Full Service I Sunday, October 4, 2020

one lord we do thank you and we love you and we praise you we lift your name up high this morning [Music] all of you weak and wondering all those who are yet to find come lay your burdens down [Music] you'll take all of the chains you breathe all your thirst with no relief and all those [Music] come on [Music] the [Music] [Music] come on [Music] and we are the daughters [Music] to praise [Music] come to the father's feet he'll take the plant and make them see let's lift that up this morning come on [Music] [Music] praise the king [Music] [Music] no matter where i you will always take me back [Music] high above me all the glory be to you [Music] [Music] no matter where i am [Music] and all the glory [Music] high above me all the glory alone are worthy no matter where i am [Music] god almighty [Music] [Music] [Music] full of mercy high above me all the glory be to you god almighty [Music] you [Music] jesus you endured my pain [Music] savior you bore all my shame all because of [Music] [Music] all because of your love all because of your love because of your cross my dead is day because of your blood my sins are washed away now all of my life because of your love because [Music] you died to set the captive free all because of your love [Music] lord you gave your life for me [Music] so i will live my life for you all because of your love oh it's all because of your love because of your cross my dead is made because of your blood oh my sins are washed away now all of my life because of your love [Music] you because it for me you did it for love it's your victory jesus you are enough you did it for me you did it for love it's your victory jesus [Music] jesus [Music] my is i freely give because of your love because [Music] is [Music] [Music] so [Music] all the angels are falling on their faces [Music] [Music] [Music] holy [Music] jesus said song this morning though we do lift your name up high we know that as we sing your praises lord [Music] lord it's a sweet offering to you so we lift up these songs these cries of holy to a god that is worthy [Music] the enemy is undone by your name and on our knees as we desperately surrender the darkness [Music] [Applause] will never stop singing [Music] jesus [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] yours is [Music] is is [Music] yours is [Music] [Music] holy [Applause] [Music] we'll jesus stop singing [Music] jesus sits on before you call me jesus it's only for you and holding jesus lord we're so thankful to be able to sing holy as sort of heaven practice as that song of heaven holy holy holy is the lord god almighty it's uh being declared before your throne lord we look forward to the day where we can sing that song in your presence on the throne lord i pray that that this worship service would be kind of a rehearsal for for that day when we come to worship you in heaven but lord we're thankful that we can know that you're right here with us for you inhabit the praises of your people and you dwell in the place of praise so we're glad to be in the sanctuary with your people lord whether they're here in the building or out watching online lord i pray that you would just make yourself um lord just right there with each person lord in a way that would be tangible and and that we'd sense your presence lord and that your spirit would teach us as we study the scriptures lord i pray that we have understanding and application of the truth of scripture lord that your word would do its work today and so we pray blessing now in this service and we thank you for being here in jesus name amen amen and why don't you have a seat and make yourself comfy good to see you all thanks you guys good work you got to love these guys four times just cranking it out for us you know and what a blessing yeah thank you thank you thank you [Applause] you know uh when other groups were uh you know recording once and then rebroadcasting oh earlier these guys were playing it every single time doing it even when nobody was in the building which is kind of cool i gotta give them some kudos for that um but hey we're glad you're in the building we're glad you're with us it's great to have real people uh in the sanctuary and um it was a little lonely here for a while but why don't you turn to the upcoming wednesday night study section isaiah chapter 64. as we uh pull our study from our upcoming wednesday night we'll take a verse out of our upcoming we'll look at the whole chapter chapters 63 and 64. but turn with me to isaiah chapter 64 for today's lesson i love being able to zoom in on some of these passages and really meditate on think about what uh what we can learn uh from the isaiah the prophet there's no end really to what the scriptures declare and show uh but the topic of the day well here it is it's weight training are you guys ready for a little weight training lesson you're like bro what do you know about weight training well as it turns out i used to do quite a bit of you know powerlift i even have competed in powerlifting but i'm not going to talk about that uh i'm going to actually talk about this kind of weight training uh and this is the harder one if you ask me not weight as in lifting weights but wait like being patient weight training is what we're going to talk about and i can i can bet that some of you guys in here are not so good at that uh if you're like me man it's so hard to be patient and wait for stuff um you know we live in a culture that is right here and now man if you're hungry go through the drive-through if you need money go to an atm uh man if you if you're uh you know wanting to uh go on vacation you just make you know to get tickets online if you want to go uh get food get go to amazon and have it dropped off by a drone on your front porch you're like like we live in this culture it's like i want it here and i want it now and and uh patience well that's not a very modern thing um isn't it funny like you know when abraham lincoln became president it took like weeks and weeks for the west coast side of you know this this country you know to even know who the president was it was a long haul to get information now man everything's in real time and uh and because of that we've become a very impatient bunch but one of the things that the bible does speak a lot about is being those who would wait upon the lord waiting on the lord what does that mean is it important when you're talking about rightly dividing the word of truth which is a the way paul talks about it but it's interpreting scripture and knowing what's important and getting the point one of the things that i want to give you guys some advice on if you want to be a good bible student you'll be good at counting become good at counting um what do i mean by counting well how much how often does the lord bring up any given subject you know um it's funny how the church focuses on things that i don't think the lord focuses on often oftentimes you know um i i tell talk about this you know but some churches you go to all they were talking about is ties and offerings like you'll do a 20-week series uh for on ties and offerings and um and and then next year they'll do another 20-week series on it's like wow the bible must be packed full of you know tithe and offering scriptures but as it turns out if you if you're going verse by verse chapter by chapter like we do it comes up maybe once every few years um i i can uh count on one hand how many sermons i've done uh in the last 25 years here at the creek on tithes and offerings now it comes up once in a while in our wednesday night bible study as we've been going through the bible little mentions of giving and stuff but it's it's not i mean it's important but it's not it's not all through the bible cover to cover here's another one that gets i think maybe more importance in people's mind in fact people make their decision of what church they go to based on this the worship team man is the worship good is the song list good is the worship director know what he's doing she's doing and people will make decisions about going to church but but how many times question in the new testament church in the new testament does the bible talk about your worship team or a worship director as it turns out not one time it's not even mentioned once in fact nowhere in the new testament do you see a worship director and now i'm not making an argument for no worship i love you know i love music i love leading worship i think it's important but man there's people that say i'm not going to that church because their worship team is not what i think it should be now what does it talk about about teaching the bible or prayer or those kinds of notions man it's all throughout the new testament now by the way worship is mentioned jesus sang one song in the upper room that's one mention in the new testament uh another mention is you know there in ephesians where we're sing spiritual songs in hymns spiritual songs singing making melody in our hearts you know that that's that's another one but that's pretty much it we see people worshiping in the throne room of heaven and book of revelation but it's a really minor minor thing the reason i say that is not to diminish worship i love that but man are there other themes that might be more important in god's heart in his mind i'm reminded of the elders of israel they came to the lord one year and said lord we have been fasting and praying for these 70 years each time of this month and we we want to know is should we keep fasting and praying as we've done for these seven years lord says you've been fasting and praying because you wanted to do it but i don't care it's not something i'm wanting you to do what i want you to do is show mercy to and be kind to the poor like the lord just said whatever it's kind of an amazing thing where they they thought they were so holy because they were fasting and praying but the lord says you're doing that for your own reasons but what i'm interested in was totally different the reason i think you should be good at counting is when you when we go verse by verse chapter by chapters of the bible there's some things you go man the lord talks about this a lot one of those topics is this idea of waiting on the lord it's just all throughout scripture and this verse here tells us something really good something really cool about those who wait on the lord let's check it out it's isaiah 64 verse 4 644 and here it says for since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear neither hath the i seen o god beside thee what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him king james word for wait wait uh this weight training that we're gonna do here it it's it's it's this idea of learning to wait on the lord isaiah 64 4. this scripture here is is the one that i think we should focus on and meditate on because there's good things that come to those who wait what kind of good things well the lord says eye hasn't seen nor has ear ever heard and it's it's never even come into the heart of man uh we're going to read in another passage of this verse a little bit later but the the glorious wonderful things that the lord is preparing for those who wait on him waiting on the lord good things come to those who wait and and we can't even imagine how good they are that's what the bible's saying now when i think about what the lord is preparing for us what is he preparing well jesus kind of filled in the blank there didn't he in john chapter 14. jesus said in my father's house are many mansions better translation dwelling places and he says if this were not so i would have told you i go to prepare a place for you um that where i am there you may be also where you and i are going to go if you're a christian and you're saved and you're going to go to heaven the lord jesus has been preparing a place for you and here we read that eye has not seen nor era has heard it's never even come into the mind of man how this is going to really be but my mind starts to kind of imagine some pretty amazing things when i realized that jesus was there at creation if you know your bible colossians talks about this because jesus is god and um and how long did it take jesus the lord to make the earth well he made it in six days on the seventh day he rested and i think this world's pretty cool man when you look at the beauty around us the mountains the rivers the lakes the the stars of the sky and the sun and man just so many good things that we we just go wow the lord is amazing six days but jesus told us when he was getting ready to you know die and be crucified and then ascend into heaven he says i go to prepare a place for you and he said that almost 2 000 years ago i think heaven is going to be so amazing that's why the bible doesn't even really attempt to explain it have you ever noticed that about heaven like verses like this eye is not seen ear has not heard and like paul's going to say never even entered into the heart of man the glorious things that the lord has prepared for those his children those that wait upon him it's going to be great and it's indescribable that's why when paul was taken up into heaven he says well there was a vision or i went there for real he said i don't know but what i saw there was unlawful for me to even speak um paul didn't didn't even try to explain it'd be like if i gave you this assignment we sit down this little one-month-old baby there he is drooling in his little high chair kind of the little blob of a one one month old child and i say now your job is to explain disneyland to that one month old tell them all about it you're like well there's this ride called the pirates ride and a pirate is a well and these boats and water and uh yoho and you wouldn't know what to explain how do you explain the pi space mountain how do you explain that to a one month old baby well the one month if you took the one month old baby on the space mountain uh probably be terrifying for that child um it's too much too much so in the same way god says you guys when we talk about heaven it's just a little too much for you i'm not even gonna i'm not even gonna try but i has not seen nor has ear ever heard and it's never even entered the heart of man the things that god has prepared for his people but in this verse it says he's prepared for those who wait on him that's the key waiting on the lord now i don't know about you but i want to be a part of this i want to be someone who's in this category that waits on the lord so so does the bible talk a lot about waiting on the lord can i rapid fire some scriptures for you um because the bible i talked about being a good counter i'm just going to give you some of my favorites this isn't even exhaustive but check this out you can jot these scriptures down in your notes if you want to psalm 27 14 wait on the lord and be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart wait i say on the lord this is you know the psalmist saying it twice that's how important it is wait on the lord wait a lord and what will happen be of good courage and he will strengthen your heart if you're waiting on the lord what a what a promise associated with those who wait on the lord psalm 27 14 psalm 37 7 rest in the lord and wait patiently for him fret not thyself because of him who prospers in his way because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass do we have wicked devices around us we did a sermon two weeks ago on wickedness it's all around us and you kind of wonder what's the deal well here those who rest and wait patiently on the lord doesn't have to fret or be afraid psalm 37 7. lamentations 3 26 it is good that a man should both hope excuse me and quietly wait for the salvation of the lord man i'm just getting started psalm 37 9 but those that wait upon the lord they shall inherit the earth psalm 37 34 wait on the lord and keep his way and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land proverbs 20 22 but wait on the lord and he shall save thee isaiah 30 verse 18. we read this just a few weeks ago blessed are they that wait for him here's one that we read a few weeks ago to isaiah 40 31 but they that wait upon the lord shall renew their strength and many of you know the rest of that we'll talk about that in a second isaiah 49 23 they for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me implication if you don't wait on the lord you might end up being ashamed i i've been there done that uh we'll talk about that too lamentations 3 25 for the lord is good unto them that wait for him to the soul that seeketh him i want you to notice on that last one there's a link between those who wait on the lord and those that seek the lord it's it's part of the same process waiting and seeking there's a little heads up for you so the idea of waiting on the lord i'm just giving you my favorite verses there's it's just the bible's chock full of the admonition that you and i both old testament and new testament that we should wait upon the lord so what does waiting on the lord look like well there's all kinds of examples you know the old testament is full of great stories and a mistake is made by bible readers when they think well what do these old testament stories have to do with me you know so what david fought a bunch of philistines and killed them so what abraham you know had a baby with sarah what does that mean to me well do you understand the old testament is a beautiful picture book illustrations teaching us new testament truths it sort of brings the hay down from the loft for the believer when the bible says stuff like wait upon the lord we're like what does that mean what does it not mean well there's there's a plethora of examples throughout the old testament that are just beautiful pictures ask abraham what it means to wait on the lord there's a guy who both did pretty well for a long time but then he blew it at the end do you remember when god told abraham as a fairly young man maybe even in his 20s the lord said abraham i'm going to make a view a mighty nation and you and your wife sarah will give birth to a child and out of that child will come a mighty nation which would be the hebrews the jews and so abraham here's that promise and so he waits and he waits he waits past his 30s and past his 40s into his 50s uh-oh and sarah and here are not getting any younger you know and the lord said yep through you guys even the lord visited abraham and reminded him when they were getting older in their 80s lord through sarah and sarah was listening behind the tens remember sarah laughs and said am i going to have a child at my age and lord says uh sarah why did you just laugh and she said i didn't laugh and the lord said yes you did true story you don't want to argue with the lord because he hears all that but what's amazing about abraham and sarah they get up into their 80s and they get this promise of the lord and sarah says abraham i'm old this isn't going to this isn't going to happen we need to help the lord along and so here's my handmaid hagar she was a lady they picked up down in egypt and this woman hagar you know sarah says go sleep with her and have a baby with her and then that'll be the lord's promised child and abram's like cool whatever and he goes and sleeps with hagar she becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son and they name him ishmael and abraham says my son ishmael oh that he may live and prosper and the lord says that's not the promised son i said through abraham and sarah that's not the one oops and pretty soon into her 90s suddenly sarah is pregnant but that can't happen don't say can't when the lord is involved so the lord makes a 90-year-old woman pregnant maybe she was really in great shape or something i don't know but uh the lord made this happen she gets pregnant has this baby and they name him isaac and isaac is the promised child that the lord spoke of through abraham and sarah you see abraham and sarah got hasty and tried to help things along and they got ahead of the lord and tried to make stuff happen always a big mistake was that a mistake ishmael and isaac how'd they get along well the bible tells us that ishmael and isaac didn't get along and sarah said abraham get that woman and her son out of here they're being mean to isaac and so they kick they kick hagar and ishmael out and ishmael believe it or not becomes the father of another nation called the people group called the arabs the arab nation came from ishmael also a son of abraham how have they been getting along ever since there's a little thing we call the arab israeli conflict it's been going for thousands of years all because abraham didn't wait on the lord now before we're too hard on abraham and sarah they did wait like 85 years you got to give them credit 85 years that's pretty good waiting um but isn't that should be a lesson to us one of the things we're learning right now in this lesson is waiting on the lord could be your whole life you could be waiting on the lord your whole life for something to happen and it seems to me like the lord's good with that he's okay with saying you know what you're gonna wait your whole life yeah but what if i don't want it doesn't matter you might wait your whole life but you see we view this world in this life as something big but this world in this life is just a blip on the screen eternity is what matters we'll talk about that in a second so abraham and sarah just ask them about waiting on the lord and what that means and is it a problem when you get ahead of the lord they learned but it's not just abraham what about jacob the grandson of abraham remember that story there's a guy who had to wait on the lord for what he wanted he wanted to marry a girl boy that's one of the problems i see when people aren't waiting on the lord when they're young and wanting to get married to someone it's a big goof to not wait on the lord on that one the biggest decision you'll make in your life getting married um but i see people going like yeah brad we want you to marry us how long you know three weeks three weeks you you think this guy's good he's been great for three weeks and i always say anybody can be cool for three weeks but have you seen the real hymn do you know what you're getting into and you know making sure to seek the lord and wait on the lord people get hasty when it comes to the idea of marriage but not jacob jacob goes to rachel's house uncle laban and says i would like to marry rachel it's cool but you have to work for me for seven years and then when you're done working then seven years then you can marry my daughter and so jacob's like cool he loved rachel so much the day the years seemed like days to him and finally when the seven years were over they they get the wedding together and out comes the girl all heavily veiled like they did in those days where you couldn't even see her and you know they did the wedding you do you don't you will you won't they're married and they go into the bride chamber and you know they they sleep together well he wakes up in the morning and looks under the sheets and there's his wife and it's not rachel it's her sister leah now i'm sorry about this but the bible says that when you looked at leah it made your eyes hurt that's what the bible says now some of you don't like that but it doesn't matter the lord is just by the inspirational holy spirit says she was just ugly poor leah now by the way the thing i love about this story is if you read the whole story leah kind of wins in the end like in a lot of ways the lord really blesses leah um even though she was visually challenged if or whatever you call that you know how do you say it nicely the bible says made your eyes hurt when you looked at her so there's j you know jacob waking up in the morning and there's leah in his bed and he says laban what have you done i was going to marry rachel and he said oh that's not our custom we marry off her first then you can marry rachel but you got to work seven more years for her see that's where jacob he had to wait and be patient and trust that the lord knew what he was doing even with shifty old uncle laban but the problem is a lot of people aren't willing to do the time and wait and be patient and so they hurry and they get themselves into trouble like abraham i'm waiting on the lord don't just ask abraham don't just ask you know jacob what about joseph joseph is a good example of what it means to be patient and wait upon the lord because the lord gave joseph if you remember there in genesis you know joseph was given a dream where the lord was going to prosper and bless him and even his brothers and his parents would eventually bow down in honor to joseph and he saw that in a dream now he went and told his brother say someday you guys are going to bow down and honor before me and they hated him for it and so they took joseph and dragged him down into the wilderness and threw him in a well like a big deep pit and left him there to die but then one of the brothers said maybe we shouldn't leave him to die maybe we should make some money off our brother we'll sell him as a slave so they pull him up out of the hole sell them to the ishmaelites where like gypsies going down by the the side there and then the israelites dragged joseph down to egypt and sold him as a slave and there joseph was a slave for years then while he was a slave to make matters worse he already been thrown in a pit left for dead dragged out and sold as a slave now as a slave he's falsely accused of rape and so you know they throw him in prison there in egypt and he's in prison prison for years from the time that joseph had the dream what the lord showed him was going to happen to the time where joseph actually saw his brothers bow down in honor of him 17 years minimally 17 years you say well 17 years is not so bad but if you talk about 17 years of being in the pits being a slave being in prison that's doing some hard time right there but joseph always kept a good attitude and always knew that the lord had a purpose and a plan and because of that when you look at joseph's life all these promises that we just read about waiting on the lord you can see him perfectly applied to joseph's life the lord strengthened him gave him peace in the times of trouble used him mightily and he goes down as one of the greatest men in history because he was a guy who waited and was patient waiting on the lord man i could go on and on moses 40 years in the in egypt becoming somebody but then he's booted out of egypt and he spends 40 years in the land of midian being nobody and then at the ripe old age of 80 that's when moses gets his calling for ministry i wonder if we have some 80 year olds in here who the lord is saying do you just wait you haven't even started your ministry yet that's what moses 80 years old looks okay now you're ready and the lord raised up moses and he ministered for 40 more years and died at 120 years old what an amazing story but that's waiting being patient for the lord to to deal with with moses you know even in my own uh you know experience there was a season where i kind of had to wait and trust that the lord knew what he was doing um i i really felt the calling to be a pastor uh when i was 12 years old by the time i was 12 i knew i wanted to be a pastor a bible teacher and so you know i thought i'm going to try to prepare myself for that so i signed up to start teaching for sunday school classes i taught first graders big class of first grade kids i was 12 years old they were six years old and there i was teaching the bible a few about five years of doing that teaching sunday school and doing a lot of church stuff then i was hired by the church at the time to be the children's pastor at the age of 17. it was a church of a couple thousand people and so there was tons of kids and man trial by fire man i was learning the ropes and and and being a children's pastor for years many many years um you know in fact i i was thinking along the way somewhere along the way i'd get the calling to be a pastor of a church you know and start up a church or take over a church or do something like that but i was waiting until i was 21 or 22 maybe but those ages kind of came and went and there i was teaching children there was one particular time part of my ministry that i always thought about this stuff and it was it was every sunday night i'll tell you why i was every sunday night you know as the children's pastor one of the things i was responsible was making sure all the classrooms were full of teachers trained ready to go teachers and and um and so uh the problem was i could get sundays and wednesdays all filled up but sunday night worship was impossible to find people to to help with children so i just did it myself i thought i'm gonna take the preschoolers from three-year-old to five-year-old nobody wants them on sunday night so that'll be my class and so i had a class i'm not kidding it was a classroom full of like 50 3 to 5 year olds can you imagine that um let me explain it in gory detail does anybody know what a room full of children what kid's breath smells like when when there's like 50 kids in a little room and they're running around and playing and and it's just the smell of it's impossible to describe but it also makes the room very humid and moist in fact i remember seeing on the windows of my classroom beads of water dripping down the sides because of the moist warm kid breath air not only that um the three-year-olds the parents would tout them as potty trained and drop them off in my class but as it turns out some of them weren't so potty trained and so you're in there like there were other aromas that were in the room as well uh and there i was wondering what am i doing with my life there i was sitting in with these little kids that were stinky and and i'd sit there and think lord when are you gonna call me to have a real congregation and be a pastor well i did that every sunday night for eight years eight years i was a children's pastor for 13. but eight years of just kind of wondering lord what's going on now here's the funny thing there was a time i almost was resentful of that i was i was glad to be able to teach the kids and i and it was fun and i don't think anybody knew that i was kind of wrestling with this really but it was kind of troublesome until about the seventh year i remember thinking you know what this isn't that bad and maybe this is what the lord wants me to do the rest of my life i literally got to a place in my life where i thought you know i could just do this forever it's all right maybe i'm not supposed to be a senior pastor and as soon as i got to this place of real peace the lord just stirred my heart said now's the time to go and by the time i turned 30 the lord gave deb and i the green light to go and you know we looked at some areas we were asked to start to take over a church in melbourne australia where we said yes and we were selling our possessions and getting ready to go to melbourne australia and then then the lord kind of closed that door and then there was another uh opportunity in hilo hawaii there's a ministry opportunity suffering for the savior you know in hawaii uh you know tough tough duty but the lord didn't really give me the green light on that but i was deb and i were just seeking the lord kind of constantly during that time and the lord just kept putting the on the map portland oregon and uh and when we got the green light we picked up our family with not really knowing anybody up here we we just met one couple kind of circuitously and uh they said yeah come on up we can we can start a bible study and so we did that but but here's the thing um i sometimes look back on that and i realize how thankful i am that the lord had a timing that was really obvious now i look at it and i see it as being so obvious i would really not have been prepared or ready for what the lord would have for us here had i not put in the time down there just teaching kids and sunday school classes and little little three-year-olds that are not really potty trained but think they are the lord used that in my life and it was timing waiting on the lord um some of my buddies by the way young young guys that they were like me saying we're gonna be in the ministry they started earlier you know and jumped into it but it's interesting because those those things didn't go very well but it's been neat to see how the lord has used just the timing in my life and i i wish that i would have done better on the waiting on the lord in all areas of my life i wish that for you guys that's why waiting on the lord is so important and and what we need to do is kind of figure out what does waiting on the lord actually look like let's take a look i want to show you kind of what the scriptures teach us about waiting on the lord and what that means for you and for me first of all before i go into what it looks like let me tell you what it doesn't look like laziness or going to sleep or um not willing to do anything i get this there's a there's a thing that happens where christians can use the idea of waiting on the lord as an excuse for doing nothing i'm just waiting on the lord what are you doing wait well i'm living with my parents playing video games in the basement just when the lord gives me an opportunity i'll take it that's not really waiting on the lord um waiting on the lord can be an active thing and we'll show you kind of what that means but if you can sort of summarize it three basic statements number one waiting on the lord looks like activity under command that is the commander of course is god and he wants to direct your life and and for you to perform what god wants you to do in his time according to his purpose it's it's a very military idea truthfully you know when you talk to soldiers there's a lot of down time but part of the thing of being a good soldier is you got all your gear and your your stuff all ready to go so that when the command comes to go you are ready to roll ready to move and that's the idea is activity under command um when you're waiting on the lord you're saying the lord is the one who's directing my life not me not other people but it's the lord and waiting on the lord looks like that and it's kind of an as you go sort of process um i've marked on this note here exodus 17 why well that's where moses interceded in prayer on the on behalf of joshua remember the story there redeem exodus 17. it's funny because you can kind of see in that story and i probably won't do it justice here but where moses he says i'm going to go stand on that mountain joshua you go fight the battle and and we'll see what happens but actually what happened moses didn't go stand on the mountain what did he do he went up and sat why because the lord said sit on this rock and so he sits down now lift up your hands lift up your hands and and and suddenly moses realizes i always kind of wondered when did moses realize what was going on with the hands thing remember what happened as his hands were up joshua was winning down in the valley of the battle but if he put his hands down joshua was losing and his and his army was you know and and i wonder how long it took moses to figure that out like you know i just wonder how long it took but but eventually he realized man i got to keep my hands up and his arms were going weary so the lord says now i'm going to get aaron and her and they're going to stand next to you and hold your arms up it was a very different picture than what moses said before he said i'm going to go stand up top the mountain and we'll see the victory but the lord says no i'm going to give you direction activity under command there was a battle going on and the lord wanted moses to do some very specific things and moses was receptive enough to hear what god wanted to do and as he was obedient joshua had no idea can you imagine being joshua we're winning we're winning wait we're losing we're losing what's going on winning losing missing and there's moses up there like joshua was down in the valley of interaction and that's where a lot of us like to be you and i like to do stuff but sometimes the lord's gonna have you in the not on the valley of interaction but on the mountain of intercession where you're actually seeking the lord saying lord what do you want me to do that's where the victory going to be won we think the victory's won in the valley of interaction where joshua's fighting the battle that's not where the victory was won the victory was won by a dude up on a mountain saying lord what's next what do you have for me to do how do i go about this what's the protocol for this situation and because moses was that guy that waited on the lord and was directed by the lord it was activity under god's command thus they had great victory and that's what you and i can have the lord wants us to wait on him even as moses waited on the lord number two on our list of things readiness to hear from the lord waiting on the lord looks like a readiness you're postured in a way to listen man we're living in a day where we're not very good at that we're too busy to listen to the lord man we're on our social media looking for likes you know we're watching the news we're talking to everybody else we're busy at work but but the problem is to wait upon the lord it means you're you're ready to actually hear from the lord remember i showed you there that scripture that links waiting on the lord to seeking the lord the problem is many of us are just too busy to actually hear from the lord there's no readiness i love what paul told the church at thessalonica when he said that they received the word with all readiness of mind have you postured your life in a way where you actually have space to hear from the lord well bro we're here at church we're listening to a bible teaching a long tedious study by you well that's good and i think that's kind of important that we gather and do teaching like this but but for your life personally kind of the moses thing where he was specifically receiving direction for his life personally do you have space in your life where you're ready to actually hear from the lord because if you're like me and like most of us we're too busy man we're just we're just on our phones all the time we're watching the news we're busy entertaining and working and doing all the stuff that we do and i wonder if some of us have lost that readiness here from god um i i think of this in different ways for the older people in the room if you've been saved for years and years um one of the problems that i've found in my own walk as an older christian is you kind of say i heard from the lord back in 84. that's when i really heard from the lord and the lord showed me to be a pastor now i'm a pastor so i don't need to hear any more but waiting on the lord looks like readiness to hear from the lord your whole life in fact i would say it this way every day of your life otherwise moses would have missed the call when he was 80 years old the lord said now i want you to go and deliver my people from egypt sarah and abraham would have checked out altogether had they not been ready to hear from god even in their old age so for you older christians this is something you might need to be revived something that maybe you were back in 79 or when you were younger and you were ready to hear from the lord but maybe you've become sort of like set in your ways and the lord's saying i want to i want to talk to you got some changes for you i got some challenges for you but for you younger people i'm concerned because we get so um inundated with just technology and and what the world is pushing on you guys and remember jesus demonstrated this for us where the crowds were pressing on him he was an influencer he had lots of likes jesus did the multitudes you know gathered around him and wanted to be with them but what did jesus constantly do he was seen going off in the mountains by himself and just seeking the father readiness to hear from the father and jesus was able to truthfully say i always do the will of the father why because he was one who showed us what it looked like to wait on the father in heaven readiness to hear from the lord you know who did this in kind of a daily way was david himself i've got a scripture there on this note uh second samuel chapter five right really it's verses um you know 17 through 25 that that whole section um where it's it's it's kind of interesting david is king of israel newly crowned the philistines the horrible enemy of israel they found out that david's the new kings and let's go let's go beat up the israelis so the philistines encamped there uh at rephaem uh to fight against israel and david goes and he seeks the lord he waits on the lord he doesn't just jump into battle and strap on his sword and get his army together he says lord should we go up against these philistines and fight against them and the lord says david go and fight so david goes and just totally trounces the philistines beats him up wipes him out runs them out of town the next day the philistines regroup get up some more men and get a bigger army and come back and and if you're me i'd say well the lord told us to beat him up today we'll beat him up tomorrow so why seek the lord again we know the philistines are our enemies but i love david because there in 2nd samuel chapter 5 david on the second day he says lord same thing he said the first day should we go up and fight against these philistines i don't even think i would have asked the question but daily david saw the lord and what did the lord say the lord said david do not go up against the philistines right now and then the lord gave very specific direction i love it he said now go and go and circle around the back side of the philistine army and hide yourselves in the mulberry trees and when the wind starts to blow in the leaves of the mulberry trees that's when you attack the philistines boy there's a weird set of orders a little bit subjective maybe is that wind or was that did somebody sneeze well like you kind of wonder like when did the wind blow the mulberry trees but because david saw the lord and was waiting on him he didn't jump ahead and fight the philistines but he waited and when the wind blew in the mulberry trees david's army went unattacked and they wiped out the philistine army you see that's an example of a guy who is ready to hear from the lord on any given day about the same topic the lord might have you do one thing today but he might have you do a totally opposite thing tomorrow but the only way you'll know is to be those who wait on the lord readiness to hear from the lord number two number three lastly ability to do nothing until a command is given but that's the hardest if you ask me especially when time goes by the more time goes by the harder it is just to sit still to do nothing that's the problem with abraham and sarah they waited all those years and they did nothing which is what the lord wanted them to do until finally they said we gotta we gotta do something so the hagar story happened i wonder if you inadvertently have cut short what the lord wants to do or messed up even what the lord wants to do in your life because you weren't able just to be still the scriptures declared be still and know that i am god that's a hard thing for some of us some of us are not good at being still and waiting just waiting upon the lord say lord we're going to trust you your timing your will your purpose just the ability to wait first samuel chapter 13 verses 8 through 14 is the story of saul who made this mistake king saul of of israel the prophet samuel said okay saul here's your orders go to jerusalem but you wait for me and when i get there we'll make burnt offering sacrifice then you can go and do the rest of the stuff you got to do fight the philistines and all that stuff well saul gets to jerusalem they got all the burnt offering stuff everything's ready to go but samuel's not there yet and saul's like man where's the prophet samuel forget him we got to move this along so saul takes it upon himself to start offering burnt offerings before the lord on the altar well he's all done okay just did all my burnt offering stuff check check and check and samuel the prophet comes what have you done so well you know you were late so i just uh you know decided to kind of take it upon myself to do these burnt offerings how important was that how detrimental was that well samuel said saul today because of this the kingdom will be taken from you and you will not be the king of israel and you will not have an everlasting kingdom what's the everlasting kingdom thing well that would be the next king david who david and through the line of david would come jesus the king of kings and lord of lords could it be that the lord originally the plan would be to go through saul and that he would have the the line of the messiah but saul blew it and he would be wiped out and destroyed because he did not have the ability to do nothing until the command was given he took it upon himself and some of you are those kind of people that like to take things by the horns that's a good attribute sometimes but not when you're getting ahead of the lord by the way what was the big deal about saul making a burnt offering why is that such a bad thing well for the jews for you bible students many of you know this already for the jews there were three main roles the prophet the priest and the king and the lord ordained all three of those offices but but never to cross over one to the other and anybody who did that got into big trouble the reason for that is there actually is a guy who would be all three of them the prophet the priest and the king who would that be jesus but jesus is the only one who would ever live on the planet that would be qualified for those three roles so by saul taking and making sacrifice like a priest he was crossing a line that the lord had set for the jews that said don't cross this line saul did it and lost the kingdom because of it i wonder if you and i are maybe losing stuff that the lord wants to do in us and through us because we're just a little too hasty to try to make stuff happen and we're not willing to wait upon the lord when do you know how to go and when to go keep your eyes on the lord i love that scripture in hebrews that says looking unto jesus who's the author and the perfecter of our faith sometimes i think my dog charlie is smarter than i am how so well i did a brett's bible minute of several months back about my dog charlie i actually brought the video you guys want to see my dog charlie all right let me show you and there's a lesson to be learned from my smart dog check this out hey everybody pastor brett here and this is my faithful old dog charlie i call them chuckles you know when we're tempted learn a lesson from our my dog charlie you know when i try to train him with doggy treats everybody knows this scene you know you put a doggie treat in front of charlie and he'll usually take his eyes off the food because the temptation to disobey is too great so instead he'll fix his eyes on my face hebrews chapter 12 verse 2 tells us to fix our eyes on jesus the author and perfecter of our faith so learn a lesson from charlie always look to the master's face when facing temptation and that's brett's bible minute good boy yeah charlie he's a good little boy 12 12 years old chuckles uh 12 years old um but charlie's smarter than i am in that he looks to the master and he keeps his eyes it's so funny you put we got these um treats called beggin where the it's like bacon but it's actually dogs will beg play on words he he goes insane over that stuff and you put the bag in on the ground the little bacon strip thing and man he he starts drooling and he's just looking at me he doesn't want to look at the bacon because he knows he needs to wait my dog's smarter than i am i need to be looking to the lord saying lord i i want to move i want to do something but those who wait upon the lord he'll strengthen you he'll bless you eyes have not seen ears have not heard what the lord will do for those who wait upon the lord man that's such a key what an important important part of this um you know so you know that's that scripture by the way where saul got ahead of the lord and missed the whole thing that comes from first samuel 13 verses 8 through 14. now before we wrap it up did you know this this verse isaiah 64 4 paul kind of quotes it in the new testament but how can you say kind of well it's not word for word it's got a little twist on it you say well you can't do that you can't if you're paul and you're writing new testament scripture he's still under the inspirational holy spirit so there's a difference and i want you to see the difference and you can either turn there but it's first corinthians or you can read it here first corinthians 2 9. and in first corinthians 2 9 paul starts this verse off with this phrase but as it is written so we know he's quoting from scripture but it's a little different than isaiah's quote it says but as it is written i have not seen nor ear heard neither have entered into the heart of man the things which god hath prepared for them that love him what's the biggest difference there single word anybody tumbleweeds blowing across the sanctuary to them that love him the word love it's the whole thing we're talking about isaiah says to them that wait the king james waiteth for those that wait on the lord eye is not seen ear is not heard but those that love him which one is it brett the person that waits on the lord or the person that loves the lord which one is it paul or isaiah the answer is both and i'll tell you why do you remember how jesus taught if you loved me you will what keep my commandments you see the idea of waiting on the lord and doing what he wants us to do is also a demonstration of love we love the lord so we want to wait on the lord we have this relationship with the lord it's not just about waiting coldly it's a relationship where you're waiting on the lord because you know him you love him and you want to follow him you married people know how this is supposed to be there's the young couple newly married that are in love and you go out on that date and there's the the car stops at the restaurant and the guy gets out and he walks around the car and opens the door for the girl and then closes it and walks into the restaurant and that's the way it is in the first few years then after a few years you do that at the fancy restaurants but at home depot you don't do that anymore come on honey we got things to do and then as the years go by maybe as love maybe isn't it where it should be uh pretty soon the guys there pulls up to the restaurant gets out of the car and starts walking to the restaurant it locks it while she's still sitting there waiting uh i've never done that but uh but uh that that's that's that's when love has gone cold um the poor gal is sitting there saying i'm not going anywhere until he comes and opens he's in the restaurant hey where's my wife you know see in a in a way the lord says i want you to wait on me i've got a timing and a plan and a purpose for your life and for those who love him the lord will also wait on him i think those two things go hand in hand waiting on the lord and loving the lord very important i have a challenge for you just real simple um and this is for all of you christians if you're a christian i want to talk to you first and ask you how are you doing at waiting on the lord you have time that you seek the lord and ask him what to do before you make big decisions are you just trying to go through things logically the the pros and the cons or are you saying lord i need you to to be that still small voice like we read about there in isaiah chapter 30 the lord says i'll be a still small voice and i'll whisper in your ear whether to turn right or to turn left waiting on the lord seeking the lord and and my question is when do you do that do you have that time where you say i'm going to seek the lord and it's not just once every 10 years like we saw today it's a daily thing like david lord should i go up against the philistines today do you have something different for me on my schedule do i need to change what i'm doing and let the lord just sort of shape your day and lead you and give you kind of now by the way if you're new to christianity the lord's speaking a big voice you know do this or do that sometimes i wish i've never heard him to speak to me this way he has in times past talk to people vocally but most of the times we christians hear from the lord in more of a sense of peace or no peace it's like what philippians says you know don't be anxious for anything but everything in prayer supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to god and the peace of god will rule your hearts rule your heart that that means tell you which way to go you'll have a peace you'll just have a sense lord this is what you want me to do i feel in my heart well breth that's just the pizza that you had for lunch nope you christians know what i'm talking about um there's a there's a sense after prayer you don't get it unless you wait on the lord you won't know it if you're not seeking the lord but when you take time the bible promises those who seek me will find me knock the door will be open ask and it'll be given seek and you will find this is what the bible promises and my challenge to you christians is to say lord how am i doing on waiting just being a person that's waiting on you seeking your face because the blessings that are listed for those who are truly waiting on the lord they're too great to miss you don't want to miss the blessings of being a person who waits upon the lord would you bow your heads please with me as we close and if you're a christian would you just right now just just you and the lord kind of seek forget uncle bob and other people you think well i wish so-and-so was here to hear that service but think about yourself right now and say lord show me what i need to do differently should i be seeking asking knocking should i organize my schedule different should i put down the technology and just kind of be still sometimes ask the lord let the lord speak to you right now and then the second group of people that i want to talk to is the unsaved if you're still an unbeliever or not a christian ah man there's so much about this the gospel message is simply this you're a sinner deserving death and hell for all eternity and that's me too all of us but the gift of god the bible says is eternal life through jesus christ nothing you do to earn it it's a free gift that jesus wants to offer to the whole world god so loved the world that he gave his only begot god and son that whosoever that's that's you if you're not a christian you're the whosoever that whosoever believeth in him will not perish but have everlasting life and man i'd love for someone to just say today okay i give in i give up i've done it my way it's time to believe and accept christian faith it doesn't mean what so many people make christianity because some people think christianity's having to go to church and wear certain clothes and a big smile and carry a 20 pound bible and beat people over the head with it that's not what christianity is some christians do that and probably shouldn't but being a christian is simply someone who repents that means to change your mind about your sin and say i know i'm a sinner and i don't want to go that way anymore and i want to walk with christ and i want to be forgiven for my sins and so the way you get that forgiveness is what romans 10 verse 9 and 10 says if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart the lord jesus christ the god raised him up from the dead it says you will be saved i love that so simple salvation so great salvation but it's all him it's all jesus so that's what you do just you if that's if you're out there watching online or if you're here in the room and you want to accept christ do that right now just between you and the lord just kind of whisper that prayer lord forgive me a sinner help me to walk with you and i believe that jesus died on the cross for my sins and rose from the grave and if you if you speak that out from your heart not just mouthing words but speaking in belief and in faith the bible says you will be saved the reason that's important is because this idea of seeking the lord and waiting on the lord that we've been talking about if you're not a christian none of that's going to apply to you because our sin separates us from god all together when you accept christ and become a christian you then are forgiven for your sins and you suddenly again are have access to christ and you can pray you can talk to the lord and he'll start to direct your life then it's the best thing in the world lord how i pray for those who've wrestled with this topic of waiting upon you lord we get so busy that we kind of phase you out of our lives but i pray lord that you just do that loving conviction of our soul today that we make time to be seeking you to wait upon you that we might renew our strength we'll mount up with wings like eagles will run and not grow weary and we'll walk and not faint like your word says so many blessings and promises to those who would wait on you so bless the congregation lord for those who've just accepted you i pray that they'd sense your loving power in their lives your forgiveness of sin and that you're right there with them may they just have a sense of your love and your goodness may they be discipled and trained and learn more of your scripture and what really the truth is so we pray your blessing on your church today give us ears to hear what your spirit would say in jesus name let's all stand together joey's going to lead us in a final song and this is a song just about waiting on the lord and let's just continue to wait on him and hear from him and then we'll be dismissed in jesus name in the morning i will rise up shed the darkness and bathe in your lights i recount on every blessing the words you've spoken that bring me new life i am reminding where you have brought me where you have placed me for today i won't forget that your hand will hold me your love sustains me through the weights i will wait on your oh the burdens [Music] there's a river there's a sunrise there's a new day and it's bringing new life i am reminded from where you have brought [Music] and i won't forget that your hand will hold your love sustains me through the ways i will wait on you [Music] lord you lord bless the lord bless the lord o my soul all that is within me i will rise in his love i'll shower off what he's doing bless the lord on my soul all that is within me i will rise in his love i'll shout of what he's doing bless the lord o my soul all that is within me i will rise in his love i'll shout of what he's doing flesh alone on my soul and all that is within me i will rise in his [Music] he's doing and i am reminded from where you have brought me where you have placed me for today and i won't forget that your hand will hold me your life sustains me through the weight i will wait on you [Music] lord i will wait on you lord i will wait on you [Music] weight on you give us opportunities to wait on you lord and we love you father and in jesus precious name all god's people said amen amen hey have a great rest of the day and you guys are dismissed

Channel: Athey Creek

Views: 2,618

Rating: 4.9428573 out of 5

Keywords: Brett Meador, Bible, Church, Teaching, Study, Christian, Jesus, Oregon, Through the Bible, Athey Creek, Athey Creek Church, Athey Creek Christian Fellowship

Id: zmUlxBkK8wg

Length: 78min 11sec (4691 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 04 2020