to live it.

And see what ended up what ends up happening, like we what it what causes you to go back, it begins with a disappointment typically.

Like I just thought it would be a little bit different than this.

This is really common.

I just thought I said yes to Jesus, or in their case, God delivered us.

I mean, my goodness, 10 plagues in a Red Sea, it's just like I just didn't think we would live for a year at the base of Mount Sinai, which is where they're where our story is going to pick up.

Like I'm in the wilderness, like, why am I here?

Right?

Disappointment.

Now, if you don't manage your disappointments, what ends up happening is that actually will eventually turn into discouragement.

Discouragement, if you don't deal with that, turns into bitterness.

And when you when bitterness takes root in your life, what ends up happening is like the enemy will pounce all over that, and that's when deception starts coming in.

Lies will start coming your way.

Again, not the story of what happened, but of what always happens.

And this is the question.

This is the question for this morning.

It's just like, how are you managing your heart in these seasons?

Because nobody else is going to manage your heart when you're in the in-between season.

Only you can do that.

I really think it requires a perspective shift to even make it through the in-between season without losing your way.

It requires it requires a perspective shift because I think sometimes we go through an in-between season, and and I'm listening we're all in the same boat here.

I'm in an in-between season.

When I'm in an in-between season, we're kind of in an in-between season as a church, right?

We we believe, like we've been here for almost five years, and God's got a building that is, and it's just like, trust me, nobody's, I'm not, I'm doing my best every day, like Lord, patience, patience, but I can't get out of this in-between season fast enough.

Let's get to the place you're taking us, right?

We and this is how it is all the time.

But it's just like, I don't, I'm not, I'm not comfortable.

And then if you're not careful, you just start resenting it.

But what you what you gotta understand is that the in-between season is actually not intended to work against you.

Actually, it's it's God's grace to you.

You're like, how does that work?

Because the in-between season is the season that refines you.

It's the season that God reminds you that he's working in you, it's the season that's shaping you and maturing you and growing you.

That's that that happens in the wilderness.

That's a that's a will, that's a uniquely wilderness kind of thing.

It's actually there, and that requires a perspective shift because if you don't, if you don't shift that perspective, disappointment, which is usually rooted in some bad expectations, eventually leads to deception.

And when you buy into that, I'm just telling you, you that this is that's this that's the moment so many people derail their lives.

Bad decisions happen in that moment.

Bad decisions.

We're gonna read this story.

This is Exodus chapter 19.

Exodus 19 · chapter mention

And uh here they are, they're at the base of this mountain called Mount Sinai.

Exodus, if you got your Bibles, you can open up this Exodus chapter 19, verse 1 and 2.

Exodus 19:1

It says, In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the same day they came to the wilderness of Sinai, for they had departed from Rephedim, had come to the wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness.

And so Israel camped there before the mountain.

Now they were there, they were there for a long time, like a year, okay?

And at the base of this mountain, there they're camp, there's like a most scholars believe it's somewhere around a million people.

A million people.

I mean, I can't even wrap your head around.

I've watched some documentaries recently on Netflix, right?

Where they got like the big concerts, Woodstock.

There was like some other ones I watched where I was just like, my goodness.

You just see that many, you had to see that many people in one place.

That's hard to wrap your, that's hard to wrap your mind around.

This is a million people on a camping trip.

Camping trips are roughing up.

A million people.

It's like, my goodness, here they are at the mass of a mountain.

And Moses is making trips up to the top of the mountain because that's the place God has chosen to meet with Moses.

So he's going up.

And and and scholars believe that he he went up either seven or eight times, depending on how you read a couple of those trips.

He's going up the mountain, down the mountain, up the mountain, down the mountain, and and in the people, a million people, they're there because they believed the message, which is God wants to deliver you and take you to this promised land, this great place.

Camping trip with a million people at the base of Mount Sinai wasn't in the cards.

They're like, Oh, you didn't tell us about this part, right?

You didn't you didn't tell us it was gonna be like this.

Expectations, disappointment.

And then here's Moses.

He's going up there, and in this moment where we're gonna go in Exodus 32 here in just a moment, he's going up for the this is his uh approximately his fifth trip up the mountain.

Maybe his sixth, but I read it.

So he's going up for either the fifth or the sixth time, he's heading up to the mountain, and he's gone for a while.

In fact, he's gone for for 40 days.

He's up the mountain, and and and you can imagine.

I mean, they're they're up.

Here goes Moses again.

It's like, my goodness, Moses, how many times you gotta go up the mountain?

How many times is it could God not have communicated this the last trip?

You know, like the third trip?

How many trips do we got to go up there?

And so they're getting a little bit frustrated.

They're getting live, they don't really understand it because they're not the ones with God.

It's Moses that's going up there.

So they're a little bit like, and we're depending on this guy.

I mean, my goodness, you can't, it's a million people, that's a big organization.

Lord knows you can't trust organizations.

So we're just like, my goodness, what is going on here?

Oh well, we all got to just depend on Moses is telling us the truth.

My goodness.

He's up there.

So, well, he'll be back in a few days, I'm sure, like he always is.

Till day 10 hit.

All right, what is going on here?

Where where is Moses?

Day 11, day 12, 13, day 25, day 30.

It's just like you can you can feel the tension is rising.

What what what is happening here?

This doesn't make sense.

See, they're already disappointed.

Now they're they're discouraged.

Let's be honest, that they clearly don't have any respect for Moses at this point.

They've got bitterness in their heart.

They're probably thinking, if it were me, I would do this differently.

If I were in charge, I would have made better decisions.

My goodness, Moses can't even speak for himself.

He's got his brother doing all the hard work for him.

I'm just all the bitternesses creeping in.

And then what happens after the bitterness?

Deception.

Moses is probably dead.

He's probably not even alive.

He's not ever, he's never coming back.

He's up, he's been gone to like, you know what?

Here's the real truth.

God's abandoned us.

That's the real truth.

He brought us out here to die.

This is this is a whoo.

Careful.

Did you did you see what I did?

Did you see what just happened there?

We just switched from Moses is dead to God has abandoned you.

I'm just not what not a story of just what happened.

This is the story of what always happens.

And here we are.

That was Exodus 19.

You skip ahead, 20, 21, 22, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.

Here we are, Exodus 32.

Here we are.

This fifth trip, Exodus 32.

Says now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, they saw that it was taking way longer than they thought it should.

In in-between season.

The people gathered together to Aaron and said to him, down there at the local diner, at their little girls' club, all the moms got together over here at the little playground with their kids, and they all started talking together, and they're just like, you know what?

I was thinking this doesn't make sense.

Come, we got an idea.

Here's our idea.

Come, make us gods that shall go before us.

For as for this, Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don't even know what's become of him.

And Aaron said to them, but again, what do we start out with?

Don't go back to the ways of the Egyptians.

But they're out of Egypt, but Egypt's still in them.

Right?

That's what's happening here.

And Aaron said to them, Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, your daughters, and bring them to me.

So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.

And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool and made a molded calf.

And they said, This is your God.

It's obvious for us because we just flipped the pages a few pages over, but for them, they're in the middle of this.

This is your God, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt.

Well, that's the there's your deception.

There's your deception that they're all believing, too.

I'm just bitterness, deception.

Here they are.

And you read this story and it's almost shocking.

You're like, really?

After 10 plagues in a Red Sea party, it's like, this is what you've come, this is the conclusion you've come to.

And I and I think for them, I think this is for us, it's like, how do you manage your heart when you're in this kind of an in-between season?

This is what they they didn't manage their hearts.

They just they just assume that what they think and what they feel must be true.

They just assume that the way they see it must be accurate.

They didn't even think maybe my mind has been so polluted because I've lived with a nation that's been in captivity, in slavery for 400 years.

Maybe what I think is right isn't even right.

Maybe what I think is wrong has actually been turned upside down.

It's called iniquity, but they don't even think that.

That didn't even come to their mind.

Why?

Because they've allowed bitterness to get to get a root inside of their life, and now deception has come their way, and they're just convinced.

And so here they are making a really, really bad decision.

Really, really bad decision.

And honestly, it's sad because Moses is up at the top of the mountain having this incredible and incredible encounter with the living God.

And God writes on two tablets the Ten Commandments while this is happening.

Like this is all they're getting the Ten Commandments.

I mean, this is like this is the this is like the whole world is changing right now.

The entire, the the history, the the the entire future of the world is being molded and shaped and impacted in this very moment.

Here we are, thousands of years later, still talking about it.

This is what's happening.

And yet they lost their way.

And look what happens.

Skip down 32 verse 19.

It says, So it was as soon as it's Moses.

Moses came near the camp.

He saw the calf and the dancing, and Moses' anger became hot.

And he took those two tablets out of it and he broke them at the foot of the mountain.

He's so mad he just throws them down.

I just, I don't think you it doesn't do it justice.

I mean, I it's hard for us, I think, to get a hold of the level of like betrayal and emotion that's that's wrapped up in this moment.

Maybe you didn't notice, but the golden calf is an Egyptian god.

It's a it's an Egyptian fertility god.

That's what it is.

That's why they're that's why what they're doing down there at the base of the mountain, they're they're they're they're dancing.

It's just like they're having sex right out in the open.

That's what they're doing.

Like it's it's absolute chaos.

This is what they're they've gone back to their ways.

And it and I would imagine that when they were watching that last plague unfold, and I and I would imagine that when they were on their way out of Egypt, and all the Egyptians are giving them all their silver and their gold just to get them out of town, and they get to that sea and it actually parts, and they're running, and they look back and they see it engulf all the people chasing.

I imagine in that moment they never thought for a moment that they would fall this quickly.

Discouragement and bitterness.

I would be willing to bet they would have thought, no, not me.

Not us.

Why do we go back?

Why do they go back?

I'll tell you why we go back.

We go back because we want to soothe ourselves.

We want some comfort.

We want to feel like we got some control.

We want to feel like, okay, at least everything's out of control because the in-between season, I don't know really know what's going on.

So we go back.

We go back to what we were doing.

We go back to our old ways.

We go back to our old hangouts.

We go back to our old friends.

We go back to our old habits.

We go back to we go back to these things.

Rarely do people just go, you know why I'm going back?

Because I decided in my heart I hate God.

Nobody ever says that.

That might be true, but they don't ever say it.

They go back for other reasons.

Other reasons.

How easy do people go back?

I mean, you hear it all the time.

Really, when bitterness and deception really come in, you'll really hear it.

It's just like, well, this serving the church and serving serving Jesus just doesn't pay.

It just doesn't do anything.

That's for that's for children and women.

I don't just don't think that's for me.

I've heard that before.

Well, what happens when deception rolls up?

Bitterness gets a hold of you.

How easily we go, we go back.

You know what's amazing.

I I'm over the years, just knowing other pastors, and you know, it's always an unfortunate story.

You see a pastor in the news, it's like, oh my goodness, another pastor.

Moral failure, wreck their ministry, wreck their church, disappoint all these people.

And you know, I and anytime I've any of those that I'm familiar with and you know connected with individuals who have done that, you know, it's it's amazing to me.

You know how that, you know how it happens?

It happens because you you get you hear their story, and it's not like they just woke up and they're like, you know what, I decide I'm gonna be a hypocrite and just live my life my way I want to.

No, it usually comes on the on the other end of a lot of disappointment, a lot of discouragement, a lot of bitterness.

And then they start believing some lies and they start disconnecting and they become so desperate, they're just trying to find.

And by the way, this isn't an excuse, and this isn't unique to pastors.

This is per this is a lot of people, this is a lot of people I've counseled over the years.

This is a familiar story.

I just wanted some reprieve.

I just wanted to disconnect.

I just wanted to feel like I had some control.

I just want to disconnect from what feels like the in-between season that seems unbearable right now.

Boom.

There it is.

You gotta manage your heart.

I want to give you today a few steps as I'm gonna go through this.

How do you wait in the in-between season without losing your way?

There's lots of great stories in the Bible.

Amazing stories, amazing stories of faith, amazing stories of God coming through for people.

There's very few stories of people finishing well in their life.

Very few.

It's actually kind of discouraging.

Very few people in the Bible actually finish their lives well.

I don't want that to be your story.

I don't want, I don't want it to be my story.

So, how do we wait in in-between seasons without losing our way?

Here's the first thing.

You need to recall God's track record.

You need to remember, recall God's track, you need to remember what God has already done.

Look at Exodus 19.

God's preparing.

Moses is gonna make these journeys up the mountain, and God knows his people.

So look how he prepared the people.

This is this is before all of this.

He he prepares them.

Look what he says.

Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, tell the children of Israel, tell them this, because I know I know what they're gonna do.

I know they saw all that stuff, but I know they're gonna lose their way, and I know they're not, I know they're gonna get discouraged.

So here's what I want you to tell them.

You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself.

Like, remind them.

Make sure you recall, make sure you remind them, because they're gonna get discouraged.

Make sure you remind them.

And here's the truth: we believe lies when we're convinced that what we feel is absolutely true.

We just get we get so entrenched with our feelings, how we feel about it.

And and and here's the real honest truth.

And a lot of us don't like to admit this, but but I know we call ourselves Christians, but let's let's be honest, there's a significant part of our life where we call ourselves Christians, but we really live like very practical atheists.

What do I mean by that?

Well, I it's like I mentally I believe that, but if but let's be let's be real honest.

If I don't see it and if I don't feel it, I don't actually believe it.

If I don't see it and I don't feel it, I'm I'm actually pretty unconvinced.

We forget what God did.

We forget what God did, how he delivered us, we forget how he came through for us, we forget that season where he provided for us, we forget how he gave you direction when you were crying out to him all those years ago.

We forget those moments, we get amnesia, we forget, oh my goodness, God, where are you?

And then he's there, and five years later, we're like, God never answers my prayers.

It's like you forgot already.

You forgot already.

It's why it's important to tell our stories.

It's why when you get into a group, you get into a community group, we're gonna do another, we'll do another season of groups in the next in this when we get in our new building.

And when we do that, we tell tell your story.

Why?

Not just so that you're encouraged when you hear my story, but I need to tell my story so I don't forget.

Yeah, that's so good.

So I don't, I don't look, I don't forget.

I need to build my own faith.

I gotta recall.

I heard this story this week.

It's a World War II story.

A chaplain was um kind of the in-between for letters that soldiers were writing back home.

And so this is World War II.

So, you know, it worked a little differently then.

So if you wrote a letter, there's chances you know, your your people at home maybe not have gotten it like a couple months later, right?

So he's going through them.

And at that time, too, they would often scrub the letters to make sure nobody's sharing, you know, secrets or or telling giving out their locations or anything like that.

So they would go through them.

And so a chaplain was going through these letters, and and he he reads the one letter and then he recognizes, he's like, Wait, there's another letter.

Uh there's by the same guy, and he and it stood out to him, he's got two letters.

And the the first letter, remember this is written by the same guy.

He said, The first letter was written before the battle that he was gonna go in, and he wrote a letter back home to his mom.

And he says, Listen, mom, I don't know how we're gonna get through this, but if God gets me through this battle, I will live for God for the rest of my life.

Right there in his letter.

But the chaplain had the other letter, which was the post-battle letter.

And it was a letter after the battle, after God saved him for that battle, and it was written to his buddy in another regiment, and it said, Hey, here in a few weeks, I think I think we're all gonna have some downtime.

Let's meet up in Paris and get drunk.

How quickly we forget.

How quickly we just we just lose sight.

God, where are you?

It comes through.

I'm good.

Moving on.

We we get amnesia, spiritual amnesia.

Recall God's track record.

Here's the second one.

Rely on God's current work.

Like trust him even when you can't make sense of things.

This is a big one.

Like, re like trust him, even just because you don't understand doesn't mean there isn't anything to understand.

Just because you don't know the answer, doesn't mean there isn't an answer.

Just because you can't make sense of it, doesn't mean that God has already made sense of it.

I mean, this is a big one.

And and not only that, you have to also trust he's actually doing things even when you don't realize it.

I I don't know.

Maybe it's because we're Americans.

We just believe we have a right to know everything and be in the know about literally everything.

Well, if I don't know, and then we just assume that if we don't, there must be a problem.

I I don't I don't know what that is.

But that's not if you're gonna if you're gonna follow God, like God doesn't owe you that, and oftentimes he won't do that, he won't share that with you.

You gotta realize that he's actually working even when you don't realize it.

Look at that here.

Here's verse 5, same chapter, Exodus 19.

Therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, there it is.

He's telling him this is the key.

Don't go back, don't go back to your old ways, keep my covenant, stay the course, stay faithful.

He says, and if you stay faithful, then you will be a treasure to me above all people, for all the earth is mine.

You shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

And these are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.

What is he saying?

He's saying, You're not gonna see.

I'm doing something, I have a place I'm taking you.

You don't understand how I'm gonna get there, but your job is to stay faithful.

Your job is to stay the course.

Your job is to not go back to the place you came from, stay the course and trust that God is working currently, right now, when you don't realize it.

And you got to get a hold of this.

You need a revelation.

God is speaking to you today.

He's speaking to you today.

And and and disappointments, anybody who's lived, anybody who has become an adult, in fact, you don't even have to be an adult.

You if you're a teenager, you've already discovered disappointment is not an exception to life, it is life.

I'm not I'm not trying to be a cynic, I'm just telling you that life is full of disappointments, it's just part of life.

My goodness, you you you start on one journey and you're like, I didn't think it was gonna be this way.

You get married, come on, you get married and you go, I thought it would be different.

You start a business and you go, I thought this would be a little different.

Like you you do things like this, you like, right?

This is called life.

How do you manage that though?

How do you manage your disappointments?

Because it'll either disappointments will either move you toward God or it will harden your heart against God.

But you got to manage that.

What's the purpose of it anyway?

You ever thought about it?

Like, why do I have to go through this wilderness season?

What's that about?

Look at Deuteronomy 8.

Look what he says.

He says, You will remember the Lord your God led you all the way these 40 years, 40 years in the wilderness to humble you and test you.

Now, don't miss, don't misunderstand this.

If you're new to the Bible, when you hear testing language, for us, when we read that, we just go, test you, my goodness.

You're like, if my spouse is gonna test me all the time and be like, we gotta go see a counselor, right?

Like, test?

Are you serious?

Like, what's that about?

That's not when God tests you, it's not for him, it's for you.

God knows your heart.

God tests you for your benefit.

I don't miss this.

I know the language, we don't really get crazy about the language because it feels harsh, but but but don't miss it.

This is important.

He tests you, not because he doesn't know your heart, but because he knows you don't know your heart.

So he tests you to know what is in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.

Why are they in the wilderness?

Because they think they're gonna keep his commandments, they don't actually know the real condition of their heart.

So he humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.

The in-between season, church, exposes the things other than God that you and I are trying to build our lives on.

It will it'll bring it to the surface.

If you're not building anything, you're not building your life on his word, his will, his ways, it all comes out in the in-between season, and you'll go, but this hurts.

I know surgery hurts.

When you get broken bones realigned, it hurts, but it heals.

And I'm just telling you that the in-between season is not meant to work against you, it's actually God's grace to work for you.

And the and the question isn't, God, when will you come through?

The question is, will you stay faithful?

Will you stay the course?

Will you wait in a way where you don't lose your way?

Nothing good happens fast.

At least there's nearly there's hardly anything out there.

Maybe there's a few things.

There's very few things.

I'd like McDonald's personally, that happens fast normally, and I like that.

So I feel like that happens fast and that's good.

You might disagree, but I don't care.

But so that's what I love.

But most things, the most things that happen fast don't, they're not good, right?

I got parents, how many parents in the room?

Come on, this is a church full of parents.

Say you're holding your baby, you can't even raise your hand.

See, we got baby.

There we go.

Here we got parents all over the place.

And our and our kids don't go from, I don't want to eat vegetables, to emotionally mature and responsible human beings, right?

There's like a lot of seasons and a lot of prayers.

And for those of you that got kids that are adults now, you're like prayers you can't even repeat in church.

You're like, like, there was a lot of in-between season.

It doesn't happen fast.

A DIY project.

Oh, you can write, come on, I know.

I'm just gonna do a little project right here.

It'll be it'll be no problem.

Six hours later, third trip to Menards, and I've repented 12 times.

Nothing good happens fast.

I'm just telling my story.

That's what I'm up here doing.

All right, here's the third one.

Here's the third one.

Resist the enemy's lies, right?

Okay, what do we do?

Recall what God has done.

You need to rely on the fact that He's working for you, and you need to resist the enemy's lies.

Disappointment leads to discouragement.

Discouragement.

If you don't manage it, it will turn into bitterness, and bitterness paves the way for deception.

Don't miss this.

Bitterness will rob you of your inability to even recognize deception.

I'm I'm I'm I wish you could get a hold of this because I I talk to people all the time.

It's just like, well, you you you you get you have bitterness, you can't believe somebody treated you this way, you can't believe it turned out that way.

You you get mad that your boss is such a jerk, you get so mad about the guy that you work with, the lady that that over here, and you're just like, I can't, I can't, and you let bitterness get a hold of you, and then you get ideas, but you're so bitter you can't even recognize what's true and what's not true.

It robs you of your ability to even discern what's true, and you can't build on that.

You can't build on that.

There's been many people who have actually come into our church and have told us, I can tell, I can hear it in their voice, bitterness because they left a church and they decided to come here.

Bitterness.

Like, I just don't, I just don't think, I just don't think that's right.

Do you know how many people I have told?

I think, and I don't tell everybody this, but I do, but sometimes it's appropriate.

I tell people, I think you need to go back.

I think you need to go back where you came from.

I think you need to resolve some things.

Because I I'm I'm this isn't this isn't a game.

You need what the way you left is the way you're going in, and you can't build on bitterness, and you won't be able, you won't even be able to recognize deception.

This doesn't this works in ministry, this works for your life.

You you try to build a marriage on the on a premise, I'm gonna build a marriage and I'm never gonna be like my father.

Buckle up.

Buckle up.

I'm never gonna be like that person.

It's called iniquity.

You might be surprised at the way you behave in 20 years.

You can't build on that because you you won't even be able to recognize deception.

It goes for your career, it goes for your business, your family, your kids.

You can't build on that.

Look at Exodus 32, look at the very first verse here in Exodus 32.

Come, make us gods and shall go before us.

Here it is.

Remember deception, bitterness to deception, to bad decisions?

As for Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we don't even know what's become of him.

Do you know when the enemy comes at you?

When you're weary, when you're emotionally depleted, when you're tired, physically, emotionally.

I'm just saying, when you're in that season, you need to recognize you're in a susceptible season.

Listen, it's not like, oh, you're in that season, where did you go wrong?

Sometimes that's just life.

You just need to recognize the vulnerability of the season that you're in.

You may need you may need to recognize that not every thought that comes your way is actually accurate.

Not everything that you feel is actually true.

Aren't you glad that that that what you feel is actually not the truest thing about you?

Aren't you glad that that when you're in Christ, that what you feel is not the truest thing about you, what God says about you is actually the truest thing about you?

Aren't you glad that that's who you are in Christ?

I mean, I don't know about you.

We've had some ups and some downs.

We've had some lows and some highs.

Aren't you glad that what you felt in your lows wasn't actually true?

Wasn't true about you, your marriage, your children, your own well-being.

But yes, it's better that the world has you than it doesn't have you.

Aren't you glad for that truth?

I'm just saying, like, this is when it'll come after you.

When you're weary, you're depleted, and you're tired.

He'll cause you bitterness.

It'll cause you to believe lies about who you are.

We become susceptible to the enemy when we're depleted and exhausted.

He will take advantage of your wounds, he'll take advantage of your disappointments, he'll pounce all over your exhaustion, all over your frustration, your anger, your bitterness.

You gotta manage it, church.

You gotta manage your disappointments.

If you don't manage your disappointments, your disappointments will manage you, and they will take you to places you never meant to go.

Look how 1 Peter says it in the New Testament.

1 Peter chapter 5.

1 Peter 5 · chapter mention

Look how he says it.

He says, be sober.

Now that might be like a special word for North Dakotans in a long winter, right there.

Just say.

Be sober.

Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about.

Okay, be sober.

Be vigilant.

Because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

Resist him.

Steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings, that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

Meaning, you're not alone.

Well, you're countering, you're you're not alone.

Be sober.

Resist him.

I encounter people on occasion, they'll come to me and they'll say, Oh, Pastor, I'm just battling some lies right now.

Well, that's great.

I'm glad that's a win.

I'm glad you at least recognize that it's a lie.

But now you need to resist the lie.

How do you resist a lie?

What does that look like?

Well, imagine somebody shows up to your house and they just go, That person, that's the murderer.

You're the murderer.

You did it.

That I arrested me.

You gotta sit there and be like, I know that that's a lie.

You're gonna resist it.

You're gonna be like, No, I did not do that.

Are you with it?

It's not it's not that complicated.

You're like, no, I'm not a murderer.

No, I did not do that.

That's not true.

No, no, no.

I love you, you were there.

No, I wasn't there, I was here.

I'm not that person, I'm this person, I'm not a liar anymore.

I'm in Christ, I'm not a cheater anymore.

I'm in Christ, I'm not a drunk anymore, I'm in Christ, I'm not addicted anymore.

I'm in Christ.

You gotta recognize who you are, you gotta recognize the lie and you gotta resist it.

You gotta resist this.

Give you two words.

Watch and wait.

Two words for you to hang on to.

Watch and wait, watch for the enemy.

It's difficult to resist the enemy when your heart is when your heart is hard.

It's difficult.

But you gotta you gotta watch for the enemy's lies and don't go back because that's the temptation.

This isn't working.

This is a you know what I need in this moment?

Because I because I would just like some peace of mind, so you go back to the ways that are familiar, that you feel like you got some control, and it'll at least kind of soothe you for the moment and say, No, no, no, no, don't go back.

Watch for the enemy's lies, don't go back to that.

Recognize what that is.

Here's a guy that that understood this.

Look at look what he did.

This is the psalmist.

This is David, Psalm 27.

This is a guy who had a had an encounter with a prophet who said, You will be the king of this nation, the most powerful.

Man in the world at that time.

This is who you're going to be, David.

And then he goes to this in-between season because he's not there yet, but he knows that's where he's going.

So now he's in this in-between season, and it actually says that he's being chased all over the country like a fugitive, like a dog, even surrounded.

His life is under threat.

He's sleeping outside.

That ain't okay.

Right?

What is that?

Was that true?

Did that prophet miss it?

Well, he knows.

He gets this.

Look what he says at the end of Psalm 27.

He says, after recalling, by the way, how bad his situation is, he ends it with this wait on the Lord.

Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart.

Wait, I say, on the Lord.

Watch out for the lies of the enemy.

Wait on the Lord.

Wait for God's response.

The in-between is not just what we have to endure to get what we want, it's a necessary part of how we become the person that God is making us into.

Tell you a quick story.

This is a pastor, I'll say a pretty well-known pastor, and um, and it was his mom years ago, was um dying from cancer, terminal illness.

And uh absolutely terminal.

In fact, just a few weeks, you were there, you're gonna you have a few weeks to live.

Kids got together and and mom had a China set that she really wanted.

She'd been wanting for a while.

So the kids got together and they found one and they and they got it for her.

And they the problem was it was a 10-piece set and only had eight of the ten pieces.

And so they they brought it together.

They're like, hey, listen, mom, we got you, we got you that China set you've been wanting.

One problem, it's only got eight of the ten pieces, but don't worry.

We found the other two pieces from a dealer across the country.

We're ordering them.

They said they'll have it to us in two months.

And she just sort of looks at him, she just goes, Are you crazy?

Like, I'm not gonna be here in two months, I'm gonna be dead.

And they and they looked at her, they go, We know that you believe that.

We know that that's what the doctor said, and that's why we got it.

Because you you got it, you can't you can't go until we get the pieces.

Like you gotta, you gotta stick around.

35 years later, she was still using the set.

Well, I'm I'm guessing am I saying that's always how it goes?

No, but I am saying this: God answers prayers, God comes through, God will come through when you don't even think it's possible anymore.

You think God's abandoned, God hasn't abandoned you.

God hasn't abandoned you.

How do we do this?

Disappointment.

Manage your disappointments, it'll lead to discouragement.

If you don't, it'll lead to bitterness.

If you don't do that, the lies will come, deception will come.

Guard your hearts, recall what God's done for you.

Rely on the fact that He's still working for you.

Resist the enemy, watch out for the lies of the enemy and wait for the Lord's response.

Let's pray.

Father, we need your help.

Help us to do this.

I can only imagine right now.

I know, I know, I can already tell right now.

There are many of you right now, you are in this exact kind of season right now.

You are in an in-between season, wilderness season.

We just take a moment, just as a church, as a body together, and we just we we voice our recommitment to you.

We are gonna rely on you.

If there's bitterness in our heart, Father, would you make that known?

If we need to forgive, help us to take that step to release offense.

Just release it.

If there's if there's things, if we've been disappointed, church, you know what you need to do with your disappointment?

You need to go to God with your disappointment.

There's nothing wrong with telling God, God, I didn't think you was gonna be like this, and tell him you're disappointed.

The problem is we don't go to God with our disappointment, we go to our friends and our coworkers and our neighbors and our spouses, and we don't we don't go to God.

You need to go to God.

So, God, we go to you right now.

I'm disappointed.

But I don't want bitterness to get root in my life.

I don't want to be susceptible to deception.

I don't want to derail my life.

I want to honor you in everything I do and everything I say.

Thank you for being with me.

Help me to get a revelation that you are working on my behalf right now, even if I can't see it.

Help me.

Help us.

If you've never committed your life to Jesus, I want to give you that opportunity right now.

You're you've never actually said yes to Jesus and him taking you out of slavery, free from sin.

He died for your sins, he rose again so that you could be with him for eternity, free.

Free, live eternally with him.

If you've never made that commitment to follow Jesus, I'm just gonna pray with you right now.

You just tell him in your own way, Jesus, I give you my life.

Thank you for dying for me.

Thank you for raising again, and I commit to follow you for the rest of my life.

I'm yours.

Thank you for being mine.

And it's in Jesus' name we pray.

Everybody said, Amen, amen.

Come on, like we mean it.

Can we put our hands together, tell Jesus thank you?

Come on.