The Test of Faith in the Midst of Delay | Sean Braithwaite

Well, hey, good morning and Merry Christmas, everybody. How you doing this morning? Come on, good to see you. If we haven't met before, my name is Sean. I'm one of the pastors on the staff here. And you know, this time last year, I preached the Sunday before Christmas, so I'm the Sunday before Christmas guy, and I love it. And I just wanna say thank you, Pastor Jeff and Mel, for your trust, and I love this. This is my church family. I grew up here, and I just wanna say I'm honored to be part of the local church, the Body of Christ with you guys, and I'm glad you're here today. And if you're from out of town or you're new here, special welcome to you. And so last year, like I said, I preached, and my opening was my proposal to my wife, my now wife, right? So I told my engagement story, I put up the pictures, the whole thing, and I just wanna give you an update. Six months ago, it happened. We tied the knot, we did it. I don't know if Lauren's right up here in the front. Come on, somebody. And it's our first Christmas together, and everyone's always like, oh man, they're coming up to us. The only thing anyone's ever said to me

the last three weeks is like, first Christmas married, and I'm like, yeah. We're figuring out the traditions. We got the bulb, the ornament on the tree that says first Christmas together. So all those bases are covered. And I love Lauren. It's been so fun kind of merging some of our traditions together, trying to find those things for ourselves. And one thing I love, I've met Lauren, and it's still true, is that she loves to give gifts, but the only thing is, she cannot wait to give the gift. Like, she will get a gift, and then she'll be like, she'll call me and be like, Sean, I got you a gift. Can I tell you, can I tell you? And I'm like, Lauren, it's October, and this is my Christmas gift. And she's like, I need to tell you. And I just wanna say, she's doing great. It's December, what, 21st? I have no idea. So she's keeping the secret this year. But she has this, I don't know, is there anyone else like this, where you just can't wait to give the gift, or you just need to tell the person? There's some of you, you're like that. You're like, yeah, I'm like that as well. But here's what I wanna say.

Sometimes waiting is a good thing, right? Sometimes waiting, even if it's something good, sometimes there's the anticipation in waiting. There's something built in waiting. That's what I wanna talk about today. We're continuing on in our series, The Weary World Rejoices. And what I wanna talk about today is a topic that we don't like to talk about, is a topic that we don't like to live in, and that's waiting. And this is a topic that is part of life. It's part of following Jesus, that there is a waiting I think God has for each of us that is biblical, that builds us up. But here's the thing. Our culture does not like waiting. Are we, we almost have like a, like a, you know, we wanna keep it off to the side. Like we do not, we're almost offended when we have to wait. And here's what I wanna talk about real quick. It's, you know, when we're waiting for something, three things can happen, or it can be impacted by three things. And I wanna talk about these three things really quick. Sometimes when we're waiting for something, it's impacted by what I'll call an instant mindset. This is our culture today, that we need everything microwave, fast-paced,

you know, same, or you know, two-day delivery. Actually, it's same day. Do you see the same day delivery in Pittsburgh? God bless you, Jeff Bezos. Come on, somebody. But like, you know, it's the type of thing, like you're, you know, you're out driving, and like you get stuck in traffic, and now you're gonna be late, and you're waiting, stuck in traffic, and you're like, why are there so many people around? Like, what are they all doing? I've said that before out loud. Like, why are there so many people? Or like when you load up a video, and it's buffering, and you feel personally offended. And you're like, why isn't this working right now? Or, you know, let's just make something up, like a fake organization, like the DMV. You go in, and you're waiting, and the DMV, and it feels like you're an internal punishment to get a picture that you could get from Walgreens in like, you know, three minutes, but instead you're there for three hours just to, you know, make something up. But when we are waiting, we feel like we live in this culture where everything is so fast. So even when something takes a couple seconds, longer than it should, we start to lose it.

We start to lose it, and that's something that can affect, you know, what we're waiting for God to do in our life. We can be impacted by an instant mindset. Another thing we can be impacted by is comparison. In today's world, we can log onto our phone, and we can see the same, or not the same person, we can see someone the same age, same stage of life, who is more beautiful than you, more ripped than you, who's living an extravagant life, who's living out your dreams, who has a car that you could never have, a house you could never have, that's, you know, going and, you know, seeing people and opportunities that you could only dream of, right? And we can see ourselves, and we're like, man, I'm seeing what this person is doing, and it's like they're, you know, the same age, or the same type of person, or whatever, and they're doing all this, and comparison can start to kill us, and comparison makes. With faith, it doesn't work. And comparison and the waiting can be killer to our lives. So an instant mindset, comparison, and then what I'll call this, a defeated spirit. Sometimes when we're waiting for something so long, it feels like, I feel like I've missed it. I felt this before, I'm 27, I felt this before. When I was like 20, I'm like, God, I remember being in like, sometimes the mindset I had,

I remember being in like elementary school and like, oh, like all these people, they have these friendships and all these groups. I'm too late. Bro, you're in fourth grade, like, it's fine. But I grew up with this and maybe you can relate to this. Like, I've been waiting so long, I've missed it. The ship has sailed, I feel like God's forgotten about me. I feel like others have forgotten about me. I've even forgotten about the dreams, the things that I feel like are on my heart. I've been waiting so long and we can carry that defeated spirit. So maybe again, maybe it's an instant mindset, maybe it's comparison to defeated spirit. Any of those three mixed with waiting can kill our faith. But I believe that there is a beautiful aspect when we marry waiting and faith together and God can produce amazing things. We just have to get past those mindsets. So let's dig in today. I wanna dig in actually a story that revolves around the Christmas story, okay? So if you're here to hear about Jesus in the manger story, we're gonna be in Luke chapter two where that happens, but we're not talking about, so come to wonder, come some other time, we're not talking about that today. We're talking about a story actually one week after Christmas, okay? So Mary and Joseph, they have the baby Jesus

and we're gonna look at a character that is often overlooked in this story. And I love him so much, he's such a guy. Okay, so let's dive in together. Luke chapter two, you can dive in together. We'll have it on the screens as well. Open up your Bibles, your phones. If it starts to, if you're buffering on your phone, just wait, it's gonna be okay. But here we go. Luke two verse 22, here's what it says. It says, when the time came for the purification rites required by the law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him, they're talking about Jesus, little baby Jesus, to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord as it was written in the law of the Lord. Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice in keeping what is said in the law of the Lord. A pair of doves or two young pigeons. Now there was a man, so just really quick, setting this up. Mary and Joseph, they're Jewish, they're following what the Torah told them to do when their baby was born, to come bring him to the temple, consecrate him to God, dedicate him to God, offer the sacrifice. They're doing what they're supposed to do. Come on, they're good parents. They're trying to do what they're supposed to do. It's a routine thing.

This is what everyone does, right? So they walk over, they do that. And now it says, now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, everyone say Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation or the fulfillment of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought the child Jesus to do for him the custom of the law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, sovereign Lord, you have promised you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel. The child's father and mother, they marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, he said this to her, this child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be spoken against so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed and a sword will pierce your own soul too. Merry Christmas from Simeon. Come on, that's intense.

Like, okay, so again, setting the picture here. So Mary and Joseph, they bring the baby Jesus, they're doing the thing, they're dedicating him to God, and then there's this guy that we don't know anything about. He comes up to them and he had a promise from the Holy Spirit that you're gonna see the Messiah, the anointed, the chosen one. We've been waiting for all of history. You're gonna see him before you die. That's what God promised him. And he goes up to him, the parents, and he sees him, and somehow he just knows that's the Messiah. And he takes Jesus in his arms and he starts to prophesy, he starts to declare. This is, he's like the first gospel preacher because he's saying, God, I've seen your salvation. I've seen, like, Jesus, that is who you are. He's holding this baby, declaring who Jesus is. And then he prophetically declares these things to Mary, and the parents are like, what is happening? Can you imagine, like, being Mary and Joseph? Like, this is wild. And I love this, that we see someone. who can be so for God and someone that this guy Simeon, let me just point out to you, he was a nobody. Like the Bible is all about genealogies and all about making connections, who is who, who's the father of who. We have no information on who Simeon was.

We just know that he was devout, that he was righteous, that he was walking with God and he took steps of faith. And we don't know how long he was waiting, we don't know how old he was. But just from his reaction that we saw in this story here, we could probably make the assumption that he had been waiting a while. He had been waiting a while. He's like, he got this promise from God. He's like, okay, God, I don't know when, I don't know how, I don't know what this is gonna look like. He probably didn't think it was gonna be a baby, right? But that day he walks out to the temple courts and he sees it. He sees Jesus, the salvation of all men. And he goes and he proclaims that and his promise was fulfilled. And I love this story that this man, he was given a word and he waited and he took one step at a time. And this is a beautiful expression of faith, a beautiful expression of what to do in the waiting, of not giving in to, oh, I'm angry because it hasn't happened yet. Like it's not on my, it hasn't happened on my timeline or he could have compared to others or he could have lived with a defeated spirit because he was waiting for so long. But instead he said, each and every day, I'm gonna wake up, I'm gonna be devoted to God.

I'm gonna listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. I'm going to obey even when it doesn't make sense. And he stepped out in faith and he was used in such a profound way. And it was at, not the moment, he was maybe trying to think of like, okay, the timeline moment of when this happened, but it was at the God ordained moment. This is what we call the Kairos moment. This is the Greek word, one of the Greek words for time. And the other word is chronos, which we know of time is like chronologically, that's where we get the word, right? That it's the flow of time, but this Kairos moment, this is the God ordained time, like he just interferes with our timeline. Like we don't see it coming, we couldn't plan for it. But this Kairos moment that Simeon has and the promise that God gave him was fulfilled. He sees the Messiah and he's one of the first people to declare who Jesus is. And he's part of the greatest story that was ever told. And he could have wasted it away with his response to waiting, but instead he walked in faith. Here's what I wanna talk about today, that walking in faith is worth the wait. Walking in faith is worth the wait. There are things that God has for us that we'll have to wait for.

Listen, I believe and I pray for instant breakthrough, for instant healing. Like I believe that, I believe God can come down, he can transform in a moment's notice. That is, I love that, I know that is true. We could go around, share stories of that. But I also know this, that God sometimes uses the waiting seasons to produce something even better than what we could even think of. That God through our faith in the waiting produces something better than if we had it instantly. And so walking in faith is worth the wait. And so today maybe you're walking and you're like, Sean, I've been waiting on a promise. I've been waiting, I've been waiting on a miracle to happen. I've been praying, I've been waiting for someone to come back to God and my family. I've been waiting for a breakthrough financially. I've been waiting, Sean, for my family to get back together. I've been waiting to find that one person. I've been waiting for the right job. I've been waiting for clarity, whatever it is. I just wanna say to you today that walking in faith is worth the wait. Even when it's difficult, even when it's hard to say, God, I trust in you. To be like Simeon, to be like, God, you're more important than even the promise

that you've given me. You're the priority over that promise. And saying, God, even while I'm waiting, I'm gonna walk in faith because I know it is worth the wait. And so let's talk about three things here. What to do in a waiting season. What to do when life feels like it's buffering, when it feels like it's just like, man, I'm just waiting for what God has next for me. Let's talk about these three things. The first one is this, that waiting isn't wasting. Waiting isn't wasting. Sometimes when we feel like we have to wait for something, it's like, oh, like I feel like my time is being wasted away, stripped from me. That, you know, finally like, okay, like when I finally get the thing, it's like I just wasted all that time. Like it didn't mean anything. But I wanna say this to you. If you're in a season of waiting, it doesn't have to be wasted. And again, I love this story that Simeon, he didn't just sit around and wait. He grew in his relationship with God. He continued to be devoted to him. And I love this point that it emphasizes, actually three times, that the Holy Spirit was on Simeon. Like he had a special relationship with God,

especially for that time. Like he had a personal relationship with God. Because if you remember this, like as believers in Christ now, the Holy Spirit lives on the inside of us. We can have a vibrant relationship with him because of the cross, amen, hallelujah. But this is before, but you know, Simeon was here before Jesus went to the cross, died, was resurrected, ascended, and then the spirit was poured out in Acts chapter two. 33 years later, this man suffers somehow. He had such a personal relationship with God, the Holy Spirit was like, yeah, I'm gonna be on your life. I'm gonna walk with you. He walked with the Holy Spirit. He heard the promise from the Holy Spirit. And then one random day, he was just going about his business, the Holy Spirit nudged him, whispered on the inside, hey, go to the temple courts. Like he didn't give him anything else, he just, and he obeyed. And I just wanna say this, that sometimes in the waiting season, we can feel like, oh, I'm just waiting for the thing to happen. Then I can begin my life.

I'm just waiting to find the right person to marry. Then I can begin my life. I'm just waiting for the new job. Then I can figure things out. I'm just waiting for the new opportunity that I can walk into because I've been stuck in this one the whole time. Then things are gonna happen. But I wanna say to you that God wants to meet you right where you're at. He wants to meet you in the middle of the waiting. He wants to meet you in the middle of the pain. And he wants to say, listen, I'm right next to you. I'm close to you. I don't just want you to be waiting for the thing to happen. I wanna walk with you right now. God doesn't want you to waste your season of waiting. He wants to be personal to you. He wants to speak to you. He wants to comfort you. He wants to give you strength. And I remember being in a waiting season myself about, what, six, seven years ago. Oh, I did not mean to do that. Wow. Oh, man, get that, let's just laugh. Ah, six, seven. All right, yep, yep. Woo, okay.

About X amount of years ago, I was in college. I went down, so I did the ministry school here right after high school. I went down to Texas and I was, you know, I was going to university down there. And I was also part of an internship program at Oaks Church. Shout out to Oaks Church. They're awesome, we love them. And I was part of their internship program. Great internship program. And when I went down there, we started, and I got to pick which program or department I was part of in the church. So there was the youth department, there was the production creative department, there was like the worship department. I would not be good for that one. There was the kids department. And I was like looking and a lot of my friends were doing the youth department or doing the kids department or whatever. And I was like, I don't know. And I felt like the Holy Spirit just prompted me or I just felt a leaning toward this department called local and global. It was like the local outreach missions department. And to be honest, I didn't really have a distinct passion for that at the time, but I felt like that's what the Holy Spirit led me toward. I was like, okay, in faith, I'm gonna do it.

And a lot of these other departments have like 20 other interns in it, a big team. This one, local and global, had one. And so I go into it and I'm like, okay. And for most of the semester, I fell into the comparison trap. And I was looking around and I was seeing my friends and the youth group hanging from walls and reaching kids. And I saw the production team doing crazy things and the worship interns singing out and it was awesome. But I'm here and I'm just sitting in like an office learning about missions and nothing wrong with that. But I was like, come on, like I wanna do something. Like I know I'm made for more. Like I'm down here in Texas. I just went through the ministry school. I was like praying to God. I was like, why did you tell me to do this? Like, why am I here? I was seeing all these happen and I was trying to have a good attitude and just be faithful for what God gave me and try to be the best intern I could. I was like, okay. Finally, I get to the end of the semester and I get to the point where I'm like, okay, I feel like there's an event that happened or something I did, I forget. I felt like, okay, you know what? I feel some ownership and I feel like this could be my home

for the next couple of years while I'm in this. Like, I felt like this could be the place where I grow and I develop. I'm like, yeah, I could be the local and global intern and like build up the team bigger. I was like thinking of all these things. Like, yeah, I was like, God, I see you. Thank you for doing that. And then three days later, they said, hey, Sean, this department is moving around. Things are moving, happening. This is no longer going to exist. You're gonna have to pick another internship. I was like, what? I remember like going and praying to God, like tears in my eyes, like why? Like, I feel like I wasted an entire semester. Like, I don't have much time down here. Like, I'm trying to get some experience and all these things and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm crying, I'm like, why, why, why? And then it's like the last week of the semester and they're like, hey, the directors of the program were like, hey, you should start to think about what department you want to be in. I'm like, okay, okay. And I'm like looking at the kids department and the youth department, all these things. I'm like, yeah. Maybe, I don't know.

And then one guy comes up to me, he's the connections pastor at the time. His name's Tyler. He comes up to me, he's like, listen, Sean, I meet with him. He's like, I know you could go to the kids, I know you could go to the youth, whatever. That's great. But he's like, Sean, I know you. I've seen your work ethic. I've seen your attitude, because I've done some projects with connections over that semester. I've seen that. I want you to be part of the connections team. And not only that, I want to personally mentor you over these next couple years. And I was like, okay. And let me tell you today, I can see now why I had to go through that waiting season. I would have never been in that connections department to begin with. But I see through that, and I said yes to that, got training, and actually what I'm doing today, I can tie back to directly what I learned down at the Oaks in the connections department. A lot of what I'm doing today here at Allison Park Church, I learned back then. So I can see now that that season wasn't wasted in the waiting.

God was saying, trust me, trust me. You don't understand, but at the Kairos moment, trust me. And it was such a blessing. Tyler now, he's a mentor. He's one of my best friends. He was at my wedding. And listen, I learned so much, and now I'm walking in that today. And I'm so thankful that I picked local and global. Come on, somebody. And maybe it's a similar thing for you. You're like, it might be in the season. God, I don't understand. Why am I here? I don't know if you've ever had those prayers to God. Like, why? I've had them before. And God can take those prayers. He may not give a direct answer yet. But to say, why? And then just say, God, I trust you with that. Because we know that waiting isn't wasting. Okay, next point is this. So waiting isn't wasting. Number two is this, worship while you wait. Worship while you wait. Here's what we're gonna do right now. We're gonna look at a second character really quick. It's right after this passage right here in Luke chapter two, verses 36 to 40.

Let's read together. It says this, there's also a prophet, Anna. Everyone say Anna. Anna, the daughter of Penuel, the tribe of Asher. She was very old. She had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage and then was a widow until she was 84 years old. She never left the temple, but worshiped day and night, fasting and praying, coming up to them at that very moment. She gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Israel, of Jerusalem. When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the law, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong. He was filled with wisdom and the grace of God was on him. So here we have another character that she just walked up to them, this widow, Anna, and girl, she lived at the church. She was at the temple day and night, praying and fasting. She had spent time just worshiping God and she walks in on this moment. She didn't have a direct promise like Simeon did, but when she walks up to Jesus, she sees this is the redemption of Jerusalem in the flesh himself. She begins to tell others about him as well in that moment. And I just love this, that she may have not had

direct promise that she was waiting for, but she was waiting for the Lord to redeem Jerusalem. She was waiting for the Lord to show up with the Messiah. She was still waiting for something like that. And even in her waiting, even in her old age, I love this, that she was still praying, that she was still fasting. Not only that, but when she comes up to this family, this young family, we don't see any cynical tone in her voice or in the way it describes her. She blessed them. She was encouraging to them. Same thing with Simeon. And I love that, that even in the waiting, even in the painful situation she was put in, she was widowed only after seven years. Can you imagine the pain of that? And at that time too, we can imagine that today, but at that time it was significantly worse. Like she would be broke. She would be just in a terrible socioeconomic situation. She would be like, you know, almost an outcast in that regard. But the Lord was so good. And she said, Lord, I'm not gonna be, I'm not going to succumb to a defeated spirit. I'm not just gonna walk around complaining or grumbling. I'm not gonna walk around with the bitterness in my heart, but Lord, I'm gonna fast. I'm gonna pray. I'm gonna seek your face.

Here's what we can take from that, that even in a waiting season, to say, God, as I'm waiting, or maybe something has happened that, that man, I'm still walking with them. I'm waiting for the breakthrough. I'm waiting for the miracle. I'm waiting for whatever it is, Lord. Even during that, Lord, I want to grow closer to you. That Jesus, you're the priority. That I don't just want the thing to happen, Lord. I want you. And I love, I love the example that she gives us here. And as for us, that we should say, Holy Spirit, I want to walk closely with you. I don't just want the miracle to come about. I want you. And this also, I think, speaks to. to our attitude as well. Because again, sometimes, like I just said, I was complaining up to God when I was in my dorm room, like, God, where are you? Like, what's happening? And the Lord had to check me being like, okay, but you should still work hard with a diligent spirit, with a good attitude. Because it's not just about the things you do, the actions you take while you wait, your attitude is important to the Lord as well. What you're thinking, your thought life

is just as important to the Lord as the things you actually, you go out and do. So you might be doing the right things, doing the right things in the way, but your heart and your mind are complaining, you're grumbling. And I think back to the story of the Israelites, they had a clear promise from God, go to this land, it's a land filled with milk and honey, they have the promised land, and they're wandering in the desert, they're waiting for God to bring breakthrough. And what do they experience? They experience Him come and just open the Red Sea and He's providing them food. But throughout the whole entire narrative of that story, they're complaining, they're grumbling, they don't have the right attitude, and only two people from that generation get to actually see the land that the Lord had promised them. So even in the season of waiting, have the right attitude to say, God, maybe I'm in pain, and maybe I'm complaining, but here's what we can do with our complaining and grumbling, we can do one of three things. One, we can broadcast it to the world and talk to others and complain about others or complain to others. Or number two, we can shove it all the way down. This is what I can do, this is my natural tendency,

like if I'm feeling the pain or the bitterness or the complaining, just keep it down until it erupts one day. Or number three, we can give it to God and say, God, you know my heart, you see me, He can take it. And you can say, Lord, you can be honest with Him too and say, Lord, I've been waiting, I don't know where you're at, Lord, are you even working? Are you even doing what you've promised to do? I'm in this painful season of waiting. You can bring all of those things to Him and receive His peace, receive His comfort, because He'll never leave you, never forsake you. He wants to walk with you. So one, waiting isn't wasting. Two, to worship while we wait. And number three is this, as we finish up today, there's a gift in the waiting, a gift in the waiting. So we see that there's some things that we only learn when we wait. Some things, I believe, and sometimes the best things in life are only built in the season of waiting, in the season maybe of obscurity. It's in the waiting, it's in the delay where God can do His best work in our lives. And it's also in the waiting too, I believe, when we're waiting, that God has our full attention. Because if we would just get everything so instant and so often, we'd be going from one thing to the next and from the next to the next.

We can live like this too. But I believe sometimes in the waiting for the deeper things, we have, God has our attention, and then we start to see things differently. When God has our attention, it starts to change us, that life isn't just all about me, it's not just all about what I'm waiting for, it's not just all about my success or the promise I'm waiting for. Life is about Jesus. Life is about God. Life is about serving Him and pleasing Him. It's about loving others and serving others and to say, God, thank you for the waiting, because sometimes He produces the best results, the best thing, the best character in the seasons of waiting. That's hard to hear, but we can see that this is true. And sometimes what grows while we wait is better than the breakthrough itself. Let me say that again. Sometimes what grows while we wait is better than the breakthrough itself. I remember, again, a couple of years ago, I came home from college and a lot of my friends, close friends, they found their boo thing at college and they started to get married. They started getting into serious relationships. And I came home and I was single as a pringle. And I was like, I was seeing all this happen,

and then I came back and a lot of my friends who were older as well, and they were already married and had kids. And I felt like everyone was over here and I was over here. And I was like, God, where is she? And I was feeling like, okay, I'm in a waiting season. I'm like, God, come on, I'm not getting any younger here. Let's go, let's pick things up here. And I'm waiting and I'm waiting and I cried out to God. And He said, look for a brunette who has a hard time keeping gifts secret. And I said, oh, it's Lauren. Thank you. Now that's, I wish, I wish it didn't happen like that. But I remember, I remember guys, multiple. Sometimes I'm crying out to him, I'm like, God, I feel alone, I feel left out, I feel like I've been forgotten about. Like, what's happening? Can you give me some clarity? Should I go somewhere else? Should I be looking in different places? Can you just give me a word like that? Like, can you show me a picture, God? Give me a picture right now. Give me a sign. And I was like praying, I was like legit praying these things. And you know, every time I prayed them, you know what his response was?

It wasn't an answer, it was a question. It was, Sean, do you trust me? Every time I felt that in my spirit, I would pray about that. I prayed that dozens of times. Every time, the question was, Sean, do you trust me? And sometimes I'd be like, I don't know. But then I'd be like, yes, God, I trust you. I trust you, I trust you, I trust you, I trust you, God. And then finally I was like, God, I trust you. And it would come up in my heart, maybe I would feel like complaining or feel like pushing it down, but then I'd be like, God, I give it to you, I'm frustrated, but I trust you. I'm waiting, but I trust you. I might be feeling the pain of that, but I trust you. I might be seeing what all these other people are doing, but Lord, I trust you. I'm not gonna live in a defeated spirit. I'm not gonna try to make things happen on my own. I'm gonna walk with you, Holy Spirit. I'm not gonna be inactive, but I'm gonna grow close to you. I'm gonna take one step at a time. And then finally, I'm so thankful I waited because I found one of the best gifts in my life, and that is Lauren. And I'm so thankful that, come on, somebody, and we're spending our first Christmas together. Come on.

But even more than that, let me tell you, and she's the greatest gift. Oh man, other than Jesus, she's the greatest gift of my life. But I wanna tell you this. I am so thankful for that season of waiting, not just because I was waiting for her, because it built trust in my life for God. Even when I didn't know the answer, even when it was painful, even when I was like, God, where are you? Come on. It built that character in me and said, God, I trust you. I trust you, I trust you. So there's a gift in the waiting. And again, I believe God can bring breakthrough in an instant. I pray for that. I hope to see that. But I also know this too. Nothing is wasted with the Lord. So whatever you're waiting for today, I just wanna encourage you. Wait not for the promise. Don't wait for the person. Don't wait for the opportunity. Wait on the Lord, because here's what it says, this last scripture here. It says this in Isaiah chapter 40, verse 30 to 31. It says this, even youths shall be faint and weary

and young men shall fall exhausted. But they who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not be faint. So I encourage you today. Don't wait for just the promise. Say, God, I'm waiting for you. I want you. I pursue you. And as you do that, and as you give your complaint up to God, as you give your worry up to him, as you continue to take one step in front of the other, growing close to the Holy Spirit and walking with him, here's what he does. As that scripture says, he gives you new strength to keep moving forward. And so today let's do this. Can we just bow our heads and close our eyes all across the room here? And I just wanna say this to you today, that you might be waiting for something to happen, but the best thing to ever happen, it's been the story this whole time, that the Lord is the best thing to wait for. That the Lord, that life is more than waiting just for the right person or the right car or the right job or opportunity or all these things.

Life is about Jesus. And some of you today, you have been wrestling with life. You've been living with a defeated spirit or comparison. You've been trying to find the right thing and you've been looking in all the wrong places. But I wanna say today, the Lord has been waiting for you. Those of you in the room that you've never made the decision to follow Jesus, I wanna give you that opportunity today. That instead of looking in all the wrong places, that today you look to the Lord. And you say, Lord, I put my trust in you. If that's you today, you've never made the decision to follow Jesus. I wanna give you that opportunity now. We're gonna take some time. We'll pray for some other things. But if that's you today, you've never made that decision or you're saying, Sean, I'm rededicating my life today. I've run from him, but today I'm coming back to him. On the count of three, just put your hand in the air. Ready, one, two, three. Put your hand in the air if that's you today. Come on, raise it high up. Put it way up there.

Come on, I'll give another opportunity. I see that, I see that. One, two, three. Put that hand up today. Come on, I see that. I see that. Come on, can we pray together right now? Let's pray. Everyone repeat after me. Say, Lord, I give you my life. Thank you for taking my sin on the cross. Thank you for your life so that I could have new life. I give myself to you. Change me. Make me new. I turn away from my sin, and now I turn toward you. Fill me with your spirit, help me to follow you the rest of my days, in Jesus name, amen. Can we give it up for those that made that decision? Awesome. I just want to say too, if you made that decision today, we want to be your church, we want to be your pastors, we want to help resource you in whatever way we can. So right back here, Pastor Matt, he's raising his hands at the end of our time together. Go and find Matt, he has, we have some resources we want to give you, we want to pray for you, we want to be here for you as a church family. But as we do that, can everyone just take a minute to stand up, let's stand together.

Let's do this right now. Some of you, again, you've been waiting for something, you've been on hold, you've been like, God, where are you? And I want to give us a chance to respond today to him. And we're going to sing a song here called God of the Impossible. It's a simple chorus that's saying, God, I trust in you. You know just what to do. And so today, whatever you're waiting for, maybe it's a person to come back into your life. Maybe it's an opportunity to open up. Maybe you've been waiting so long, so long for God to move in your life, for the promise to happen, whatever it is, let's just take a moment right now and just say, God, I trust in you. So even right now, even before we sing, can we close our eyes and lift our hands? And maybe you need to actually physically lift it up to God right now. God, I wait for you. I give it to you. I surrender it to you. We put it in your hands, Lord. We thank you, Father. Nothing is wasted in the waiting. And we pray now, Father, as we trust in you, that you would now give us new strength. Thank you, Jesus. Come on, let's sing this out together right now.

Thank you, Jesus. Oh, I will trust in you for you know just what to do. In my weakness, you are strong. You are strong. Oh, I will trust in you for you know just what to do. In my weakness, you are strong. God, you are strong. Oh, I will trust in you for you know just what to do. In my weakness, you are strong. God, you are strong. Oh, I will trust in you for you know just what to do. In my weakness, you are strong. God, you are God. Ever faithful, you are loved. Ever faithful, you are loved. No one like you, high above. More than angel, silent rock. God of the impossible. Yes, you are God. God, ever faithful, you are loved. No one like you, high above. More than angel, silent rock. God of the impossible. God of the impossible. Come on, Lord, we thank you. We thank you that there is strength

for those who wait on the Lord. We thank you. Lord, even when we don't see it or understand it, we know, Lord, you are moving. And Lord, at the right moment, at that Kairos moment, Lord, that you will bring about breakthrough. But Lord, even if we have to wait and wait and wait for years and years like Anna, like Simeon, Lord, we say we trust in you. We want you more. We thank you for that, Jesus. Amen. Here's what I'd like to do now. I'd like to just open up the front here. And if I could have prayer leaders come to the front right now, and you'll be able to come down here in a minute. If there's anything that you need prayer for at all, we wanna pray for you. Maybe there's a miracle you're waiting on. Maybe there's a situation in your family. There could be a lot of different things. Whatever you need prayer for, you just, you come on down in just a second here. Our leaders, they would love to pray with you. Come on, we got an army today. I love it. Look at these guys. Here's a couple of things though.

Again, come down for anything, but a few things that the Lord laid on my heart this morning. I felt the Lord, that he was saying, there's been someone in here with afflicting migraines. You've been waiting on breakthrough and healing from migraines for years. I just wanna say, I feel like today, the Lord said there's going to be healing and there's gonna be breakthrough. So if that's you, come on down, let's pray for you. I felt in my spirit this morning too. that someone in here, you've been needing to forgive someone. I felt specifically there's a parent in the room, there's a son or daughter that you've been holding on to bitterness, you've been waiting for them to make the move, but I feel like the Lord's saying, it starts with you saying, I forgive them, I forgive them, I forgive them. And today's the day to forgive. Today's the moment to forgive. You've been waiting for that, but the Lord says, today is the day you forgive, come down and let's pray together for that. I feel like there's also, maybe this is one person, maybe it's multiple people, that comparison, you've seen what other people have been doing and you've been seeing it on social media or your friends and it's produced a loneliness in your life that has influenced all your decisions.

It's affecting you in every way. I just wanna say today's the day we break comparison in the name of Jesus, that God built you and made you like no one else. And that's not about what other people are doing, it's about what he's doing in and through you. So if that's you, come on down. And the last one is this, maybe you're in here today, you're waiting, fathers and mothers in the room or family members or friends, you've been waiting on a prodigal, someone who was once with the Lord, they've now walked away and you're praying, Lord, bring them back. We wanna pray for them today, that this Christmas season they come back in the name of Jesus, that they find him again, that there's breakthrough in the name of Jesus. That pertains to you, come on down and receive prayer, but for anything, any way we can pray for you, we wanna be able to do that. So come on down, we'd love to pray for you, but let's do this right now, before we do that, let me just extend your hand like this. I pray for you right now, God, we thank you that you are the God in the waiting, that you never abandon, that you never leave us to our own devices, but Lord, you always are there, you always see us. And Lord, you can do more in the waiting

that we could ever do on our own. So we say, Lord, we trust in you today. And I pray today, Father, let there be breakthrough in the name of Jesus. Let there be breakthrough today, Father, for those who have been waiting and praying, Father. And Lord, I pray today, Father, that there'll be new strength released in the name of Jesus. Everyone in here who's waiting, who's waiting on a family member or a friend, or a situation that's so deep, Father, that today, Father, they would receive that strength that's promised. We wait on you, we love you, we thank you for the promise of your son, Jesus Christ, who came 2000 years ago to save us. And we remember that today. We thank you for that. In Jesus' name, everybody said, amen. Hey, we'll be around here to pray and worship for a little bit. Whenever you feel led to go, you may be released to go, but come down here for prayer. We love you guys, have a merry Christmas.