God’s Will | Matthew Elton

God’s Dream

I was honored to preach this sermon at Living Hope Community Church on July 27, 2025.

What was the message Jesus preached?

Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’

-Mark 1:14-15

Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.

-Matthew 4:23

Everywhere Jesus went, he preached the gospel of the kingdom of God.

I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.

-Luke 4:43

Likewise, Jesus also sent out his disciples to preach the kingdom message.

Soon afterwards, He began going around from one city and village to another, proclaiming and preaching the kingdom of God. The twelve were with Him.

-Luke 8:1

And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing.

-Luke 9:2

The Kingdom of God was the central theme of Jesus’ preaching and ministry, and the central theme of his disciples’ preaching and ministry.

So important was this message of the Kingdom of God, that Jesus said:

This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

-Matthew 24:14

The word “gospel” literally means “good news.”

What is the good news of the kingdom of God?

It’s actually bigger than just something Jesus preached. It’s even bigger than just something the early church preached.

I believe the kingdom of God is the central theme of the entire Bible, from beginning to end.

So important is this theme of the kingdom of God, that every prophet in the Bible – literally every prophet in the Bible – spoke about the kingdom of God in some way.

What is the Kingdom of God?

To understand this central theme of the Bible, you need to understand the story of the Bible and how that story unfolds throughout history, from the creation of the universe, all the way up to the present day, and what will happen in the future.

It’s a story that’s bigger than you, it’s bigger than me, it’s bigger than going to heaven when you die, it’s bigger than anything we can imagine. It’s about the creation of a perfect world, the fall of that world into sin, and God’s perfect plan for redemption and restoration, not only of you as an individual, but of all of creation.

So we’re gonna look at the entire Bible today from cover to cover. Obviously, this is going to be in broad strokes, with many details that we won’t have time to get into. But we’re going back to basics here. The goal today is not to understand every detail of the biblical story, but simply to understand the big picture of scripture – a bird’s eye view, so to speak – so we can grasp the central theme, the main point that scripture is making.

We start at the beginning. Genesis 1:1. And for many of you who are believers, this may be a familiar passage. Every January when you say, “I’m gonna do that ‘read the Bible in one year reading plan’ you open to Genesis 1:1 and you get started,” so many of you have probably read this passage many times. But don’t let the familiarity of it detact from the magnitude of what we are reading. Okay? I want you to read this with open eyes, open minds, viewing this passage in light of the good news of the Kingdom of God, I believe we’re gonna get a deeper understanding.

¹ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ²The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. ³Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. ⁴God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

⁶Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” ⁷God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. ⁸God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

⁹Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. ¹⁰God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good. ¹¹Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so. ¹²The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. ¹³There was evening and there was morning, a third day.

¹⁴Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; ¹⁵and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. ¹⁶God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also.

-Genesis 1:1-16

“He made the stars also”. I love how this is just casually mentioned here, almost like an after thought, as if God is so powerful, and making the stars is so insignificant to God, it’s just, “oh yeah he also made the stars… no biggie.”

We’re talking about 100 billion stars – most of them much larger than the sun – just in our galaxy alone. And then our galaxy is just one of upwards of 2 trillion galaxies… so, wait a minute… 100 billion multiplied by 2 trillion. Can anyone do that math? Anyone know what that is?

That’s how many stars God created in just half a verse “yeah, and he made the stars also.” No biggie.

How great, how powerful, how awesome is our God?

How good is our God? Notice what is said after everything God creates: “he saw that it was good.” Over and over again. Good. Good. Good.

God is good. A good God created a good world.

¹⁷God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, ¹⁸and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. ¹⁹There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

²⁰Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.” ²¹God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. ²²God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” ²³There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

²⁴Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so.²⁵God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.

-Genesis 1:17-25

Now look carefully here at verse 26 and notice how the language changes. Up until now it’s just been God on his own, speaking, and boom, it happens. Pretty simple.

But then, all of a sudden, there’s this moment here where God turns to his angelic court – and we know from the Book of Job chapter 38 verse 7 that the angels were there when God laid the foundations of the earth – God chooses to involve his angels in this next phase of creation. There’s something special about what God is going to create next.

²⁶Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ²⁸God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule(God is giving man dominion here!) over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” ²⁹Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; ³⁰and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. ³¹God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

-Genesis 1:26-31

Turn to the next chapter. Here in chapter 2 we have another version of the creation story that goes into more detail about the creation of human beings.

See, both chapter 1 and chapter 2 are telling a similar story about the creation of the world. But they do it through different lenses.

The point of chapter 1 is that God is all powerful. He speaks, and it’s done. Not only that, but he’s good. And because God is good, he created the world to also be good. No evil. No sin. No pain. No death. God did not intend for there to be any evil in this world. God is good. A good God creates a good world.

Here in chapter 2, we learn another important truth about God. Take a look at verse 7.

It says Then the LORD God…

Now, hold up a second.

Every time that God was referenced in chapter one, it just said “God”. Right?

In the Hebrew, that’s the word Elohim.

But here, it says “the LORD God.” What’s that mean? Why not just say “God”? Why the sudden change?

Notice that it’s a capital L, capital O, capital R, and capital D.

Anytime in the Bible that you see the word LORD in all capital letters, that means that in the Hebrew, it says Yahweh.

See, Genesis chapter 2 is making a different point than Genesis chapter 1.

While Genesis 1 focuses on God as an omnipotent, unstoppable force that speaks and it is done… Genesis 2 makes the point that this God is not just an impersonal force, but a person… a person who desires a personal, intimate relationship with his connection. This God is relational. This God isn’t just “God”… this God has a personal name.

You don’t need to flip there, but I’ll just put these verses up on the screen… see, thousands of years after Genesis, God revealed more information about his name to Moses.

God spoke further to Moses and said to him, ‘I am the LORD; and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I did not make Myself known to them.’

-Exodus 6:2-3

Abraham is the father of faith. And from him came Isaac, Jacob, and, after many generations, Moses, right? So God is saying to Moses here, “Hey, I appeared to your forefathers. But they just knew me as God. I’m giving you a deeper understanding of myself. I’m revealing to you my personal name.”

Another time when God appeared to Moses, this is at the burning bush when Moses first encountered God… God revealed to Moses more information about his name.

God, furthermore, said to Moses, ‘Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations.

-Exodus 3:15

God says that his name, Yahweh, is his name forever, for all generations.

It’s thought that the name Yahweh is related to a Hebrew word meaning “I AM.”

So many things could be said about God. God is love. God is merciful. God is just. God is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent.

But the number one most important attribute of God is that he is. He exists. God is. From eternity past to eternity future, God is. He is the existing one. See, everything else in the universe came into existence at a certain time. God is the only one who alwaysis from eternity past to eternity future, no beginning and no end. Everything else in the universe has a beginning and depends on God for its existence. God is the only one who eternally is.

I believe that’s part of what God wants us to understand about himself, as communicated to us through his name.

Now that we have a little bit more understanding about God’s name, let’s turn back to Genesis 2 and see what Genesis 2 is telling us about God:

Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

-Genesis 2:7

How intimate is this moment. Even though God is all powerful, the one who speaks and trillions of stars suddenly explode into existence – one who is infinitely beyond anything we could ever grasp or imagine – nevertheless God wants a relationship with us.

Despite how small and lowly and limited we are, this great and awesome God wants a relationship with us. He stoops down to our level, he meets us in the dust, he gets his hands dirty so to speak – that’s metaphorical, of course, God doesn’t literally have hands – but you understand the point that scripture is making here, is that there’s this intimate connection between God and man right from the beginning.

And notice how beautifully God cares for man:

⁸The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. 9 Out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

-Genesis 2:8-9

Skip to verse 15:

¹⁵Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. ¹⁶The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; ¹⁷but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

¹⁸Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” ¹⁹Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. ²⁰The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. ²¹So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. ²²The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. ²³The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones,
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.”

²⁴For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. ²⁵And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

-Genesis 2:15-25

Yahweh is a good God. A good God created a good world. God places the first man and the first woman in a lush, beautiful garden in a very good world – a perfect world – in which all their needs are met, and they experience a perfect relationship with God and each other.

But, God also places in this garden “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Now, they already knew good, so all they could gain from eating from this tree would be evil.

Why is this tree here?

The short answer is, God wants a love relationship with humanity.

1 Corinthians 13:5 says, “love does not insist on its own way.” Another translation says, “love does not demand its own way.”

See, love that is forced is not true love. If I force someone at gunpoint to do something nice for me, they may be doing something nice for me, but it’s not love.

But when love is freely given – when it’s freely chosen, that’s the genuine love that God wants from humanity.

God wants a love relationship with humanity. Therefore, God gave humanity the opportunity to freely choose to love him, or not.

God didn’t force humanity. He made a perfect world – good, good, good, very good. He put them in a perfect garden and supplied every need.

And then, in his great love, God basically said to them, “the choice is yours – you can choose to stay in this loving relationship with me, or you can walk away.”

So this tree is here because God is giving humanity the opportunity to respond to all of the good that he has just done for them. They can now freely choose to respond with love by trusting God, or, to go another way.

Now the serpent was more cunning than any animal of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” ²The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; ³but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” ⁴The serpent said to the woman, “You certainly will not die! ⁵For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband with her, and he ate. ⁷Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves waist coverings.

-Genesis 3:1-7

Revelation 12:9 identifies this serpent as “the devil”, “Satan”, and “the one who deceives the whole world.”

Notice the deception of the serpent. “God knows that on the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God.”

He made them think that God was keeping something from them, that they were missing out on something.

But the truth is… they were already like God! Entrusted with dominion over the whole world. There was no good thing that God ever withheld from them.

What a lie that Adam and Eve bought into here.

⁸They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. ⁹Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” ¹⁰He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” ¹¹And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” ¹²The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” ¹³Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” ¹⁴The Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,
Cursed are you more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you will go,
And dust you will eat
All the days of your life;
¹⁵And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
¹⁶To the woman He said,
“I will greatly multiply
Your pain in childbirth,
In pain you will bring forth children;
Yet your desire will be for your husband,
And he will rule over you.”

¹⁷Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’;

Cursed is the ground because of you;
In toil you will eat of it
All the days of your life.
¹⁸“Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;
And you will eat the plants of the field;
¹⁹By the sweat of your face
You will eat bread,
Till you return to the ground,
Because from it you were taken;
For you are dust,
And to dust you shall return.”

²⁰Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. ²¹The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.

²²Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— ²³therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.

-Genesis 3:8-23

The world was good, good, good, very good.

But Adam and Eve surrendered all of that, for a lie.

Immediately, the effects of sin are present. What are the effects of sin here?

Pain in childbirth (v. 16)
What about, conflict between men and women? (v. 16) “Your desire will be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” There’s debate here about what this verse means. This translation, NASB, says “your desire will be for your husband.” The ESV says “your desire will be contrary to your husband”. There’s also debate over whether the “he shall rule over you” is prescriptive or descriptive. In other words, whether God is placing man in a position of greater authority than the woman, or whether God is merely describing what will inevitably happen because of sin – that God didn’t intend for man to rule over woman, that in the beginning God created man and woman to be equals who work together shoulder to shoulder, but now, because of sin, man will rule over women, contrary to God’s original design, and we have certainly seen how that has played out throughout history. Regardless of how you interpret this verse, I think the point is clear that the relationship between man and woman is not the same after sin, as it was before sin. Before sin, perfect harmony between man and woman. But after sin, tension. Woman’s desire is for her man, but man’s desire is for his work. Sin has caused tension, competition, strife. Sin destroys relationships.
The land is cursed (3:17-18), resulting in famine, drought, catastrophic weather.
Death (Genesis 3:19)

By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

-Genesis 3:19

…the wages of sin is death…

-Romans 6:23a

The soul that sins, it shall die.

-Ezekiel 18:20a

But did you know, there was still one more consequence of sin that was perhaps even worse than death.

Now I know what you’re thinking: “What could possibly be worse than death?”

Consider this: Man lost his relationship with God.

Prior to sin, Adam and Eve walked and talked with God face to face in the garden, in the cool of the day.

After sin, they experienced shame, made clothing to cover their nakedness, hid from God, and blamed God, each other, and the serpent.

What a contrast!

Before sin, a perfect intimate relationship with a loving God.

After sin, all that’s left is shame and blame.

Before sin, God and humanity dwell together on the earth.

After sin, God dwells in heaven, human beings dwell on the earth until they die.

Sin separates us from God.

But God did not give up on us.

God is not responsible for the evil, suffering, and death we experience in the world.

God is a good God. A good God who made a good world.

Man made a free will decision to bring evil into the world. Man did this by believing the serpent – who the Book of Revelation identifies as Satan, the deceiver of the whole world – rather than God. By following what Satan said instead of what God said, man disobeyed God, thus bringing evil into the world.

This is what theologians call the “Fall” of man. We live in a world that is filled with evil and suffering, resulting from the Fall – humankind’s decision to sin, to disobey God, to go another way rather than the perfect, good way that God intended for us.

But the good news is, from the very moment than humanity fell, God already had a plan in place to reconcile humanity back into a right relationship with himself, and to restore the world back to the perfection that God originally intended. We see this foreshadowed in Genesis 3:15, where God promises that a descendant of the woman would one day crush the head of the serpent.

Genesis 3:15 is the what theologians call the protoevangelium, or “first gospel.” It’s the first hint of the good news that God would one day redeem humanity back into a right relationship with himself, and restore the entire world back to the perfection God originally intended.

Thus, completing the four main phases of the biblical story: creation, fall, redemption, restoration.

So we’ve seen how the story begins in Genesis, the first book of the Bible.

Now let’s turn to Revelation, the last book of the Bible, and see how the story ends.

The Book of Revelation gives us a vision of a future day when God will make everything wrong with the world right:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,

-Revelation 21:1-3

Hold up a second. God will dwell among human beings again? Can we just pause for a moment and consider what that means?

This is literally heaven on earth, God dwelling face to face with humanity on a perfect earth… just like Eden!

Sin separated us from God, but in the end, God will restore us into a right relationship with himself.

and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.

-Revelation 21:4

Sin brought death into the world, but in the end, God will destroy death forever. No more mourning. No more crying. No more pain. That’s good news!

And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.

-Revelation 21:5-7

Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb,in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life…

-Revelation 22:1-2a

Wait. Hold up a second. The tree of life is back! This is a big deal!

Literally the only two times the tree of life ever appears in scripture are: at the very beginning of the Bible, and at the very end.

The tree of life is back, that means no more death. Whoever eats from this tree will live forever.

…bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. ³There will no longer be any curse…

-Revelation 22:2b-3a

Wait. Hold up a second.

I just love the way it’s stated here.

This could not be any more bluntly stated: THERE. WILL. NO. LONGER. BE. ANY. CURSE.

PERIOD!

That curse that we just read in Genesis 3? It’s GONE. That’s good news!

…and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; ⁴they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. ⁵And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.

-Revelation 22:3b-5

When we look at the beginning of the Bible, and at the end, we see this big picture:

What God originally intended in the beginning, he gets in the end.

We see how the story begins, and we see how the story ends. The parallels are incredible.

Tree of life in the beginning. Tree of life in the end.

River flowing out of Eden in the beginning. River of water of life in the end.

God dwelling face to face with man in the beginning. God dwelling face to face with man in the end.

No curse in the beginning. No curse in the end.

Man given dominion over the earth in the beginning. Man’s dominion over the earth restored in the end, “they will reign forever and ever” and man’s right relationship with God is restored.

Wow.

What God originally intended in the beginning, he gets in the end.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the good news of the kingdom of God.

So much could be said about the kingdom of God. Countless books could be written about it.

But if you had to sum it up in as few words as possible, you could sum it up this way:

“Everything wrong with the world made right.”

The good news of the kingdom of God is that God is a God of restoration. Man messed up the world through sin. But God didn’t give up on the earth. He will restore it!

A kingdom is the rule and reign of a king.

When God placed man on the earth, he entrusted man with dominion over it.

Unfortunately, by choosing to sin, to rebel against God, to disobey God and serve Satan rather than God, man chose to surrender his dominion over to Satan.

That’s why John 12:31 calls Satan “the ruler of this world.” And 2 Corinthians 4:4 calls Satan “the god of this world” and Revelation 12:9 says “he deceives the whole world.”

Right now, Satan is exercising his influence and his dominion over the world. No wonder the world is filled with so much injustice, oppression, war, suffering, and death. God didn’t want any of that! God isn’t responsible for that. We are responsible. Human beings – through our own sinful actions – have allowed Satan to take dominion.

The good news of the kingdom of God, is that a day is coming when God will retake his rightful place as ruler.

See, a “kingdom” is defined as the rule and reign of a king.

And when God rules the world, he will restore the world back to what he originally intended – a perfect paradise with no more death, crying, or pain, in which human beings live in peaceful harmony with God and each other.

That’s good news!

Hebrews 6:19 describes this hope as “the anchor of our souls.” It’s what steadies you, strengthens you, and empowers you to persevere when the storms of life assault you.

But a lot of Christians are weak because they don’t know what their hope is!

Their hope is unclear. It’s wishy washy. It’s ethereal.

They think “I guess I’m just gonna float around on clouds forever. Mabe they’ll be harps. Not sure?”

So when the storms of life assault them, they fall away because their hope isn’t real to them!

But church, we have a real hope that solves real problems in the real world!

It’s not a fairy tale. It’s not wishful thinking. It’s not

It’s the real world, real people, on a real planet, living in right relationship with God and each other.

It’s real good news – news that’s 100% good, not just “kind of good.”

It’s not God evacuating people up to heaven for eternity because the earth is too far gone.

It’s God coming down and repairing the world – making everything wrong with the world right.

For too many Christians, the world doesn’t listen to our message because they think it’s boring and irrelevant. And the picture the church has often painted of eternal life – floating around in clouds and playing harps – it doesn’t resonate.

But our true hope – the biblical hope – could not be more relevant to the world we live in, even now in the 21^st century.

In a world filled with war and violence, we have the hope that a King is coming who will establish peace!

In a world filled with death and sorrow, we have the hope that a King is coming who will throw death into the lake of fire and destroy death and sorrow forever!

But church, we have the privilege of sharing this very real, very relevant, very tangible hope with the world. It’s not a fake hope. It’s not a dead hope. It’s a living hope.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

-1 Peter 1:3

This is God’s dream. Everything wrong with the world made right. Let’s go out and share this living hope with the world!

0
July 30, 2025

The Faithfulness of Christ

I was honored to preach this sermon at Living Hope Community Church on February 9, 2025.

The dictionary defines “faithful” as “loyal and steadfast”, “reliable”, “steadfast in allegiance”, “remaining true, constant, unwavering”.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are humans that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?

-Psalm 8:3-4

The heavens are telling the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge.

–Psalm 19:1-2

What is this knowledge that the heavens declares? Consider, for a moment, the stars, the moon, and the planets. Set in their orbits by God, moving on the course that God ordained, at the speed God ordained, never changing.

Century after century, millennium after millennium, the heavenly bodies do not change. Such that, by observing the speed and orbit of a planet, we can calculate exactly where that planet will be at any moment, even a moment 100 years from now, and at that moment, it will be precisely there.

From time immemorial, humans have admired the perfection of the heavens. The phases of the moon, century after century, so faithful to happen on schedule, that you can mark your calendar by them. The rising and setting of the sun, so faithful to happen on schedule, that you can set your clock by it. The movements of the stars, so faithful to never change, that a ship can navigate across the ocean by them.

No planet ever decides “you know, I’ve been following the same orbit for thousands of years, but I’m feeling naughty today… might just veer off course, not sure.”

If they did, the heavens would be a chaotic place, endangering life on earth.

What is this speech that the heavens pour out? What is this knowledge that they impart?

Perhaps it is this message: that faithfulness to God’s will produces order, peace, and harmony. In contrast, disobedience to God’s will produces chaos, disorder, conflict, and strife.

Of course, planets are just large rocks. They don’t have a will of their own. They can’t choose to obey or disobey. They just move according to how God put them in motion, and that’s it.

We, on the other hand, are free will beings. Our earliest ancestors, Adam and Eve, had a choice to make in the Garden of Eden – a choice to be faithful to God, or not. Likewise, every human being thereafter has also faced that same choice. Our faithfulness to God’s design can produce – like the heavens – peace, order, and harmony. Or, our disobedience can produce chaos, disorder, and strife, and we’ve seen the effects of that throughout the earth.

Every human has faced this choice. Every human has been tempted to disobey God, and has had to make a free will choice, whether to be faithful or not.

Now, some think that Jesus was an exception to this rule. He wasn’t really tempted, was he?

Well, the Bible says in Hebrews 4:15, NASB:

…we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things just as we are, yet without sin.

-Hebrews 4:15 NASB

In other words, Jesus faced all of the same temptations we face, yet, somehow, he remained faithful to his Father through all of them. So, do you think there is something we can learn from Jesus’ example? I think so. So let’s start at the beginning, the very first record where his faithfulness is manifest.

Luke chapter 2, beginning in verse 41. Now, in this record, Jesus is still a small child. He’s not even grown up yet. Yet, even early in his life, his unwavering faithfulness is evident.

Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents were unaware of this. Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him.

-Luke 2:41-45

Now, lest you think that Mary and Joseph were bad parents, let’s understand something about the historical context. Travel in the ancient world was extremely dangerous. There was constant threat of ambush from bandits. We see this in the parable of the Good Samaritan. There was the threat of wild animals, including poisonous snakes. And, although the Romans had improved the quality of roads by this time, road quality was still poor in many places, and the availability of inns or taverns was unpredictable. Travelers would sometimes need to sleep outside, possibly exposing them to storms or unpredictable weather.

So, there were many dangers in the ancient world. And for this reason, when going on a long journey, it was advisable to travel in a large group. There’s safety in numbers. So, in this case, there was a large group of pilgrims travelling together. And these folks aren’t strangers. They’re identified here as the friends and relatives of Mary and Joseph. So Mary and Joseph don’t need to keep eyes on the boy Jesus 24/7. He’s mingling throughout the group, and lots of other relatives and friends are watching him. So you can totally see a scenario happening, where it’s like, “Hey, have you seen Jesus?” “What? I thought he was with you?” “Huh? I thought he was with you!” And all of a sudden he’s missing, and they have to go back and find him.

After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously looking for you.” He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them, and his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in yearsand in divine and human favor.

-Luke 2:46-52

“I must be in my Father’s house.”

The King James Version says, “I must be about my Father’s business.”

Another translation says, “I must be doing the works of my Father.”

Jesus said in John 6:38, “I came… not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.”

Are you about the Father’s business?

Or are you so busy with your own schedule and your own appointment that you miss a divine appointment?

God is always working. He invites us to join him in his work. His business. Ask God to show you where he is working. He will. Ask God to give you the words to speak to others. He will.

See, God has work for you to do! Did you know the Christian life involves work? We don’t just hunker down and wait for Jesus to come back. There’s work to do!

We’re not saved by works, but we are saved for works.

…we are what he made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we may walk in them.

-Ephesians 2:10

As Christians, we don’t choose the works we do. God chooses. He already prepared the work ahead of time, and he invites you to join him in it. It’s his business. It’s not your business.

What is the work that God is doing, that he invites us to join him in?

Ultimately, God is at work in the world, to repair the world. God is working to repair the brokenness that our sin has caused in the world. The work won’t be completed until Christ returns. Nevertheless, God is working now, to advance his kingdom purposes now, bringing salvation, healing, hope, love, and peace to many.

Jesus’ life perfectly exemplifies this. Constantly, he would be on his way to a certain place, but then God would put someone in his path who needed help – who needed healing – and Jesus would stop what he was doing, and would minister to that person. He wasn’t so wrapped up in his own plans and his own schedule that he missed the opportunity. He was always tuned in to what his Father was doing, and joining his Father in his work.

Jesus said in John 5:30, “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.”

And in John 8:28-29, Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me. And the one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him.”

And in John 14:31, Jesus said, “I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.

Faithfulness.

What’s striking to me in these verses is the humility of Christ. Always glorifying the Father. Always exalting the Father and not himself.

Humility is the key to faithfulness. Without humility, you’re not gonna be faithful. Humility is required. It’s the starting point.

This is the first main point of my message, and probably the most important, so if you get one thing from my message today, get this:

The Christian life is not about you. It’s about God. It’s about the work that God is doing, and joining him in his work. We must be about our Father’s business. This requires humility.

There is perhaps no greater contrast in the Bible than the contrast between the disobedience and fall of Adam, and the faithfulness, humility, and obedience of the second Adam, Jesus Christ.

Both were tempted by Satan! One, went his own way. The other, was faithful to be about his Father’s business.

Turn a few pages forward to Luke chapter 4.

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, ²where for forty days he was tested by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over he was famished. ³The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” ⁴Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’ ”

-Luke 4:1-4

In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus adds these words: “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

In John 4:34, Jesus says this: “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work.”

My food. Faithfulness to the Father is what sustained him.

Consider how powerful that is.

Faithfulness to his Father sustained him.

Continuing the story in Luke 4:5-8…

Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’ ”

-Luke 4:5-8

Here is Jesus, born to be the king of kings, prophesied to be the ruler of the world forever, “the government shall be upon his shoulders” (Isaiah 9:6) “and of his kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1:33) but he knew he would first need to endure the cross, to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins, to bleed out, to suffer, to die, to give up everything to pay the price for our salvation. Jesus knew what he had to do. It was written in Isaiah 53. Jesus knew the cross came first, then the kingdom.

But here, the devil was offering to give Jesus the kingdom without the cross! How great this temptation must have been!

But Jesus remained faithful to the will of the Father. “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”

Faithfulness.

Jesus resisted temptation. He defeated the devil. He stayed faithful to his Father.

Every. Single. Time.

Jesus’ life was an adventure of faithfulness.

Time after time, Jesus was faithful to whatever the Father wanted him to do.

He was faithful to be baptized to fulfill the law.

Faithful to turn water into wine.

Faithful to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom to the woman at the well.

Faithful to preach the gospel of the kingdom throughout Galilee.

Faithful to heal the son of a royal official.

Faithful to teach in the synagogue.

Faithful to heal a lame man on the Sabbath.

Faithful to call 12 apostles.

Faithful to heal a demon possessed man.

Faithful to heal Peter’s mother in law.

Faithful to heal a leper.

Faithful to heal a paralytic.

Faithful to preach the Sermon on the Mount.

Faithful to heal a centurion’s servant.

Faithful to raise a widow’s son from the dead.

Faithful to heal a blind man.

Faithful to teach in parables.

Faithful to calm a storm.

Faithful to heal a man living among the tombs.

Faithful to heal a woman with an issue of blood.

Faithful to heal Jairus’ daughter.

Faithful to heal two blind men.

Faithful to feed five thousand people.

Faithful to walk on water.

Faithful to heal a Canaanite woman.

Faithful to heal a deaf man.

Faithful to feed four thousand people.

Faithful to perform the Transfiguration.

Faithful to refuse to destroy a Samaritan village when his disciples wanted to destroy it.

Faithful to send out the 70 to preach and teach.

Faithful to heal a woman with a crooked back.

Faithful to weep over Jerusalem.

Faithful to raise Lazarus from the dead.

Faithful to heal 10 lepers.

Faithful to welcome little children.

Faithful to dine with Zacchaeus.

Faithful to be anointed for burial.

Faithful to enter Jerusalem on a donkey.

Faithful to curse a fig tree.

Faithful to cleanse the temple and overturn the tables of the money changers.

Faithful to wash his disciples’ feet.

Faithful to institute communion.

Faithful to sing a hymn with his disciples.

Faithful to surrender to the Father’s will in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Faithful to heal Malchus’ ear.

Faithful to endure the trials and beatings and mockery and crucifixion of his Passion.

Faithful to welcome the thief on the cross into the kingdom.

Faithful to forgive those who cruficied him.

Faithful to appear to Mary Magdalene in the garden.

Faithful to appear to two other disciples on the road to Emmaus.

Faithful to appear to the other apostles.

Faithful to encourage the doubting Thomas.

Faithful to reinstate Peter.

Faithful to give the Great Commission.

Faithful to ascend into heaven.

Faithful to you and me today, working in and through us by the power of the Holy Spirit, actively working as the head of the church, guiding, directing, teaching, and encouraging us day by day.

Faithful.

The life of Christ is a picture of perfect faithfulness.

And what an adventure the life of Christ is!

The Christian life is always an adventure.

What adventure could possibly be greater than joining God in work that has eternal significance – the salvation of someone’s soul?

There is no greater adventure than the Christian life.

Anyone who is faithful to join God in the work God is going, is bound for adventure.

Because, when you join God in his work, he takes you to surprising places.

I’m convinced that God has a sense of humor.

Sometimes, you can’t see what God is doing, but you’re faithful anyway, and then God reveals how he was working all along, and you just laugh. “Oh, God, that’s what you were doing! That’s why you put that person in my path! That’s why I had to go through that! I see it now!”

Such joy!

Humble yourself and go where God is leading. Trust him.

Jesus humbled himself, and was always faithful to the Father’s will.

…he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.

-Philippians 2:8b

Turn forward to Luke chapter 22.

He came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. When he reached the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not come into the time of trial.” Then he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me, yet not my will but yours be done.”

-Luke 22:39-42

What is the “cup” Jesus speaks of? The “cup” represents his suffering, his death, his crucifixion. Jesus is saying, “God, if there’s any other way, if it’s at all possible, remove this cup…. BUT not my will, but yours be done.”

Faithfulness.

Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength. In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground. When he got up from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping because of grief, and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not come into the time of trial.”

-Luke 22:43-46

The Christian life is an adventure. But the Christian life isn’t easy. It’s hard.

Faithfulness to God requires sacrifice.

For he has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ but of suffering for him as well.

-Philippians 1:29

Discipline yourselves; keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.

-1 Peter 5:8-9

Jesus didn’t promise that the Christian life would be easy. Actually, he promised that there would be suffering.

I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.

-John 16:33 CSB

When you’re faithful to God, there’s joy in the suffering.

My brothers and sisters, whenever you face various trials, consider it all joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance complete its work, so that you may be complete and whole, lacking in nothing.

-James 1:2-4

For our slight, momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure

-2 Corinthians 4:17

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us.

-Romans 8:18

The Christian life has suffering. But there’s joy in the suffering.

Turn to 1 Peter 4, verses 12 through 16.

1 Peter 4 talks about suffering as a Christian, reassuring us that when we suffer for the sake of Christ, our suffering is not in vain. The disciples rejoiced when they suffered, because they knew that their faithfulness to God, even though there was suffering involved, was producing something of far greater value.

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, a criminal, or even as a mischief maker. Yet if any of you suffers as a Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear this name.

-1 Peter 4:12-16

In life, we suffer for various reasons.

If you’re suffering because of your own sin, I can’t help you.

If you’re suffering because you made mischief and it came back to bite you, I can’t help you.

But, if you’re suffering as a Christian – if you’re suffering because you are faithful to God’s will – I can assure you that your suffering is not in vain, but is producing something of far greater eternal significance, and ultimately, joy.

Turn to Hebrews 12.

I want to end with a very important passage of scripture that is, perhaps, the perfect summary of faithfulness.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

-Hebrews 12:1-3

For the joy set before him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame.

He endured the cross, and he didn’t care about the shame, because he knew his faithfulness to the Father was accomplishing something far greater.

Another translation says “he endured the cross, despising the shame.”

Jesus didn’t enjoy the cross. As a human being, he hated the pain of the cross, yet he endured it anyway. Why? For the joy set before him.

What was the joy set before him?

The joy of knowing that God would raise him from the dead and exalt him as king of kings, to rule the world forever?

Certainly, that promise brought joy.

But I think it was even more than that.

Jesus knew what the cross would accomplish for you and me, and that brought him joy.

Jesus imagined the millions of people throughout the ages who would be saved through the cross, and that brought him great joy!

For the sake of that joy, he endured the cross.

Sometimes, when we’re faithful to do what God has called us to do, we suffer. But even in the suffering, we can still have joy, because we know our faithfulness is accomplishing something greater.

“God, I’m being faithful to what you called me to do, and it’s hard, but I rejoice because if even one person can be saved as a result of my faithfulness, if one person can be healed, if one person can be blessed, it’s all worth it. Thank you, Father!”

God is at work in the world.

Are we faithful to join him in his work?

It won’t always be easy. But it will always be worth it.

Are we faithful to reach people God puts in our path with the gospel and with his love?

Or do we say, “ehhh… I’ll let someone else do it.”

“See I’m just not good at talking to people.”

“Timypaul – he has the gift of an evangelist! I don’t have the gift of an evangelist!”

Hold up a second.

Timypaul may have the gift of an evangelist. He may reach a lot of people with the gospel.

But there are people in my life that I can reach, that he can’t.

And there are people in his life, that he can reach, that I can’t.

And there are people in YOUR life, who YOU can reach, who we can’t!

One person might reach the world with the gospel.

Another person might reach one person.

But in God’s eyes, that one person means the world to God.

There is great rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents!

It’s not about how many people you reach. It’s about: Are you FAITHFUL to reach the people God puts in your path?

Remember, God is at work in the world. He invites us to join him in his work.

It’s a privilege to join God in his work.

He doesn’t need us to do the work. He’s God. He’s all powerful. He could snap his fingers and the work would be done.

He chooses to allow us to do the work because he loves us and wants a relationship with us.

God is like a father working on a project, and we are his children – just little children who want to help. The father helps the little boy hold the hammer, helps him hit the nail. The boy misses the nail. Okay, let’s try again. Like a loving and gentle father with a little child, that’s how God is with us.

We mess up. We miss the nail. God is patient, forgiving, gives us another chance. He could probably do the work better without us, but he doesn’t want to. He wants to involve us in his work, because he loves us, and wants a relationship with us.

That’s how God is with us. He’s always faithful to us. Are we faithful to him?

0
February 14, 2025

Patience is a Virtue: Wait on the LORD

I was honored to preach this sermon at Living Hope Community Church on August 11, 2024.

Have you ever heard the phrase “patience is a virtue”?

The dictionary defines patience as “the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.”

Dr. Charles Stanley defines patience as “the will to wait”.

Be still before the LORD, and wait patiently for him; do not fret over those who prosper in their way, over those who carry out evil devices.
Psalm 37:7

I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry.
Psalm 40:1

It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
Lamentations 3:26

You don’t hear to many sermons on waiting. We live in a culture that values action. Seize the day. Go out and make something happen.

At best, our culture views patience as a necessary evil. At worst, I would say our culture hates patience.

We live in a culture that devalues patience, and values the exact opposite of patience – convenience. Instant gratification.

We have streaming television “on demand”. I don’t need to wait for a TV show to come on. I demand it now.

Don’t want to spend time cooking? We have Uber Eats, Grubhub, and Doordash so you can get a restaurant quality meal on your doorstep instantly.

We have Amazon Prime next day delivery, and now they even have same day delivery – I don’t even know how they do that, but you just hit a button on your phone, BOOM, same day it’s at your door. You don’t have to wait.

Our culture hates waiting. Studies show that if a website takes five seconds to load, 80% of people will click off of it and go to something else.

We live in a world where we won’t even wait five seconds for a website. Right? We want it now. It feels like agony to wait!

In the Bible, patience is also called “longsuffering”. Think about that. If you want something, but you have to wait to get it, you feel suffering. And if you have to wait a long time, it’s like suffering a long time.

Doesn’t sound very good, does it?

But the Bible says that longsuffering is a virtue.

Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; persevere in prayer.
Romans 12:12

Be patient in affliction. Nobody likes affliction. Why should we be patient in affliction?

The Bible shows us that God is a God of redemption. He doesn’t cause all of our suffering, but God is working in the suffering to bring good out of the bad. In other words, when you suffer as a Christian, it’s not in vain.

My brothers and sisters, whenever you face various trials, consider it all joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance complete its work, so that you may be complete and whole, lacking in nothing.
James 1:2-4

Endurance and patience are related. To be patient, gives you the strength to endure. It gives you the will to wait. And when you build up that endurance, when you have that strength, the Bible says you become complete and whole, lacking nothing.

The one who is impatient suffers because he can’t wait to get what he wants – he’s lacking that thing he desires. But the one who is patient is not lacking, because he’s content through the waiting process.

How do we become more patient? Surely, there are strategies and practices that can help you to build patience in your life. But the good news is, you don’t need to muster up patience by your own strength.

Galatians 5 describes what are called “fruits of the Spirit.” If you believe in Jesus Christ and you follow him as your Lord and Savior, you have the Holy Spirit working in your life. God has given you His Spirit to dwell inside of you and change your life, change your identity, change your very nature.

When you allow the Holy Spirit to work within you, God will grow virtues in your life just like fruit growing on a tree. They’re called the fruit of the Spirit. And we see these listed here in Galatians 5:22-23.

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.
Galatians 5:22-23

Love. Joy. Peace. Patience.

Patience is a fruit of the Spirit.

I love the way the New Living Translations puts this. It says, “the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

Did you catch that?

Who produces the fruit of the Spirit in our lives?

God produces the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. God works through the Holy Spirit to grow these virtues in our lives. And that includes patience.

In other words, you don’t need to muster up patience by your own strength. God will grow your patience as you surrender your life to him. That doesn’t mean you do nothing. Patience requires faith on your part. Patience requires courage. Patience requires prayer. A lot of prayer.

But as we do these things, God will grow your patience. It may not always be easy. It may require discipline from God. It may require trials. But rest assured, it’s for your good.

Sometimes when you pray, God will show you exactly what you need to do, all at once. More often, God will reveal one step. Only after you obediently complete that step, will God reveal the next step. Often, God will reveal his will for your life step by step. We feel frustrated because we just want to know everything God has planned for us, all at once. But God reveals his will slowly. It’s a journey that requires patience. But rest assured, it is for your good.

Sometimes when you pray, God will say yes. Sometimes he will say no. And sometimes he will say, not yet. We feel frustrated because we want answers now. But God is not in a hurry. He’s not in a hurry, but he’s never late. He’s a perfect God, and his timing is always perfect.

God’s will for your life will take time. The best things in life always do. Experiencing God’s will for your life is a lifelong journey, not an instant gratification. It’s not always easy. But rest assured, God’s will is for your good. Romans 8:28 promises us that.

Last Thanksgiving, my wife and I hosted a “friendsgiving” in Rhode Island. For those who don’t know, a “friendsgiving” is like Thanksgiving, but with friends invited, not just family.

For this friendsgiving, we made from scratch meat pies, shrimp, meat skewers, fried rice, jollof rice, beef empanadas, mac and cheese, candied yams, garlic green beans, bread buns, caramel budnt cake, and the star of the show: turkey wings. Not chicken wings. Turkey wings.

This took weeks of preparation. We had to drive up to a butcher in Malta to get the turkey wings because you can’t get turkey wings in Albany. Then the butcher didn’t have them, and I had to drive back a second time on a different day. We drove all the way to Rhode Island, and we made probably four or five trips to grocery stores to get everything we needed, and then we spent an entire day cooking before the friendsgiving event began.

It was incredible. One of the best meals I’ve ever had, and one of the best times with friends. It was a memory that will last a lifetime, and I cannot wait for Friendsgiving 2024 which may happen, if we’re not too burned out from the last one.

Now, we didn’t have to do all that.

We could have just ripped open a microwaveable TV dinner and called it a day.

Why didn’t we do that?

Obviously, that wouldn’t have been as good.

My point with this story is very simple. There will always be an easier, faster, more “convenient” way to do something.

But the best things in life take time. The best things in life require patience.

God grows patience in your life, because God wants the best for you. Patience is for your good.

There are many heroes in the Bible who learned patience.

Noah started building a boat – and a zoo – at least fifty years before the flood came.

Can you imagine? For literally fifty years, he’s got a boat sitting on dry land. No water anywhere in site.

His neighbors must have mocked him: “Hey Noah, why you got a boat on dry land?”

And Noah just had to say, “Rain is coming! It’s not here yet, but it’s coming!”

10 years later. Still no rain. 20 years. Still no rain. 30 years. 40 years later. Waiting. Waiting for what God promised to come to pass.

Sometimes, waiting on God will make you look stupid in the eyes of the world. Because the world doesn’t understand patience. The world doesn’t understand waiting on the LORD.

The world doesn’t understand that what God says will come to pass – not on your timeline, not when you want it to happen – but in God’s perfect timing, it will come to pass.

50 years of waiting. And then, all of sudden, one day, it began to rain. And Noah wasn’t looking too stupid anymore.

Patience.

How about Abraham? Turn to Hebrews chapter 6.

For example, there was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying: “I will certainly bless you, and I will multiply your descendants beyond number.” Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised.”
Hebrews 6:13-15

When Abraham started out, he was just a guy worshiping idols in Ur of the Chaldeans – also known as Babylon. But one day the one true God spoke to him, and said, “go to the land I will show you.”

Abraham didn’t know where he was going. He didn’t know why he was going. And he didn’t know how long it was gonna take.

We get frustrated because God doesn’t reveal everything all at once. He reveals his will step by step. All Abraham needed to know at first was one thing: go to the land. That’s step one. So Abraham obeys that step. He goes to the land, the land of Canaan, which would become the promised land.

And slowly, one step at a time, over the course of many years, God reveals more steps. God promises this land to Abraham and his descendants forever. There’s only one problem. Abaraham doesn’t have any descendants.

Patience. It’s not until Abraham is one hundred years old and his wife Sarah is ninety years old that Sarah gives birth to the promised son.

90 years old? Patience. God can work a miracle.

And this son of promise was Isaac, who became the father of Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, and Israel had 12 sons, who became the 12 tribes of Israel.

Now one of those sons was named Joseph. Joseph was Jacob’s favored son, and he received a coat of many colors, a symbol of his father’s favor. Furthermore, Joseph had dreams which symbolized his brothers bowing down and serving him.

Sounds pretty good, right?

But there’s a problem. Joseph’s brothers become jealous. They throw Joseph into a pit, and sell him into slavery. Joseph becomes a slave in Egypt.

Then, to make matters even worse, Joseph is falsely accused of sexual assault, and thrown into prison.

In prison, Joseph meets the king’s cupbearer, who is also in prison, and he successfully interprets his dream. So he says to the cupbearer, “hey, when you get out here, put a good word in for me with the king, see if you can get me out of here.”

But when the cupbearer gets out of prison, he completely forgets about Joseph. So Joseph continues to rot in prison for years.

Finally, the king of Egypt has a dream, and somebody remembers, “hey, wasn’t there that prisoner who could interpret dreams?” So Joseph is brought before the king. And he says, “I can’t interpret dreams. But God can. God will give me the interpretation.”

Sure enough, God gives Joseph the interpretation. The dream means that there will be seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine.

The king is so impressed, he puts Joseph in charge of Egypt, and Joseph, knowing that seven years of famine are coming, starts stockpiling food.

Finally, the seven years of famine come. There’s no food in Canaan, where Joseph’s brothers are starving. So they come down to Egypt searching for food.

They hear that there is this incredibly powerful royal advisor to the king who was so wise that he stockpiled food, as if he somehow knew that the famine was coming. And they come before him – not realizing that it’s Joseph – and they bow down before him and beg him to give them some food.

And when Joseph sees his brothers bowing down before him, he is so emotional, he has to leave the room and go cry in the other room where they won’t see him. And he weeps uncontrollably.

And finally, when he reveals himself to his brothers, they embrace each other, and they reconcile, and it’s this beautiful scene that you can read about in Genesis 45.

In that moment, the promise that God made to Joseph in that first dream that he had – all the way back when he was a kid – came to pass. Scholars say it was 22 years between Joseph’s first dream, and it’s fulfillment.

A 22 year long journey that involved suffering, slavery, imprisonment. But in the end, God’s promise came to pass.

Patience.

Turn to 1 Samuel 10. I want to end with one last record from the Old Testament.

In 1 Samuel 10, Saul is King of Israel. Israel is at war with the Philistines.

The prophet Samuel comes to Saul, and he says to him:

…you shall go down to Gilgal ahead of me; then I will come down to you to present burnt offerings and offer sacrifices of well-being. Seven days you shall wait, until I come to you and show you what you shall do.
1 Samuel 10:8

Now, read this very closely. God is speaking to Saul here through the prophet Samuel, and it’s very clear what God’s instructions are. Who is supposed to offer the burnt offerings? Samuel. What is Saul supposed to do? Wait seven days until Samuel arrives.

Samuel is supposed to make the offering. Saul is supposed to wait for Samuel. This is God’s instruction.

Now turn ahead to chapter 13.

Some Hebrews crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people began to slip away from Saul.
1 Samuel 13:7-8

So Saul is waiting, like he’s supposed to. That’s good. But there’s a problem. Samuel is late.

So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me and the offerings of well-being.” And he offered the burnt offering.
1 Samuel 13:9

Wait a minute. Saul wasn’t supposed to offer the burnt offering. Samuel was supposed to do it. Saul was supposed to wait for Samuel. But he got impatient. He got tired of waiting, so he went ahead and just did it himself. Something God did not instruct him to do.

As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to meet him and salute him. Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul replied, “When I saw that the people were slipping away from me and that you did not come within the days appointed and that the Philistines were mustering at Michmash, I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down upon me at Gilgal, and I have not entreated the favor of the LORD,’ so I forced myself and offered the burnt offering.” Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which he commanded you. The LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever, but now your kingdom will not continue; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart, and the LORD has appointed him to be ruler over his people because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.”
1 Samuel 13:10-14

Wow. Impatience has consequences.

We need to take impatience seriously. We need to root out impatience from our lives.

Some of you are impatient with your wives.

Some of you are impatient with your kids.

Impatience is not just a bad habit. Impatience can be sin.

Because if patience is a fruit of the Spirit, then impatience is a work of the flesh.

When we are impatient, we are forfeiting a blessing. When we are impatient, we are forfeiting the opportunity to grow in endurance, and become perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

Saul and his descendants could have ruled the kingdom forever.

Instead, the kingdom was taken away from him.

With just a few hours of impatience, Saul forfeited eternal favor.

Impatience can ruin your life.

Saul could have ruled forever. Instead, he killed himself. That’s how Saul died. He killed himself, fleeing in terror from the Philistines.

All because Saul thought he knew better than God, what he needed to do.

See, I don’t care if you think you see a way to do something in your life that God is telling you to wait on. You might think, “It would be so easy to just DO it!” But if God is telling you to wait, then wait.

You might think it would be easy to just get married and hope that God blesses the marriage. But if God is telling you to wait, then wait.

You might think it would be easy to just start the business and hope that God blesses it. But if God is telling you to wait, then wait.

Saul’s kingdom was taken away from him, and it was given to man after God’s own heart – a man named David.

See, when David was just a little boy, the prophet Samuel anointed him and said, “You’re gonna be the next King of Israel.” But Saul held onto the kingdom was long as he possibly could.

David spent 14 years running for his life, hiding in caves because Saul was trying to kill him. All this time, David is supposed to be the King of Israel, but he didn’t actually become king for 14 years.

Patience.

The patience of David. The impatience of Saul.

We sabotage ourselves with our impatience. The blessings of God will come. We receive them through patience. We forfeit them through impatience. The choice is ours.

A pastor I know once said, “don’t bail before the blessings!” Don’t bail out of the boat, don’t run away before the blessings. The blessings will come. The payment required to receive them is patience.

Jesus lived about 33 years before his death, resurrection, and ascension. Of those 33 years, he only did ministry for 3.

30 years of waiting and preparation, for 3 years of ministry.

Patience.

What if God asks you to wait 30 years?

What if he asks you to wait 50 years, like Noah?

What if he asks you to wait 22 years, like Joseph?

Do you have what it takes?

In my life, God asked me to wait 12 years.

For 12 years, I prayed for a wife, every single day.

I prayed for a wife every single day, for 12 years.

I don’t think I ever missed a day. If I did, I don’t remember it.

If you counted up all the prayers I ever prayed for a wife, it’s over 4,300 prayers.

I prayed over 4,300 times for a wife.

Year after year goes by, I’m like “when is it ever gonna happen?” Some of you remember, I’m even up here preaching a sermon on singleness.

Literally thousands of prayers after thousands of prayers.

And I’m exploding with joy to tell you that, at the right time, God answered. He answered with a woman so far beyond anything I could have expected or imagined – a woman beyond my wildest dreams.

I share this story not to boast about how patient I am, but to boast about how great God is. To my single brothers and sisters, don’t give up. Keep praying. Keep seeking. Keep waiting.

Patience is radical. Patience is counter-cultural. The world doesn’t respect patience. The world doesn’t operate that way.

But Jesus Christ came to turn this world upside down. We need to get on board with his program, the way his kingdom works. It’s not the way the world works!

Pastor Michael Todd once said, “The only thing harder than waiting on God, is wishing you had.”

Waiting on the LORD is hard. It takes patience, endurance, longsuffering. Waiting on the LORD is not easy. It is a difficult journey.

But you know what’s even more difficult? Not waiting on the LORD. Not waiting on the LORD might feel good for a moment, but in the long run, you will look back and wish that you had waited. And that is so much harder.

Let’s choose the better path.

Let’s choose the path of his blessing and favor.

Let’s wait patiently on the LORD.

0
August 31, 2024

Right Here and Right Now

One of my favorite stories in the the gospels is the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead, found in John 11:1-46. Lazarus was the brother of the Mary and Martha whom Jesus visited in Luke 10. Jesus loved Lazarus dearly (John 11:5) and his sisters must have been deeply distraught when Lazarus fell seriously ill (John 11:1). They immediately sent messengers to Jesus, but surprisingly, Jesus did not go immediately to Lazarus. Rather, he remained in the place where he was for two days, and told the messengers, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.” (John 11:4).

What good news for Mary and Martha! Jesus Christ had clearly stated that the sickness would not end in death. But only a few verses later, we find a shocking plot twist. Jesus tells his disciples, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up.” (John 11:11). The disciples thought he was talking about natural sleep, so they said, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will soon get better.” (John 11:12). They did not realize that Jesus was talking about the sleep of death. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead” (John 11:14).

What a shock this must have been for the disciples! I think many of us, familiar with the resurrection of Lazarus, do not realize the full emotional impact of those three words: “Lazarus is dead.” Jesus had clearly said that the sickness would not end in death, and yet, just two days later, he said, “Lazarus is dead.”

Had Jesus failed?

The disciples must have been terribly distressed, so much so that Thomas said, “Let us also go, so that we may die with him” (John 11:16 KJV).

And so they set off for the house of Lazarus, and when they arrived, his body had already been laid in a tomb for four days (John 11:17). The scene there was one of total chaos. The Lord had said that the sickness would not end in death, yet Lazarus was dead. Mary and Martha must have been horribly distraught and confused. Why had Jesus waited two days instead of coming immediately to heal Lazarus? Now it was too late! Martha and Mary both blamed Jesus, saying, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21, 32). Some of those present even mocked Jesus, saying, “This man healed a blind man. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?” (John 11:37).

In the midst of all this confusion, John tells us that “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). John does not tell us why Jesus wept, but I believe he wept over their unbelief. Jesus had promised that the sickness would not end in death, yet no one believed him. The one who performed many miracles and healed many people seemingly failed to heal Lazarus before it was too late. They blamed him for foolishly waiting two days instead of coming immediately. They mocked him. They had no faith. Jesus wept.

Yet it was all part of God’s plan. It was God’s will that Jesus wait two days instead of coming to Lazarus immediately. One of the great lessons we can learn from this story is that even when the situations and circumstances of life seem utterly helpless, even in those darkest moments, God is ultimately working all things together for good for His glory (Romans 8:28).

Here is the part of the story I find most fascinating and significant:

John 11:23-26 – Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.” “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.” Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”

Contrast the doubt of Martha with the faith of Abraham. Abraham, when tested by God, was willing to offer up his son Isaac, because God had promised to make a great nation through Isaac. Abraham knew that God could not break his promise (Numbers 23:19) and therefore, Abraham believed that even if Isaac died, God would be faithful to raise Isaac from the dead (Hebrews 11:19).

Martha had also received a promise – that Lazarus’ sickness would not end in death. This means that even if Lazarus died, his death would not be the end. Jesus Christ would be faithful to raise Lazarus from the dead, “so that the Son of God will receive glory” (John 11:4). Martha believed that everyone who has ever died will be raised at the end of the age (Revelation 20:13), but she had lost hope in the power of Christ in the here and now. Before her stood the Son of God who possesses all power in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18) even the power to raise Lazarus from the sleep of death immediately. Jesus had said, “I will go and wake him up” (John 11:11). But instead, Martha was waiting for the end of the age.

Martha put her faith in a future event, instead of in the person of Christ.

Christ’s response to Martha is one of my favorite sayings of Jesus: “I am the resurrection and the life.” Martha had put her faith in her theological understanding of the future resurrection, without realizing that Jesus Christ IS himself the resurrection. He IS the life-giving spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45) and the fountain of living water (John 4) that heals us today (Isaiah 53:5). Martha had faith in the Kingdom coming in the future, but no faith that the King standing before her could work a miracle in the present!

When this evil age comes to an end, there will be established a Kingdom on the earth where all who are made righteous in Christ will be raised from the dead to live with God forever (Revelation 21). But the Kingdom of God is not only our future hope, but also our present hope as well. Jesus is already King – his victory has already been won, his throne has already been established. From the right hand of God, he is ruling and shepherding his global Body and he’s ready to work mighty miracles if we would turn to him in faith. Thus, Jesus says to us, “the Kingdom of God is already among you” (Luke 17:21).

We may have a great understanding of what Jesus accomplished, historically speaking.

But do we know what he is accomplishing in our lives right here and right now?

We may have a great understanding of Jesus, theologically speaking.

But do we know who he is, personally?

Brother Yun is a Chinese Christian evangelist who founded many underground churches in China and was imprisoned and tortured for his faith. In his book The Heavenly Man, he describes his miraculous escape from Zhèngzhōu Maximum-Security Prison.

According to Yun’s own account, each door opened before him and he heard the voice of Jesus instruct him to walk out of the prison. At the risk of being shot to death by the guards keeping watch from the towers, he obeyed the voice of Christ and walked out through the front gate. Miraculously, no one saw him, as if he had become invisible. He is the only prisoner in history to have escaped from that prison.

Brother Yun makes an insightful observation on the story of Lazarus on pages 74-75 of his book Living Water:

When Jesus informed Martha that he had come to raise Lazarus from the dead, Martha resorted to her theological knowledge by saying, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day” (John 11:24). This is a chief attribute of Christians who only know Jesus from a theological viewpoint. They know about the history of God’s workings with humankind, and they know that in the future God will make everything right. But they do not know Jesus in the here and now. Jesus has become a historical and a future figure, but not a present figure in their daily lives. Many churches are spiritually dead today because they keep Jesus at a “safe distance” while they control their own lives and make their own plans. Until you realize that Jesus Christ wants to be a major part of everything you do, you will not see revival. Until He is rightfully enthroned as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, your plans will continue to be frustrated and you will see little true blessing of heaven on your activities.

We too often intellectualize Jesus into a mere historical figure. It’s easy to think of him as the one who died for our sins, and will come again to rule the world, yet completely forget about the work he is accomplishing right here and right now in our 21st century lives.

I don’t want to treat Jesus as merely a historical figure or settle for merely knowing about him.

I want to know him personally, right here and right now. I want to have a relationship with him!

Most of all, I want to see his power manifested in my life. I want to hear his voice daily and follow his direction in my life. As Jesus said in John 10:27, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”

Do you know Jesus… or do you only know about him?

1
October 16, 2014

He Must Become Greater

The message of the Bible is all about Jesus Christ. He’s in every book of the Bible. Only when we center our focus on Christ do we see the spiritual meaning of biblical events. The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the hinge upon which all of scripture swings. We see it foreshadowed in the bread and wine offered by the high priest Melchizedek (Genesis 14), in Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son of promise (Genesis 22), in the story of Joseph (Genesis 37-50) and Jonah (Jonah 1-4), and in Moses’ raising up of the snake in the wilderness (Numbers 21, John 3:14). When we fix our eyes on Christ, we see him on almost every page.

As powerful as the ministry of John the Baptist was, he knew he was insignificant compared to the one who was coming after him – Jesus the Messiah:

John 3:27-30 – John replied, “No one can receive anything unless God gives it from heaven. You yourselves know how plainly I told you, ‘I am not the Messiah. I am only here to prepare the way for him.’ It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the best man is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows. Therefore, I am filled with joy at his success. He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.

He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less. This should be the desire of our hearts today. Yet our human tendency is always to take our focus off of Christ and onto ourselves. When we look honestly at ourselves, we realize how hopelessly inadequate we are. By ourselves, we are completely incapable of serving God as he deserves. In and of ourselves, we are incapable of holiness and we consistently fail to please God. Left in our own sinful condition, we cannot enter God’s holy presence. When our focus is on ourselves – on our own weakness, sinfulness, and insufficiency – we cannot help but feel like failures.

Fortunately, our faith is not about us… it’s all about Jesus. We are sinners, but Jesus Christ is sinless. We were separated from God by sin, but Jesus Christ bridged the gap between God and man. We could not atone for our sin, but Jesus Christ paid the price in full when he died on the cross.

When we put our focus on Christ instead of on ourselves, our whole perspective changes. By ourselves, we are slaves of sin… but in Christ, we have victory over sin. By ourselves, we are children of wrath bound for destruction… but in Christ, we have the hope of eternal life. By ourselves, we are separated from God by sin… but in Christ, we can come boldly before the presence of God, being cleansed of all sin not by our own works but by his holiness.

Jesus says “I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5). Our faith must be centered on Jesus Christ alone. Apart from him, we can do nothing.

One of my favorite stories in the gospels is when Peter walked on water in Matthew 14:22-33. The fact that Jesus walked on water is amazing, but what really amazes me the most is that Peter walked on water! He had the incredible, bold faith to say to Jesus, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water” (Matthew 14:28). And then, the awesome faith to step out of the boat and onto the water!

As long as Peter kept his eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, he could walk on top of the water. But as soon as the wind and waves broke his concentration on Christ, Peter began to sink. This story symbolizes the walk of every believer. Like Peter walking on water, we must keep our focus on Christ each and every day. As soon as we allow the troubles of this world or even our own human plans to distract us from Christ, we begin drowning in the mire of this world. Hebrews puts it this way:

Hebrews 12:1-2 – Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

The desire of my heart is for Jesus to increase in my life, and for myself to decrease. As Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20, “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

When people look at my life, I want them to see less of me, and more of Christ. As I walk with Christ day by day and endeavor to follow him, I want his will and his power to be manifested in my life. To really be followers of Christ, we must make him Lord of our lives and keep our focus upon him.

He must become greater. We must become less.

0
October 3, 2014

God’s Dream

The Faithfulness of Christ

Patience is a Virtue: Wait on the LORD

Right Here and Right Now

He Must Become Greater

Categories

Recent Posts

Recent Comments