Worth the Wait | Ps. Keith Pittman

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you so much for listening today.

We hope it encourages you and inspires you.

Here's today's message.

First and foremost, man, it is so good to see every single one of your smiling faces, man.

I'm so glad that you guys are here with us today.

If you're joining us online, can we help welcome our online family?

As well as those who are joining us in a family lounge, we're so glad that you're with us today.

And I I've truly, I've truly missed us gathering and worshiping over the past couple of weeks.

So I'm glad that we're back.

And as you guys have heard, we're we're in this Advent season.

And maybe that's a word that you're familiar with.

Maybe it's a phrase that you've heard, but you're unfamiliar on what it means.

So I want to frame up what this season is for us.

This is more than just a countdown to Christmas.

This is so much more than just us preparing for the day that we exchange gifts, and all that is perfectly fine.

But what Advent really is all about is a living a life of anticipation and expectation and excitement as we prepared the birth of Jesus.

But the origin story of Advent, it really was a little bit different.

What would happen during the season of Advent for the early church is actually it was a time of fasting and praying and believing God for there to be a harvest of people getting saved.

And so it became a celebration whenever people gave their lives to Christ, and then it shifted into what we now are able to celebrate.

But its origin story was believing for a move of God.

It was a great time to believe God for a revival.

And so for me, two things can be true at the same time.

I want us to celebrate giving gifts and all the other wonderful things, but I also want us to go back and remember the original story, which is we're believing for people to come to faith.

And so, what this advent season is for us, is an opportunity to fully immerse ourselves in the biblical narrative and understanding what was happening in the context of scripture and how do we apply it in our world.

And so one of our values here at Celebration Church is we believe in reaching the lost and equipping the found.

And so what we want to do is we want to put some resources in your hand that we believe will help us to facilitate this by helping us to be an environment where people who don't know Jesus can come and feel welcome and loved and valued, but also for those who are walking with Jesus, maybe 30 or 50 years in, we want to equip you when we believe that that starts in the household.

And so the advent blocks that you see in this here in this wonderful box that's right here.

Uh for a moment, can we just put our hands together for Pastor Lindsay?

She's the one that kind of architected all of these things.

She doesn't like being put on the spot, but but she really has such a heart for families and the season of life that she's in and the way that she identifies with the challenges of being a parent and and working and all the other things we have going on and still trying to raise your children to prioritize God.

And so she has such a heart, she's such an advocate for this church.

And so she was able to identify these advent blocks that hopefully would allow you to fulfill scripture where it says, train up a child in the way that they should go.

And the way that we do that is by doing things like this.

This is meant to be fully immersive for you.

I realize that we live in a world where we feel as if we're being bombarded with all types of messages.

And what I find is that Christians are so afraid of the world.

But greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world.

So if we can raise ourselves up and raise our children in the faith, they will actually have the ability to stand and withstand the attacks of the enemy.

This is what that looks like in a fully immersive way.

Um, but for also for the rest of the family, we also have this incredible piece that that Lindsay put together.

And this is really just every day, there's a passage of scripture here.

There's some encouragement from the staff on here to keep you encouraged in this advent season at the expense of sounding like my grandmother.

What we want to make sure is that we remember that Jesus is the reason for the season.

And as much as we go out and and and buy gifts, and I'm looking forward to spending money recklessly and receiving reckless gifts, let's let's not get it twisted.

Like if the Lord moves on your heart to buy something for your pastor, that ain't the devil.

Like, go ahead and do it.

Do it.

But at the same time, let's make sure that we don't lose sight of what this season really does represent.

It's an anticipation not only of the birth of Jesus, but the expectation that he is coming back.

Can I get a good amen?

Jesus is coming back.

Can I get a good amen?

Jesus is coming back.

There's a lot of pain and suffering, but Jesus is coming back.

There's a lot of injustice, but Jesus is coming back.

And when he comes back, guess what?

That is good news.

Amen.

Amen.

If you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to join me in the Gospel of Luke, uh, chapter one.

Every year uh in the month of December, I like to read through through Luke's gospel personally and going into the book of Acts because I love the way that Luke is so detailed in his description of things.

And so that's kind of the Bible reading plan I go through.

But again, I want to encourage you in this season, find the passages of scripture that you can read daily that really will allow you to immerse yourself in the story.

As you guys are turning there, I want to give you some context as to what's going on in the world when these words were written.

We're entering into what we call the inner testamental period.

What that basically is, is that's the 400 years that separates the Old Testament from the New Testament.

That the very last words that we see in the Old Testament were written from the prophet Malachi.

And his words were is that I am going to send a messenger in the spirit of Elijah, and his assignment is to make way for the Messiah.

Those are the last words that were written to the people of God in what we refer to as the Old Testament.

In 400 years, there had not been another word from God in that time.

Now understand their context for them.

They had they had their version of scriptures, and then prophets would come and kind of let them know what was going to happen next.

So they constantly had scripture and they had a prophetic voice that would come and say, like, hey, you guys are a little off course, but but take heart, it's going to get better.

Now imagine after the words of Malachi, they haven't heard a single thing for 400 years.

So in that 400 years, there's a lot of confusion.

In that 400 years, different kingdoms have risen, the kings got corrupt, Roman occupation takes place, politics are crazy, all the drama has all been set.

And so what ends up happening is for the people of faith, they keep going back to scriptures trying to make sense of the world they've currently find themselves in.

And so as they're reading the Bible, they're coming out with these different interpretations.

And each group that had a different interpretation that turned into a different denomination.

So this is why we see Pharisees, this is why we see Sadducees, this is why we see the Essenes.

They were all birthed in that 400 years of silence.

Because what can often happen with man when we're not hearing from God, we start making stuff up and saying that we heard from God to do it.

This is what happens in that 400 years.

It's with that understanding and with that context.

I want us to enter into the passage that we're about to read, starting at verse 6.

Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God's eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord's commands and regulations.

They had no children because Elizabeth was unable to conceive, and they were both very old.

One day, Zechariah was in the temple, was serving God in the temple, for his order was on duty that week.

And as was the custom for the priests, he was chosen by Lot to enter into the sanctuary of the Lord and to burn incense.

While the incense was being burned, a great crowd stood outside praying.

While Zechariah was in the sanctuary, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar.

Zachariah was shaken and overwhelmed with fear when he saw him.

But the angel said, Don't be afraid, Zechariah.

God has heard your prayer.

Your wife Elizabeth will soon give you a son, and you are to name him John.

This angel is actually Gabriel.

And Zechariah would have been familiar with Gabriel because in scripture, Gabriel is mentioned in the Old Testament and the New.

He appears before Daniel.

So he's familiar with this powerful message that is being communicated.

But naturally, he has some concerns.

So skipping down to verse number 18, Zachariah says to the angel, How can I be sure that this will happen?

I'm an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years.

The Keith translation, he's saying, like me, my wife is old, I'm old, and we don't have any pills that can help us.

Let me keep moving on.

Okay, verse number 19.

Y'all stay with me, y'all stay with me.

It's been a while.

I got some stuff I gotta go off my chest.

Okay, then the angel said, I am Gabriel, I stand in the very presence of God.

It was he who sent me to bring you this good news.

But now, since you didn't believe what I said, you will be silent and unable to speak until the child is born.

For my words will certainly be fulfilled at the proper time.

Somebody shout, proper time.

You know, family, I've learned that patience is the root and proof of faith.

And today I want to talk to us about the season when we're waiting for God to do something in our lives.

And I've entitled today's message, Worth the Wait.

Let's pray and let's get into it.

Lord, we thank you so much for your word.

We thank you for your presence.

We thank you for allowing us to experience your presence even for the church at home weeks, and knowing that you gather with us in our homes all across the city, all across the globe.

But Father, we so value being able to gather together in your house as one body that's prioritizing your house.

So, Lord, I just pray over the next few moments that you give us open eyes to see you.

I pray that you give us open ears to hear you and open hearts to receive everything that you want to do in us today.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen and amen.

I think we all can probably agree that that that Thanksgiving seems like just uh the interlude before the main act.

It's like the opening act for Christmas, if I'm not mistaken.

I realize that when we think about what the Christmas season looks like, I know for me personally, like I know that typically we put our Christmas tree up, like normally like that Friday.

It's like a whole family tradition, the Friday after Thanksgiving.

My granddaughters are there and we put it up together.

But but this year, I'm like, man, you know what?

We're gonna do this thing on November 1st.

So we had our tree up for a while now.

It's been it's been it's been beaming light in our house for a while now.

So we we have we've been in this whole Christmas spirit mode for for quite some time now, and and and it's a great vibe, it's a great atmosphere.

But I also want to make sure that we don't just pass over the beauty that takes place during Thanksgiving.

At least for us, for the past several years, Megan and I, we have hosted many people at our home, and it's just one been one of the joys of our lives of having people come over and spending time with people and and family coming in town.

So it really is one of those transformational like moments that that we have come to appreciate.

And this year was no different.

This year we had over 18 people over our house.

Um, we had to, we did two turkeys, we did, we did two hams, we did salmon for those people who were concerned about some of the HMOs and all those other things that are in food.

Like we we went all out, we did, we did two chickens, like we had a bunch of different things going on.

And then Megan had macaroni and cheese, we had somebody brought macaroni and cheese, we did rice, we had all kinds of things going on, and I am proud to announce to you that we still got everything done around the same time.

Yes, give me my credit.

But but it it took a lot of work to accomplish this because you can't feed that many people with that much volume of food and just go willy-nilly in freestyle when you get into the kitchen.

Megan and I had to orchestrate every movement and every moment while we were in the kitchen and making sure who's gonna be using this pan at this time, who's gonna be using this pot at this time.

So it was a well-orchestrated thing, and I was able to do this because of technology.

You know what I did?

I went into ChatGBT and I wrote out all the things that I was gonna be preparing and the time we wanted it done, and said, tell me when do I need to prepare?

And it broke it all down.

And so as we were preparing and everything's laid out, we're following the timeline, and then even with the meats that we had inside of the smoker, again, two turkeys, two hams, two chicken, salmon.

But the beautiful thing that I had, which gave me an unfair advantage, is I have these meat probes, and I put these probes into every one of my and into every one of my meats.

The beautiful thing about the technology that the Lord has made available to all of us, for those of us who have faith, is that is that the probe not only tells you the current temperature of the meat, any probe will do that.

It's not only taking into consideration the current temperature of the grill, anyone can do that, but it's able to use some wizardry and use some calculations and tell me, based off of this information, this is how much longer it's gonna take until this food is done.

That is a game changer when you're cooking for so many people and you inevitably get the questions of how much longer is it gonna take?

I will just pull out my trusty app and I will say, according to this app, we have 38 more minutes.

And the family began to celebrate because I was able to pinpoint exactly.

They're smelling the aroma, they're smelling all these things going on, they're getting hungry, and they're like, Man, I can't wait to eat.

How much longer?

32 minutes.

How much longer?

One minute since you last asked me.

Like you just you're you're counting it down, but it's a beautiful thing.

And I began to think about that.

What if, what if we actually had something like that that worked in real life?

What if we were able to have an app and we were able to say, my wife is acting a fool right now?

Not my wife, this is hyperbole.

But she's not in here, so I can say what I want.

Okay, my wife is acting a fool right now.

I'm gonna add in the ingredients of prayer, I'm gonna add in three scriptures, and I'm going to wait, and based off of this calculation, I'm gonna be in this season of disappointment for only two weeks.

I can I can deal with that.

I can sleep in another room for two weeks, it's okay.

I can watch what I want to watch, and I don't have to worry about watching some of these reality shows.

It's okay.

Like, you gotta find a way to make it work.

What if you're you're dealing with a season of financial struggle and you're like, okay, financial struggle, here's my situation, here's what I'm gonna do, hit enter, and it's like, okay, based off of this tabulation, you are gonna be financially free in one month.

Well, praise the Lord.

I can wait this thing out for one month.

Oh, your kids are acting a fool?

There's an app for that.

Let me put in the behavior of my child.

What scriptures do I need to read?

What prayers do I need to pray?

What do I need to do and anoint them?

And then I can look and see, hey, based off of all of this information, if you do these six things, your kids are going to be completely delivered, obedient, doing exactly what you told them to do, washing the dishes, making sure their rooms are clean.

I'm talking to some parents that have had these conversations.

You're saying that I could put all this information into an app and I can get these results.

Wouldn't that be absolutely amazing?

But sadly, that doesn't exist.

So, what do you do when you're dealing with life situations and you're saying to yourself, I am bringing all of my ingredients that I know to bring?

I'm bringing prayer, I'm bringing scripture, I'm going to church, I'm inviting people to come alongside me, but Lord, I'm asking you, when will it be done?

When when when will this disappointment be done?

When will this suffering be done?

When when will my marriage be restored?

When when will my kids start acting right?

When will my finances be in order?

When will it be done?

And as we're in these seasons, it's a lot of times that we can find ourselves getting frustrated because we're in a moment and we don't know when the end is coming, and it can cause us to get anxious, it can cause us to get frustrated, and it can cause us to leave the position that God told us to be rooted in.

So, what do you do when God's not done?

What do you do when you're doing what God has told you to do, but it's not done yet?

You wait.

And I know that that's not something that we're signing up to do.

It says no person ever, I don't know how long I'm gonna be suffering, but sign up for that.

Nobody gets into that line.

No one goes to the store and they're looking to get into the longest line in the store.

No one is looking to get behind the slowest car when you're riding on the road.

We all want to get to where we want to get to as quickly as possible.

But it seems as if when we're in that season of waiting, God is doing something on the inside of us.

So we wait.

It's not comfortable, so we wait.

We often find ourselves in these places where we're saying, God, your word says, taste and see that the Lord is good.

But when will it be done?

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, right?

But when will it be done?

Lord, I know that you said that you're good, but this situation isn't good.

I know that you say that I will be blessed because I'm pursuing righteousness, but I'm still my stomach is still feeling very empty.

Lord, when will it be done?

And I believe it's in these moments that God is doing something inside of us that is meant to transform the way that we see all of it.

We have to be patient.

But the important thing for us to grab a hold of, if there's one thing you walk away with, is that patience is not passively waiting, it's actively preparing.

It's not being at a place where, Lord, I'll start doing it when you call my number.

No, we need to live lives of preparation as if when it happens, I am ready for it when he calls me.

You guys know how much of a sports fan I am, particularly of the Philadelphia Eagles who are 10 and 1.

Um somebody gets saved.

They know it.

So you guys know how much of a sports fan I am.

So here's another sports analogy.

Y'all stick with me if you're not.

But what we know about the the about football is that there's a lot of hard work and preparation that leads up to game day.

They're looking at film, they're looking at plays, they're doing a lot of preparation that leads them up to game day, and all that preparation leads them to a moment where they're standing on the field.

They have an opponent, they have a strategy, but nobody can move until the quarterback says hike.

But guess what?

They are not passively waiting.

The linemen are not just standing there waiting, they're in a position, a posture of preparation, waiting for when the moment comes, they are ready to move into it.

My question is, are we waiting for God to do something, but we're not doing something while we're waiting?

What if God were to answer your prayer right now?

Are you really ready to step into it?

Because I believe this that if you start preparing, when he says yes, you're already too late.

When God called me to preach, I was practicing preaching in the mirror before anyone ever put me on a stage because I knew that when I did have the opportunity, that wasn't the time to prepare.

What is the thing that God has called you to do that you're not practicing because you're waiting for someone to open the door?

But what if your faithfulness in this season is the thing that actually opens the door?

What I believe God wants us to do is understand that patience is endurance and action.

So when we look at the story of Zachariah and Elizabeth, we are witnessing people who exhibited characteristics of profound patience and seasons when nothing seemed on the surface as if there was something worth celebrating.

But yet they remain steadfast.

There's three principles I want to give us really quick to encourage us because I believe that with a room of this size, with people that are listening online, with those who may be listening to the podcast, that there's some amongst us that are in a season of waiting.

There's something that we're believing God for and we haven't seen it yet.

So what do you do in these seasons?

I believe we can look at scripture to be encouraged from it.

Here's the first thing we have to do be faithful.

Be faithful.

And what I mean by being faithful, it means stay diligent in doing the thing that God has called you to do.

Let me unpack this a little bit.

Scripture tells us that Zechariah had been chosen to be a priest who was serving on this particular day when God had had this profound encounter with him.

But here's his context.

400 years of hearing nothing from God, but he was faithful.

His wife wasn't able to produce children, but he was faithful.

The governing world that he was living in was corrupt, but he was faithful.

The king of Israel was corrupt and compromised, but he was faithful.

The priests and other churches and other temple people, they were all corrupt, but he was faithful.

What I want us to recognize is that his faithfulness wasn't determined by his dilemma.

That he was able to be faithful regardless of what his external circumstances are.

I believe that there's a lesson for that in every single one of us, that we don't allow our dilemma to determine our dedication.

We're faithful.

See, the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 15 to be steadfast, unmovable, always abiding in the work of the Lord.

Our work is not in vain.

That everything that we do for God is never wasted.

That even if it seems as if it's not being recognized, it's never wasted.

That we're called to be faithful, we're called to be diligent, we're called to hold the line.

See, faith is not just an ingredient for a miracle, that would make it a transaction.

It's the foundation for transformation.

That there's times when we're in seasons of waiting, that God is doing things in us before he does something on the outside with the things that we're facing.

What if, what if God were to answer your prayer, but you actually don't have the maturity or the ability to sustain what he puts into your hands?

What if the delay is actually a blessing so that you can grow into maturity to handle what he does?

Places in your hands.

This is why, statistically, whenever people win the lottery, it actually causes more destruction in their lives than when they were broke.

Because they fast track them getting resources that they didn't have the maturity to handle, and it causes them to self-destruct.

What if the delay is the delay is not a denial, but it's simply God saying, I want to do something in you before I put something into your hands because I need a transformation in your heart first.

We have to continue to be faithful.

We have to be steadfast.

We have to understand that God is doing something significant in every single one of our lives.

I've noticed that when God speaks, He speaks to us at the last place that He told us to be.

What we see with Zachariah is that while he was being faithful to where he was supposed to be, he had an encounter with God that redirected his entire life.

The Bible talks to us about David and how David was given the assignment to go out and be a shepherd boy while there was a party going on.

Inside of him and inside of myself, I would have been like, man, what's the party about?

I would have left the sheep.

I would have gone in and be like, hey man, where's the drinks at?

Like I would have completely abandoned my assignment.

But David on the inside, something he said.

He said, I know that the Lord knows and he sees me.

I don't need to position myself in the environment.

God knows exactly where you are, so I'm going to be faithful to the place that he called me to be.

Moses was out in the wilderness with sheep, but then he had a divine encounter at a burning bush with God.

So many of us are so quick to want to uproot ourselves and move to another location because I think my strategy and my ability to get into certain rooms are going to be the things that gives me favor.

No, be exactly the place that God told you to be because when he speaks, he's going to speak at the last place he told you to be at.

Be faithful.

I know it may not feel good, but be faithful.

I know the marriage isn't thriving right now, but be faithful.

I know that right now your finances aren't in order, but be faithful.

Continue to be faithful to the thing that God has placed in your hand so that he can do a transformation in your heart.

Here's the second thing I want us to do: be persistent.

We have to be faithful, but we also have to be persistent.

The angel comes before Zachariah and he tells him, Hey, man, don't be afraid.

Your prayer has been heard, your wife is going to have a son.

Now, you have to understand from his perspective that while he's faithfully serving God, he's also taken inventory of his current reality.

I'm an old man.

I haven't heard from God.

My wife and I are up in age.

We're past the stage of reproduction.

So for him, it would have been easy for him to stop praying about having a son.

Because you kind of get to a point where you look at your current reality and you look at the circumstance, and then we shift and we say, I'm not even going to pray about that anymore.

It seems as if that season has passed.

I've been thinking quite a bit about what are the prayers that I no longer pray because I don't want to deal with the disappointment.

What are the things that I stopped pursuing because I've convinced myself that God doesn't have it for me, so I don't even pursue what God's best is for me.

I'm talking to some people right now that they've kind of gotten to a place where they've withdrawn and just accepted their lot in life.

And instead of pursuing it and seeking after God, they've stopped being persistent and just accepted that, hey, maybe this is the good as it's ever going to get.

But the Bible shows us that whenever there's a discrepancy between what God's word says and my current reality, that I need to continue to seek, I need to continue to search, I need to continue to pursue, I need to be persistent.

What are the things that we've stopped praying about?

What are the things that we've convinced ourselves that this is my reality and this is as good as it's ever going to get?

I I want us to walk away with this.

There's a big difference between dormant and dead.

See, when you're in the agricultural world, we understand that there's seasons, and each season plays a critical part.

And when we enter into winter season, on the surface, it may look as if the plant, it may look as if the grass is dead, but it's actually dormant.

Because what's happening beneath the surface is that energy is being diverted and re-reshifted so that when the opportune time is right, that when the environment is right, it has what it needs to break forth and to grow and to produce fruit.

Somebody has been walking around here believing that your situation is dead.

It's not dead, it's just dormant.

Somebody has been convinced that this is as good as it's ever going to get and I'm going to bury it, but it's not dead, it's just dormant.

This is why we have to be persistent.

We have to continue to toil the ground.

We have to continue to plant seeds.

We have to continue to trust God, knowing that if God says I can have it, I'm going to have it.

I'm not going to accept anything less than what God's word says is for me and my family.

But I am going to be persistent.

I'm going to pray.

I'm going to keep on seeking.

I'm going to keep on searching.

I'm going to keep on showing up.

I'm going to keep on serving.

I'm going to keep on giving.

Because God's word says to be persistent.

I'm not going to let it go until God blesses me.

My breakthrough's on the other side, but I am going to be persistent.

I'm going to keep praying.

I'm going to keep seeking.

The third and final thing I want to share with us is be silent.

Sometimes we just got to learn to be silent.

We have to talk about everything.

We have something to say about everything.

We have an opinion about everything.

We speak about everything.

But the Bible says that life and death is in the power of the tongue.

That you literally have the ability to speak words of life over things, or you can speak words that distract from what God's purpose and value is for that thing.

Watch this.

This man who was well learned in scripture.

This man who understood what the Old Testament was.

This man who was familiar with the prophecies.

This man that was familiar with the miracles he's seen in scripture, man to come from heaven.

This man has seen the eyes open.

This man has seen the Red Sea parted through God's word.

This man has seen that with Abraham and Sarah, that God was able to use that old couple and allow them to give birth to a child.

So when God's word shows up and says to him, You have been chosen to carry on this lineage and set the tone for the Messiah, he says, God, you got the wrong person.

How can I know that these things are going to come to pass?

See, when I look at this, I often find myself asking in the scripture, Zachariah is not the first person to express doubt and something that God has said.

He's not the first person that ever said, Lord, can you prove this to me?

Are you sure?

Gideon doesn't.

Moses says, God, you got the wrong man.

There's a ton of people that have all said, Lord, I don't know if you got the right person.

So what made him have this consequence of being silent is because of the position that he was in.

Watch this.

Zachariah was a priest.

He understood God's word.

He understood the influence that God had given him.

And when he heard God's word, instead of him meditating on it and recognizing that God's favor was on him, he began to talk himself out of it.

And God knew that if I allow you to walk out of this room because of the influence and the way that people look up to you, that you can say some words that can distract other people's faith and it can begin to spread throughout everyone.

So the best thing you can do in this season is just be quiet.

Here's what I know.

Every one of us are looking to hear from God.

Every one of us are looking to hear a fresh word, a word that reminds us, a word that reinforces something, a word that encourages us, a word that can even challenge us from time to time.

And whether we're showing up here in church and we hear the worship leader say something, maybe Pastor Nate gets up here and shares a scripture that seems to speak directly to your heart.

Maybe I get up here and I'm sharing something with you that you can resonate with, and you can say, like, man, that's that's really for me.

This is the evidence of the Holy Spirit depositing something into my life.

But can I tell you what often happens on the other side?

When I'm outside and I'm talking with people, a lot of times people are like, Hey man, great message, man.

I would love to get some time to talk with you.

I would absolutely love to talk to you.

Let's let's figure this out, let's figure out what our schedule.

Yeah, let me break down my situation.

And as you're unpacking it, I'm thinking, man, like this message was perfectly for this situation.

Okay, we can meet, let's talk about how we apply it.

And as I begin to do that, oh no, I know what you're saying, man.

But let me explain to you why my situation is bigger and more powerful than God's word.

You can come into an environment that you hear exactly what you need to hear.

You can hear a song that you needed to hear, you can hear a scripture you needed to hear, you can hear a message that you needed to hear.

And by the time you walk out of this door, we can begin to talk ourselves out of receiving what God wants to do in our hearts.

Because we can talk ourselves in and out of anything.

This is why Jesus, when he gives us profound parable about the sower, he said to be careful.

Everybody right over there?

We got security in here.

I just want to make sure we're good.

DJ, you want it?

Okay, cool.

All right.

We have to be careful that when we hear these words that are meant to bring about incredible transformation in our lives, that we don't allow our fear to be loudered in our faith.

And it can begin to say, I know that God's word says this, but I know that God said he's bringing restoration, but I know that he says he can heal, but we end up talking ourselves out of the very thing that God has said for us.

So sometimes the best thing that we can do is just be quiet.

There have been times that I've been encounters with God's presence and God's word, and when I look at my situation, I don't know how God is going to close the gap.

But instead of me speaking negatively about it, God, I I trust you, and I'm just gonna wait.

I know that you said that we're gonna get this house, but I don't know how, but I'll wait.

Life and death is in the power of the tongue, and when we're in seasons of waiting, maybe the thing that is distracting you from staying the course is how you're talking about the thing that you're struggling with.

God, I'm believing for my marriage.

My husband is awful, he's terrible, he doesn't do this, he doesn't do that.

But God, I want you to fix it.

How are those words contributing to God moving and doing something in the context of your relationship?

If all of your words about that thing is about how big the problem is and how small God is.

But what if we said, God, I see what your word says, here's my current reality, but I also know that your word says that what God is joined together, let no man separate.

What if I begin to declare God's word over it?

Or if I'm just silent and I meditate and say, Lord, I don't have the words to speak, but I trust you and I know that it is worth the wait because when you finish with this thing, when you're done with this thing, that lives are gonna be transformed as a result of it.

So even though I don't have the words to speak, I'm just gonna be silent, I'm gonna be faithful, I'm gonna be persistent, and I'm gonna watch you do what only you can do, but I'm not gonna put my mouth on it, I'm not gonna speak negatively about it, I'm just gonna wait.

Just yesterday, I made some um incredible beef ribs for my beloved wife.

They were amazing.

And and and one of the things as I was making them, we were upstairs watching TV, and she said to me, She's like, Hey, um, when will they be ready?

She could smell it in the house, and I was like, hey, I said, What's the app say?

So she pulled out the app, she said, It says 28 minutes.

I said, Okay, great.

Now here's what you gotta understand because of the cut of media that it is, not only does it have to finish the 28 minutes, but we have to let it rest.

We have to let it rest for a little bit.

She wasn't happy about that.

She's like, So I see 28 minutes, but it may last longer.

She's like, Yeah.

She said, Well, well, can't you just turn it up a little bit hotter so that we can get through a little bit quicker?

Because I think that what can happen is when we see that there's a delay, we can have the temptation of saying, What can I do to make this move along a little bit quicker?

But if I would have changed the temperature, if I would have begun to move the meat around, then it would have lost the momentum that was established and it would have come at the cost of the texture.

So I believe that sometimes we want microwave solutions to crock pot problems.

Sometimes, sometimes we just gotta sit and marinate in the presence of God and allow that to go so deep down in our core that I'm saying to myself that when it's all said and done, the flavor of grace is gonna be all the way down to my bone marrow.

So, yes, I'm gonna wait.

It's worth the wait.

I don't like what I'm in right now, but I don't wanna be a surface-level Christian, so I'm gonna wait.

I'm gonna allow grace to marinate in my life.

I'm gonna allow love to marinate in me so deeply that whenever you take a fight of what God is doing in my life, the grace will come out, that mercy will come out, that love will come out, that peace will come out, but it only can come out if I wait.

The Lord is not comfortable, but I'm gonna wait.

I don't like where I'm at right now, but I'm gonna wait.

It's very dark in here right now, but I'm gonna wait.

I'm gonna trust you, Lord, and I'm gonna wait on the Lord, and my strength will be renewed.

I'm gonna put my weight on you, Lord, because the Bible says on him because it cares for you.

So even when I can't stand and I'm strict, I'm gonna put my weight on the Lord while I'm waiting on the Lord because I can't do this on my yoke, but I am going to wait.

I'm not gonna move it, I'm not gonna change it, I am going to wait.

Somebody needs to just shut up.

I'm gonna wait.

Just wait.

I know that there's temptation for you to move, just wait.

I know that you want to take matters into your own hands, just wait.

God is working it all out, and what the angel says is in the proper time.

See, let me help you understand the nuances of when Jesus came.

What the Bible tells us is that by the time that Jesus came, Roman rule and occupancy was all in that region, and I often find myself asking, why did God wait until that time in order for the Messiah to be born?

But then I began to think a little bit about the influence of Roman culture, of how they literally were the ones who paved roads that connected countries to one another, that they literally came out with strategies and technologies that allowed them to get to places quicker than you typically would expect.

So, what if the waiting season that we see is God waiting for the perfect circumstances because the very thing that paved the way for Roman rule was the very avenues that God used to expand his kingdom?

What if God is allowing some things to line up so that when he does that new thing in your life, it'll go faster, quicker than you ever could imagine.

Because my God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we can ask or think.

My God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that I can ask or think.

God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that I can ask or think.

So I don't want to get out of position, I don't want it to go too quickly, I don't want to go too late, but I want to be exactly where it's at, so that when God shows up, there's gonna be a miracle.

That when God shows up, he only gets the credit.

When God shows up, he will get the glory.

When God shows up, it'll be resurrection.

When God shows up, blonde eyes will open.

When God shows up, it is all for him.

I wanna ask everybody to stand on their feet because we're gonna go into a time of worship.

And what I can suspect is in this room, every one of us has something that we're waiting for.

We're waiting for a breakthrough, we're waiting for a miracle, and we're saying to ourselves, when will it be done?

In its proper time.

But I assure you, it'll be worth the wait.

Lord, I thank you so much for your presence.

I thank you for what you're doing amongst your community right now and the transformation that's taking place.

Lord, we commit to you right now that we are going to be faithful, we're gonna be steadfast in doing what you've called us to do, even if the circumstances aren't ideal.

Father, we're gonna be persistent, we're gonna continue to call on your name, we're gonna continue to pray, and we will not accept anything less than what you have for us.

And Father, we are absolutely, we're 100% are going to be committed to your call and we're gonna be silent.

If we can't speak words of life or words of affirmation, we're not gonna speak it on it at all because we know life and death is in the power of the tongue, and we choose to speak words of life.

So, Father, I pray that while we're waiting, while we're being patient, that you strengthen us and that you come alongside us in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Come on, church, let's work together.

Thanks again for listening.

We hope you enjoyed today's message.

We'd love for you to subscribe to our podcast and review and share what you've heard today.

If you'd like more content like this, or you'd like to connect with us, go to celebrationorl.org.

We hope you join us next time.