When Following God Feels Disappointing
Pastor Jeff reminded us that following Jesus doesn’t guarantee an easy life—it often means enduring trials, delays, and opposition. Through Paul’s two-year imprisonment in Acts 24, we see a man who refused to be shaken by critics, compromise his convictions, waste his circumstances, or doubt God’s faithfulness. God often does His greatest work in the hidden seasons, building character and preparing us for what lies ahead. When God’s timing doesn’t match our expectations, we can trust that He is still at work. Don’t wait for perfect circumstances to serve Him—bloom where you’re planted and remain faithful, knowing that God’s promises are worth the wait.
♪ Just that good, just that good, just that good ♪ ♪ Just that good, just that good, just that good ♪ ♪ Just that good, just that good, just that good ♪ ♪ Just that good, just that good, just that good ♪ ♪ Just that good, just that good, just that good ♪ ♪ Just that good, just that good, just that good ♪ ♪ Just that good, just that good ♪ ♪ Just that good, just that good, just that good ♪ ♪ Just that good, just that good, just that good ♪ ♪ Just that good, just that good, just that good ♪ ♪ Just that good, just that good, just that good ♪ ♪ Just that good, just that good, just that good, just that good ♪ ♪ Just that good, just that good, just that good ♪ ♪ Just that good, just that good ♪ ♪ Just that good, just that good, just that good ♪ (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
- Good morning, brave church. Good to see you here on this beautiful Sunday morning. Whether you're here in the auditorium or home on watchin' online, just know this. That God is chasing after you. So turn around and run to him. Run to him for he is faithful all the time. Let's see. ♪ You've been good ♪ ♪ Good for all my life ♪ ♪ There's nothing good ♪ ♪ Ever change my heart ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ You never break your bones ♪ ♪ You're constantly on you ♪ ♪ Yours is the way that you live ♪ ♪ And I will cheat you ♪ ♪ Oh I know that I know ♪ ♪ You won't ever let me go ♪ ♪ Every low, every high ♪ ♪ You all wait for all the time ♪ ♪ I taste it and I see ♪ ♪ You've been so, so good to me ♪ ♪ God I know that I know ♪ ♪ Faithful all the time ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ You're faithful all the time ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ No I won't look ♪ ♪ To the left or right ♪
♪ And I will cheat you ♪ ♪ Ever in my sight ♪ ♪ No I will not be shaking you ♪ ♪ Nothing is good to me ♪ ♪ I've got to pay it short ♪ ♪ Things I cannot see ♪ ♪ Oh I know that I know ♪ ♪ You won't ever let me go ♪ ♪ Every low, every high ♪ ♪ You all wait for all the time ♪ ♪ I taste it and I see ♪ ♪ You've been so, so good to me ♪ ♪ God I know that I know ♪ ♪ Faithful all the time ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Faithful all the time ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ I won't stand on words of men ♪ ♪ God I'll stand on yours instead ♪ ♪ All of my hope, all of my faith ♪ ♪ All of this in your name ♪ ♪ And the world cannot deny ♪ ♪ All that you've done in my life ♪ ♪ All of my taste, all of my praise ♪ ♪ All the lift Jesus stands ♪ ♪ I won't stand on words of man ♪ ♪ God I'll stand on yours instead ♪ ♪ All of my hope, all of my faith ♪ ♪ All of this in your name ♪ ♪ And the world cannot deny ♪
♪ All that you've done in my life ♪ ♪ All of my taste, all of my praise ♪ ♪ All the lift Jesus stands ♪ ♪ All of my taste, all of my praise ♪ ♪ All the lift Jesus stands ♪ - Here we go. ♪ No, that I know ♪ ♪ You won't ever let me go ♪ ♪ Every low, every high ♪ ♪ You are faithful ♪ ♪ All the time ♪ ♪ Oh I know, that I know ♪ ♪ You won't ever let me go ♪ ♪ Every low, every high ♪ ♪ You are faithful on the side ♪ ♪ All the taste, all of my taste ♪ ♪ You've been so, so glad to be ♪ ♪ God I know, that I know ♪ ♪ Faithful all the time ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Faithful all the time ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Faithful all the time ♪ - Amen. - As we serve a faithful good God, and before we continue in worship, I just want us to take a moment, just to welcome Him in, not just to this room, but into our hearts and our minds. So if you can, can you just close your eyes for a moment? And whatever you've come in with,
maybe it's just frustrations, just throughout your life right now. Can you just lay that at the feet of Jesus? And then can you just welcome the Holy Spirit in to your heart, to your mind, and to the areas of your life? Holy Spirit, we invite you in. Have your way in us today. Help us put our preferences, our worries, our cares aside so we can truly just see you, glorify you, and watch you move this morning. ♪ So call on your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ 'Cause the Spirit was moving over the water ♪ ♪ Spirit, come move over us ♪ ♪ Come rest on us ♪ ♪ Come rest on us ♪ ♪ As the Spirit was moving over the water ♪ ♪ Spirit, come move within us ♪ ♪ Come rest on us ♪ ♪ Come rest on us ♪ ♪ Come down, Spirit, when you make my heart round ♪ ♪ When you fill the room ♪ ♪ You're here and I know you are moving ♪ ♪ I'm here and I know you will fill me home down ♪ ♪ Spirit, when you make my heart round ♪ ♪ When you fill the room ♪ ♪ You're here and I know you are moving ♪ ♪ I'm here and I know you are building ♪ ♪ Just come and build in this house today, love ♪ ♪ Just become your love ♪
♪ When we come and do it again ♪ ♪ Open up the gates, let heaven on it ♪ ♪ Come rest on us ♪ ♪ Come rest on us ♪ ♪ Open up the gates ♪ ♪ Fire and wind, come and do it again ♪ ♪ Open up the gates, let heaven on it ♪ ♪ Come rest on us ♪ ♪ Come rest on us ♪ ♪ Come down ♪ ♪ Spirit, when you make my heart round ♪ ♪ When you fill the room ♪ ♪ You're here and I know you are moving ♪ ♪ I'm here and I know you will fill me home down ♪ ♪ Spirit, when you do you make my heart round ♪ ♪ When you fill the room ♪ ♪ You're here and I know you are moving ♪ ♪ I'm here and I know you will fill me, yes ♪ ♪ Oh come and love in our hearts and in Lord Jesus ♪ Come on, so we sing. ♪ Open up the gates, Spirit ♪ ♪ Open up the gates, let heaven on it ♪ ♪ You're all we want ♪ ♪ You're all we want ♪ Come on, sing it again. ♪ Open up the gates, Spirit ♪ ♪ Come rest on us ♪ ♪ You're all we want ♪ ♪ Come on, come on, come on, come on ♪ ♪ Open up the gates, Spirit ♪
♪ Come rest on us ♪ ♪ You're all we want ♪ ♪ Yes you are all ♪ ♪ You're all we want ♪ ♪ You're all we want ♪ ♪ Open up the gates, Spirit ♪ ♪ Come rest on us ♪ ♪ You're all we want ♪ ♪ For you's love ♪ ♪ You're all we want ♪ ♪ Come down ♪ ♪ Spirit, when you move ♪ ♪ You make my heart pound ♪ ♪ When you do the move ♪ ♪ Right ♪ ♪ You hear it ♪ ♪ I know you are moving ♪ ♪ I hear it ♪ ♪ I know you will fill me ♪ ♪ Come down ♪ ♪ Spirit, when you move ♪ ♪ You make my heart pound ♪ ♪ When you do ♪ ♪ You're here and I know you are moving ♪ ♪ I'm here and I know you will fill me ♪ ♪ Come down ♪ ♪ Spirit, when you move ♪ ♪ You make my heart pound ♪ ♪ When you fill the room ♪ ♪ You're here and I know you are moving ♪
♪ Come ♪ ♪ You're the Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ Come rest on us ♪ ♪ You're more and more love ♪ ♪ You're all we want ♪ ♪ Come here and holy Spirit ♪ ♪ Come rest on us ♪ ♪ You're all we want ♪ (upbeat music) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (gentle music) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) Can we just sing that to him again?
♪ Yes, you're all I want ♪ ♪ Only you just ♪ ♪ You're all I've ever needed ♪ ♪ You're all I want ♪ ♪ Help me know you I need ♪ ♪ Help me know you I need ♪ (audience applauding) (gentle music) (gentle music) (singing in foreign language) (gentle music) (singing in foreign language) (gentle music) ♪ You give life, you are love ♪ ♪ You bring life to the darkness ♪ ♪ You give hope, you restore ♪ ♪ Every heart that is broken ♪ ♪ So we say, great are you Lord ♪ ♪ It's in your hands and arms ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise ♪ ♪ Pour out our praise ♪ ♪ It's in your breath and arms ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise ♪ ♪ To you only ♪ ♪ Only to you, Lord God ♪ ♪ You bring life to my life ♪ ♪ You bring life to the darkness ♪ ♪ You give hope, you restore ♪ ♪ Every heart that is broken ♪ ♪ Great are you Lord ♪
♪ It's in your breath and arms ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise ♪ ♪ Pour out our praise ♪ ♪ It's in your breath and arms ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise ♪ ♪ To you only it's in your breath ♪ ♪ In our lungs ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise ♪ ♪ We pour out our praise ♪ ♪ It's in your breath and arms ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise ♪ ♪ To you only it's in your breath ♪ ♪ It's so great Jesus ♪ ♪ You bring life to my life ♪ (upbeat music) Great are you Lord, all the earth will shout your praise, our hearts will cry, these bonds will sing. Great are you Lord. All the earth will shout your praise, our hearts will cry, these bonds will sing. Great are you Lord, all the earth will shout your praise, our hearts will cry, these bonds will sing. Great are you Lord, with your praise, your praise, our hearts, so we pour out our praise, pour out our praise, so we pour out our praise, so we pour out our praise, so we pour out our praise, so we pour out our praise, so we pour out our praise, so we pour out our praise, so we pour out our praise, so we pour out our praise, ♪ We sing great, glory Lord ♪ ♪ We sing great, glory Lord ♪ - Hey, man, Lord, we thank you 'cause it is you who put the breath in our lungs. And God, I pray we use every ounce of breath to glorify you this morning here in this place. Father, God, I just thank you for who you are and I pray that today we will not leave here
the same way that we came, but that we will leave transformed by your word. God, come into this place this morning, Lord, 'cause we cannot have service apart from you. So Lord, we invite you here, Lord. We pray these things in your son's precious name. Amen, and amen, brave church. Can we praise them right now? Let's praise God. Amen. Amen, brave church, before you are seated, can you take a moment to say hello to somebody next to you? (audience cheering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) Amen, amen. Brave church, my name is Erro Gonzalez and I am a cadre director here at Brave Church. And if this is your first time here, we are so blessed that you chose to worship with us this morning. Guys, can you praise God for those who are new? This is their first time. Amen. Amen. Brave church, I have a really cool announcement for you guys, actually for the ladies. So take a moment to take a quick peek at the screen. (camera clicking) (upbeat music)
(upbeat music) Yeah, praise God. Ladies, save the date September 26th. We have Rebecca Lyons coming to speak to you ladies. It is our women's conference. You do not wanna miss it. Invite your friends, moms, bring your daughters. Ladies, this is gonna be amazing time. So you do not wanna miss it. So Brave Church, let's get our Bibles out and let's prepare our hearts and get ready to hear God's living and active word. (dramatic music) - There's never been a greater need for the Church of Jesus Christ in a culture than there is right now. - The message of the gospel is so clear. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And no one comes to the Father except through Him. Whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. God did not give you a spirit of fear. He gave you power, love, and discipline. The spirit of the age gives a spirit of timidity. But the spirit of God says step forward with all courage and with all faith and boldly share the gospel. Don't be ashamed of the gospel 'cause it's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. We cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.
The Holy Spirit says be strong and courageous. The Lord, your God, will be with you wherever you go. - Well, good morning would you help me welcome all of our campuses that are worshiping with us today. It's great to be with all of you. (congregation applauds) What a terrific day. Want to let you know about renovations. If things go as planned, which we're expecting them to go as planned, next Sunday, Father's Day, the 21st, will be our last day in this building. Prior to renovations, if you're meeting with us here in Englewood, we'll be next door at Brave Academy. If you're here in the second service, may encourage you to come to first service. There'll be more seating available to you there for the coming weeks, or come visit our Westminster campus under their cheering loudly for you, even though you can't hear them right now. They'd love you to come see what goes on up there. But we're gonna trust the Lord as we get new carpet, new screens, new seats, new everything. It's gonna look like a extreme church makeover by the time we're done. Kids wing done, it's gonna look nice. And we're excited about that and appreciate all your faithful giving. With that on the 22nd, which is the Monday after Father's Day, we're looking for some people to sign up that are able to help us pack and move some different things.
So if you're available on that Monday all day or part of that day and will be willing to help us do that, there's a lot of stuff that needs to get moved so that we can move forward on this project so you can use the QR code behind me on the screens and sign up, and we would love to have your help. With that, let's go before the Lord. Let's get ready to hear his living and active word among us. Would you pray with me? Our Father in Heaven, we do give you glory, honor, and praise for this day. Lord, we thank you for who you are and for all you're doing in and through our lives. Lord, we consider it a privilege to gather with our brothers and sisters here under the lordship of Jesus Christ to give you all the praise, glory, and honor that you so rightly deserve. Lord, thank you for hearing our prayers, thank you for receiving our worship. And Lord, right now we're very encouraged to be able to hear you speak directly to us because we as a people believe. Every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed that it is you who are speaking, so our prayer collectively this morning is, speak Lord for we are ready to hear. And so now for every person here who desires to hear the Lord Jesus Christ speak directly to you who will believe what he tells you
and who will by faith put into practice what he shows you will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word, amen, amen. All fairy tales end the same way. If you've seen a fairy tale, you know it all ends the same way, maybe you can help me finish how it ends. And they all lived happily ever after. Only 30 of you have ever heard of a fairy tale. Let's try again. And they all lived happily ever after. Now you might say I'm not big into fairy tales, I don't watch Cinderella, Snow White Beauty and the Beast, Frozen, that's not my cup of tea. But that genre tends to be an experience many of us want to experience in the church. The kingdom is restored, the villain is defeated, the prince marries, the princess, and they all live happily ever after. And we've been told that if we trust Jesus Christ, life should be like this. If we trust Jesus, especially if we're living obedient to Him, everything should go well with our health and everything should go well with our finances and everything should go well in relationships because I'm doing what God wants and that's a level of expectation that I have. I'm here to tell you, until Jesus Christ comes back, rules and reigns on this earth and defeats the devil, which is a guaranteed promise that he will, that happily ever after hasn't started yet.
And because the happily ever after hasn't started yet, many times we wonder what to do when God feels disappointing. What we feel like when God feels disappointing. What do we do with that? Because we know, theologically, he's still good, he's still holy, he's still righteous, he's awesome, he saved us, he's great. obedient to what God's called me to do and I'm kind of disappointed with my circumstances or my situation or what's going on. I expected it to look a little different than it does right now. And if you've been a Christian for more than a minute, you've probably experienced that. And if you haven't, I promise you that you will because this life is a battlefield. We live in a battlefield, a spiritual warfare where not everything goes right where we're opposed as we take steps of faith. So what do you do in your own soul when God feels disappointing to you, when you're going through that season? Because it's a great season of opportunity for you. And if you're going through that season or you've been through that season, I have a word for you from God this morning. He has a word for you. He wants you to understand what it is that you should do when you're going through a season like that. And if you haven't gone through a season like that, take really good notes because you will. And when you do and you sense, man, it just feels really disappointed with God because I thought of, I've followed him, I thought if I did this, I thought if I took this step of faith, everything would work out and it's just not working out the way I thought. What do you do during times like that? And to look for answers to that today, we're going to be in Acts chapter 24. Acts chapter 24, I invite you to turn there this morning. And while you're turning there this morning, I want you to consider what we've been coming
out of. We've been coming out of the section where Paul has said he was going to Jerusalem against everybody's wishes. He went anyway. He said I was willing to die even if I have to. He goes there. A riot started. He gets taken into the barracks. They have him appear before the Jewish High Council. They want to tear him apart. So they take him back into the barracks. There's a hit on his life where 40 men say we're going to fast, eat no food, drink no water until he's dead, but Paul's uncle finds out about it with God's providence, tells the commander and they get Paul, this military escort from Jerusalem all the way up on the seacoast of Caesarea to appear before governor Felix who reigns and rules over Caesarea, Jerusalem and that whole area from Caesarea is where he reigns from. And so that's where our story picks up. And it says in chapter 24 verse 1, "After five days the high priest Ananias came down with some elders with an attorney named Sir Tullis and they brought charges to the governor against Paul." You remember that Paul appeared before Ananias in Jerusalem. Now Ananias is coming and who's he going to bring with him? He's going to bring an attorney, this professional liar that's going to come on his behalf and speak untruths about Paul in an articulate way. After Paul had been summoned, Tullis began to accuse him, saying to the governor, listen to this, "Since we have, through you, attained much peace and since by your providence reforms are being carried out for this nation, we acknowledge this in every way and everywhere most excellent Felix with all thankfulness." Exegetically, here's what he's saying, okay, that's what he's doing. Any historian, whether you read Josephus or any of the other first century historians
would tell you Felix isn't a good guy. He was not revered by anybody. He was not liked by anybody. He was selfish, self-indulgent, only cared about himself, pompous, all sorts of different things. But when the attorney gets there, it's like, "We are so thankful for you. You've done such a great job and everybody everywhere is just so thankful for your service." What's he doing? He's buttering him up because he's about ready to lie about Paul because we already know that all the Jews want him dead. So he's doing everything to try his case, he says in verse 4, "But that I may not wear you any further, I beg you to grant us by your kindness a brief hearing." And he's going to indulge in his tirade about Paul. Now here's what I want you to know. When following God feels disappointing or when you're in a season where it hasn't worked out like you want it to work out, here's, I'm going to give you four things you can do. This is the first one, refuse to be shaken by what people say. refuse to be shaken by what other people say. This may be the most important point when you're in this situation, refuse to be shaken or moved by what other people say. Now notice what's going to happen. Paul's been brought in to tell us the attorney is going to begin to go on his tirade and he says this, "For we have found this man, a real pest, and a fellow who stirs up dissension among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes, and he even tried to desecrate the temple and then we arrested him." Now listen to him, he's accusing him of four things, all four are untrue. He said we found this man to be a real pest. He's a pain. He's a troublemaker. He's all these things.
Paul didn't do anything to stir up trouble when he got to Jerusalem. He didn't go meet with anybody. He didn't cause riots. He didn't do anything. dissension among all Jews. Then stir up dissension among all Jews. He preaches the gospel and the Jews don't like Jesus. And it's bothering them. That's why they've considered him a pest. And he's a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. That's kind of true. I mean, he's definitely living for the Lord Jesus Christ, but he's trying to turn him into this religious cult leader. And then he finally lies by saying, and he even tried to desecrate the temple, and then we arrested him. He didn't desecrate the temple. He never brought any Gentiles in. He was there worshiping. He took a vow. He's just worshiping in the temple. That's all he did. So they're falsely accusing him. And when they're falsely accusing him, Paul's not saying anything. And Paul's not shaken by what they say. Refused to be shaken by what people say about you. And notice what he said. We wanted to judge him according to our law, but let's see us, the commander came along
and with much violence took him out of our hands, ordering his accusers to come before you by examining him yourself concerning all these matters. You will be able to ascertain the things of which we accuse him. Now that's a lie. We know what happened. It wasn't that Lisius came in. The Jews were about ready to tear them apart two different times. Lisius came in to protect them from their violence. He's saying, but Lisius came in and he's such a violent man and he took him away. Well, here's why they took him away because there was a threat on his life because 40 of you vowed not to eat or drink until you killed him. So again, he's telling half truths. He's not telling the whole story. And as this is going on, what's the Apostle Paul doing? He's not saying anything. He's not saying anything. He doesn't have to defend himself. He doesn't have to speak up. And notice what happens in addition to that verse nine, the Jews also joined in the attack asserting that these things were so. So while the attorney's talking, you have this whole peanut gallery behind him saying, that's totally true, that's right.
He's this, he's that. Look what he did. It's just attack, attack, attack, attack, attack. Now, why is this important? Why is this important? Because when you're continuing to take steps of faith, it will happen to you. When you take steps of faith with Jesus, there will be people that speak badly about you. It's a fact. Our enemy, the devil, is a liar. That's his number one strength. So what does he try to raise up around you? Liars and slanderers. If you take steps of faith, there will be people that speak bad about you. And for many of us, that stops our steps of faith 'cause we care too much about what other people think rather than what God says. And when you're going through it, you have to tune your ears in even more to what the Lord's saying and turn your ears away from what other people are saying about you. I mean, in some ways, what other people say about you is really none of your business anyway, right? Now we live in a world where people can social media and text and say all sorts of mean, hurtful, awful things. Without any accountability or without having to see you face to face
or do all that, that's the world that we live in. And here's what you need to know, it's true, right? You could be complimented 100 times for something genuine you do, but one person says one thing about you, they may not even know you, they may be wrong in what they say that hurts you and that's what you're gonna remember. Am I telling the truth? I mean, majority of people can tell, oh, you're great, you're good, oh, I love that love. One person says it and it hurts and it sticks right here. I remember when I was coaching high school football once upon a time, in our team, we had 42 guys on the team, I was coaching freshmen football, we were eight and no, we were the best team in our division, we were for sure gonna beat the team that we played that weekend 'cause they were the worst team in our division, which we did, and on Wednesday, I remember coming home. 40 of the 42 kids were great kids, we're eight and no. You know what I came home and talked about? The two kids that bothered me. We're eight and no, we're gonna be nine and no. 40 great kids, 40 great families. Two kids struggling and I come home like, man, this is so hard, these two kids, right? 'Cause negative things stick with us longer. And when someone says something to you, it can stick like a barb and it can wound, refuse to let what other people say shake you, refuse.
That's part of what it means to grow in your faith, right? You can't control what other people are going to say. I mean, think about this, in Isaiah 54, 17, it says, "No weapon that is formed against you will prosper." No weapon. I mean, you think about our God and how he protects, I read some of Psalm 27 to you last week, but Psalm 27 is certainly one of my favorite psalms of all time and it starts off saying this, "The Lord is my light and my salvation, "whom shall I fear?" The Lord is the defense of my life, "whom shall I dread?" When evil doers came upon me to devour my flesh, my adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell. Though a hosting camped against me, my heart will not fear. The war right arise against me. Refuse to be shaken by what other people say. When you're taking steps of faith, continue to take steps of faith. Now it's interesting when we talk about all the things that are happening to Paul and why he's not living happily ever after. We're like, well, that's biblical times. But what about now? 'Cause there's some of you that are being obedient to the Lord who have stayed in a very, very difficult marriage because of your love for Jesus. And it's been really challenging. And you're saying, "How come I'm having to deal with all this?"
Some of you have very difficult children and you've raised them up in the Lord and you've watched them walk away. And you're saying, "Lord, I've been obedient. "I raised them right and look at what's going on." Some of you have honored God in your business and have had integrity and it's cost you potentially your job. Some of you have served the church faithfully only to have people inside the church say things. I mean, this is where we're living. So when you're doing what God wants, how do you handle this? You refuse to be shaken by what people say. Now it's good to have people around you that know you, that can speak into your life. Like if there's something that you're doing wrong and that's important, that we have accountability, I get that. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about when you take steps of faith for the Lord, there will always be people who think it's their business to accuse your motives, to accuse your ideas, to accuse what you do and to say that you're wrong, even when you're doing exactly what the Lord wants you to do. It's a fact and I can tell you this is a pastor 'cause you think it's just all those non-Christians outside the church. I would say it's a hundred to one for me
over 35 years of ministry from people inside the church than people outside the church. It's rarely been someone outside the church that says something that hurts me. It's always the people that are closest to me and where's the devil go? He goes through those that are closest to you, tries to get to you through your spouse and all of us that are married have had situations where something left our lips like I shouldn't have said that and it did, right? All of us have had situations, the enemy tries to work with those closest around us and we can't get to those closest around us, he goes to the next sphere in the next sphere. Where's he like to work, right inside the church? Why, because of inside the church, we're saying slanderous things and hurtful things about each other. Guess what happens? It stops the work of the Holy Spirit. But refused to be shaken by what other people say. Refused to stop staking steps of faith. Proverbs 29, 25 says, "The fear of man brings us snare." But he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted. Some of the reasons we stop taking steps of faith is I care too much about what you think. You care too much about what I think rather than caring enough about what Jesus thinks to keep taking the steps of faith.
What are people gonna say if I do this? What are my friends gonna say? Just keep taking steps of faith, why? 'Cause Romans 831 says of God is for us who can possibly be against us. Now, where do you go? I was asked this question this week by somebody that's dealing with some barbs that they've been tossed and they were asking me the question, hey, where do you go and what do you do when you get falsely accused or people say mean things about you? And I said, I go to two different places every single time. These are two verses I go to every single time. The first is first Peter chapter two, starting in verse 21. Says, "For you have been called for this purpose." Wouldn't it be nice to know what purpose you've been called to? Would anybody like to know this morning what purpose you've been called to? I want to know my purpose, here's your purpose. You've been called to this purpose. Since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps. That's your purpose. Since Christ suffered for you, your purpose is that you're going to suffer too. Isn't that good to know? And he quotes Isaiah 53 says who committed no sin nor was any deceit found in his mouth,
meaning Jesus never sinned. We've sinned, we still continue to sin, but Jesus never did. And notice what it says that Jesus did. And while being reviled, he did not revile in return. While suffering, he uttered no threats, but kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously. What did Jesus do when he was being falsely accused? What did Jesus do when he was being spit on? What did Jesus do when he was being reviled? He did not revile back. What did Jesus do when he was suffering? He did not offer any threats. He didn't say, yeah, you do this now, you wait till I see you next time. He didn't do any of that stuff. But he entrusted himself to the one who judges righteously, his dad. He was like, dad, you're watching all this. Please make it right. Dad, I trust you. This is hard. That's what he was saying. That's what we do. We do the same thing. When people say mean things, wicked things, judge your motives that are wrong, whatever it is, you entrust yourself to the one who judges justly. My wife and I have had this talk over the years
many, many times. I preach for a living. I say things for a living. I preach the word for a living. Hopefully I'm doing a good job preaching the word. Hopefully I'm being faithful preaching the word. I still believe it this day. I'll get more rewards in heaven for the things I didn't say than for the word that I'm preaching. Because if you have people that are coming against you and they're saying it wrong, there's always things in your heart where you can lash out and be like, oh, well, let me tell you what they're not telling you. That doesn't help. Thank you all, seven of you that agree. Amen. It's hard. It's hard. Now, when Jesus gave the best sermon ever preached, the sermon on the Mount, you know, he talks about what it means to be happy. He talked about the merciful. He talked about the pure and heart and all this. But the second verse I like to go to is Matthew chapter 5, verses 11 and 12, because he says, "Here's when you're happy. Here's when you're really favored. Here's when you're really blessed. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me." Wow. So when you get insulted, when you get persecuted, when you suffer because you're following the Lord, rejoice. It's a good thing. You should be really, really happy when those things happen. That's what Jesus said. And here's why he says it. Verse 12, "Rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Every single prophet that God sent to Israel, they either mistreated or killed. Every single one, they didn't listen to anybody, including our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, God and flesh, they murdered him." So when people are saying all these things, rejoice and be glad, why? Two reasons. Your reward in heaven is great and you're being just like all the faithful prophets that God sent from a long time ago. You're not doing anything wrong. See, we have a false expectation that if we do what God wants us to do and we say what God wants us to say,
that everybody's going to be happy with us. And the opposite is true. The opposite is true. But don't be shaken by what people say. Matthew 7, 6 says, "Don't throw your pearls before swine." I love that. Don't engage with a fool. Don't answer a fool according to their folly. Proverbs 26, 4. I mean, there's so many things where the Lord tells us, just let the Holy Spirit restrain you and trust all those things to the Lord. If you need to speak, speak with gentleness and respect, honor the person that's mistreating and dishonoring you and God will see to it that everything works out. I mean, I think about Nehemiah with sandballet and Tobias. All they did was say mean things about him all the time and question what he did and guess what he did. He just continued to build the wall and he was faithful. Or Jesus, when he was on trial and had all the false accusations, he also had this calm confidence. I'm here to tell you today, if you take steps of faith with the Lord and you're obedient in private and in public, there will be people that speak bad about you. There will be people that misjudge your motives. There will be people that say hurtful things. It's a fact. And when they do, just run to the Lord and be honest with them and pour your heart out to him and entrust yourself to him because he takes care of that. Amen? I mean, you've heard the illustration and it's not original to me, but you've heard the illustration about the crows and the eagles, how crows like to peck at eagles and sometimes a crow will get on an eagles back and start pecking, but the eagle never fights back. You know what the eagle does? The eagle just keeps soaring higher and the eagle keeps flying higher because eventually the crow can't keep up and it can't breathe at that height and eventually just falls off. What the eagle doesn't do, it doesn't soar down to low levels and fight the crow. It just sores to high heights and the crow goes away. Illustration to say this, when people are coming after you, you don't need to fight them. Just keep pursuing the Lord, keep going after him and they will fall away. Amen? That's what God's asking us to do. So refuse to be shaken by what people say. Secondly is this, refuse to compromise your convictions. When you're waiting on the Lord or when it feels like God's disappointing you, don't compromise your convictions. You stay right where you need to be. Notice what Paul does. So Paul stands up. When the governor had nodded for him to speak, Paul responded, knowing that for many years you have been a judge to this nation, I cheerfully make my defense. That's all Paul says. He doesn't say anything about his character. He doesn't say he's good. He's like, hey, knowing for years you've been a judge to this nation, I cheerfully make my defense. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to talk about what they're
talking about to me. I'll answer. I'm going to fight him and then he says this, since you can take no to the fact that no more than 12 days ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship. Neither in the temple nor in the synagogue nor in the city itself, do they find me carrying on a discussion with anyone or causing a riot, nor can they prove to you the charges of which they now accuse me. But this, I admit to you, that according to the way which they call a sect, I do serve the God of our fathers, believing everything that is in accordance with the law and that is written in the prophets, having a hope in God which these men cherish themselves, that there shall certainly So what's he doing? He just clearly states no one can prove anything that they're saying. Do you know I know one can prove anything that they're saying? Because he didn't do any of the things that they're saying. So there's no eyewitnesses to the things that they're saying. They can't press any charges. They can make good arguments. But there's no proof. God, because when you do what's right before God and men, there is no proof. Paul has built his life with integrity, character, which is the most important thing to build your life on. And how do you build a life of character? You build it on the foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ and being obedient to him. That's how you build a life of character. Refused to compromise your convictions. Notice what he says in verse 16, should be a verse you are very, very familiar with. In view of this, I also do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience both before God and before men. What does Paul say? Paul's not saying, well, God's got my back as long as he knows my heart. No, he says, I'm trying to live my life in such a way that God will be pleased with what I do. And I'm trying to live my life in such a way that in front of other people, they would
see that I have a clean conscience before God too. I'm not just me and God and God and I'm doing what's right. If you don't like it, no, I'm making decisions so that you can see in me the integrity that I have. Right? Because if you see the integrity that I have, then it'd be tough to prove something otherwise. One of the reasons I don't spend any time alone with a woman other than my wife is if I ever got accused of an affair, I'm like, how is that even possible? I don't even spend time alone with anybody other my wife and my daughters. The burden of proof would be on you. Why? Because I want to be right before the Lord and who before men. I don't want to give people an opportunity to accuse me of something that I didn't even do. So you go one step over. So Paul was building moral fences in his life. So when he's saying, hey, you can't prove any of this stuff, I didn't cause a riot. I didn't cause a disturbance. I wasn't having a discussion. If I was, show me who it was with, prove that it happened. You can't do that. You're just upset that Jesus Christ is Lord and that he's going to judge you and your sin and you're mad at me for telling the world that. That's why we're here. And even you believe the word, even you believe what the law says, you just haven't turned to Jesus to believe the fullness of it. That's what Paul's saying. He's defending himself by looking at the integrity that he has. When we spend time with our younger guys and we've done internships and different things, we spent the majority of the year talking about character.
Why? Because if you see somebody fall in athletics, politics, ministry, family, anything else, there's always a character issue. It's never aptitude issue. Well, he's no longer our pastor. Why? He just didn't speak so good. He's not our pastor anymore. He just had a hard time articulating his words. That never happened. He's not our pastor anymore. Why? Well, he embezzled a bunch of money from the church. He had an affair with 20 women in the church. Oh, yeah. He probably shouldn't be your pastor anymore. Do you understand what I'm saying? This guy didn't make the Hall of Fame. Why? Because he had a bunch of different games and gambled money. He was taking a bunch of injections that were illegal, which made him a better athlete. That's why. It was a character fail. It was never an aptitude fail. And where's character built? Character's built in the places that nobody else ever sees. I mean, we love stories in the Bible. We love the story. Think about David. What's the word you love about David?
Most people are going to go pretty quick too. When he defeated Goliath. And it was awesome, picked up five smooth stones, only needed one in a slingshot, knocked him in the head, cut his head out. Whoa, what an awesome, but how was David prepared? How was David prepared? David was prepared by being a shepherd. David was prepared by being the son of, you know, had seven brothers. David was the outcast. David was out in the field. So God sees this mighty warrior that's going to be the king of Israel. David sees himself as a shepherd. He's just throwing slingshots, hanging out with sheep, a bear comes. He killed a bear. A lion comes. He killed the lion. Didn't think anything of it. He's just protecting sheep. Why? Because he's a shepherd. But all along, God was preparing him to be the mighty warrior that he was going to be and then lead the nation of Israel, amen? What God's preparing in you, he takes you into different spaces that you would have never, ever picked for yourself so that God in his sovereignty designs a curriculum for you to learn character, to see how you're going to respond when nobody else is watching. I mean, sometimes God gives us in our heart a little vision of where he's taking us and then we think tomorrow we need to be there, right? And here's the truth, it's not going to happen tomorrow and in the meantime, refuse Well, God told me I was gonna be married. I'm almost 40 right now, and so I guess I might as well
just give in. Guess I better just sleep around. I mean, that's all that's left to. Don't compromise your convictions. Well, it's been so long since we got pregnant. I'm just gonna try all these different ways that may go against God's standard, but I just gotta have a baby. Don't compromise your convictions. Never cut corners, never take it into your hands. Just call out to the Lord and be patient with Him. Well, His timing's not the same as mine. His timing will never be the same as yours. He's never gonna operate on your timeline. He's not up in heaven saying, well, Pastor Jeff said I need to get this done by here, so I better get it done. He doesn't operate that way. He does what he wants, when he wants, how he wants, and wants us to get very, very comfortable with that. Amen? I mean, you see Daniel and Babylon? Here's a young man in a totally new culture away from the authority that he used to have, but what does he have? He's got the same convictions. He says, "In Daniel 1-8, I made up my mind that I would not defile myself. I'm still the same guy regardless of where I am." And what you're seeing with Paul,
it's like if you see an older tree when you cut it down, you see all the rings which represent the years and the storms and the drought and everything that it's withstood. And when you cut down that big tree, like, wow, this tree's been through a lot. I mean, that's what you're seeing in Paul. Character is not built overnight. It's not like when Paul got to Jerusalem and Jesus said you're going to Rome. He's like, okay, I better start living for God now. He's been doing it consistently for years. And as he's testifying, they're seeing all the rings of his life that testify, I've always been this way. I've always tried to do this. This is who I am. This is my character, right? Character is what matters, amen? So refuse to compromise your convictions. Refuse it. I mean, you see it like with a level, a carpenter's level, I like using building illustrations 'cause I don't know how to use anything, but I know what a level is. In a level whether you're putting it on a floor or you're putting it on a wall, there's nothing wrong with the level, but there may be something wrong with the wall 'cause all the level is doing is showing you what the truth is.
This is our level. Nothing changes. God's standards are the same. If you change geography, if you change countries, if you're living in a different culture, his standard is the same. He's just gonna show you if it's off or not. And that's what God wants us to do. So refuse to compromise your convictions when following God feels disappointing. Notice what happens next. He says he was good conscience before God and men. He said, now after several years, I came up to bring alms to my nation and present offerings in which they found me occupied in the temple, having been purified without any crowd or uproar, but there were some Jews from Asia who ought to have been present before you to make accusation if they had anything against me, or else let these men themselves tell what misdeed they found when I stood before the council, other than for this one statement, which I shouted while standing among them for the resurrection of the dead. I am on trial before you today. Do you hear what he's saying? He's like, I didn't do anything they're saying. They found me in the temple. I was worshiping. I had taken a vow.
There was some Jews from Asia there, and they're the only ones that saw me and none of them are here to accuse me. And since they're not here, why don't you have the people here share what they saw? 'Cause nobody saw anything that they're sharing with you. The only thing they're upset about is the fact that I said there's a resurrection of the dead and Jesus Christ is the righteous one. That's it. They're mad that I'm a born again believer in proclaimed Christ. That's why I'm here today. So he does a great job of defending himself. He's not trying to be winsome or persuasive, he's just telling the truth. Amen? He's telling the truth. So refuse to compromise your convictions. Through it as this. When it feels like God's disappointing, refuse to waste the opportunities in front of you, refuse to waste the opportunities in front of you. Sometimes when we're disappointed on God's timetable and what's happening and the circumstances that we're in, we tend to think, well, okay, I'm really disappointed, I'm not married right now. If God wants me to be happy with him, he's gonna give me a spouse. So in a couple of years when I get married, then I'm gonna serve God again.
Or you know what? We prayed faithfully for years to have kids and God's not giving us kids. Once we have kids, I'm gonna go all in with God. You know, I've been praying about this job for a long time and I've never had a job that I really enjoy. You know, if God would ever just give me that, then I'm gonna go all in with God. Here's the truth. Don't waste the opportunities you have right now in front of you, 'cause oftentimes when God takes you through what he's taking you through, he's trying to see how you're gonna respond to him when things don't seem to be going your way. Are you faithful even when you don't see it? Are you faithful even when you don't feel it? So notice this in verse 22, but Felix, this is the governor, put them off, saying, when Lisius the commander comes down, I will decide your case. So now he's gonna call for the commander Lisius. I wanna hear from him. Then he gave orders to the centurion for him to be kept in custody and yet have some freedom and not to prevent any of his friends from ministering to him. So Felix is like, he's gonna be in prison, but hey, give him some liberties there. Let everybody come and serve him. Let him be able to do what he's doing. So here's Paul.
He's gotten the word from Jesus who actually stood by his side and said, as you've testified for me in Jerusalem, so you will do in Rome. So you would think, now he's in Caesarea, got military escort up there. Now five days later, he has this understanding and guess what's gonna happen now? He's going back to the place he always goes back to. Jail. He's going to jail, but he's been given some liberties so his friends can come see him, so what's he gonna spend the time doing? He's gonna spend the time sharing Christ with everybody. He's gonna spend the time growing in his faith. He's gonna spend that time seeking the Lord. He's gonna spend the time taking advantage of every opportunity. Notice verse 24, but some days later, Felix arrived with Jerusalem, his wife, who was a Jewish, Jewish, and sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Jesus Christ. But as he was discussing righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix became frightened and said, go away for the present, and when I find time, I will summon you. So Felix used to call for Paul. So the governor's calling on Paul, and what did Paul take the opportunity to do? I'm gonna speak about faith in Christ every time we get together.
And at one point in time, as Paul's talking about righteousness and self-control and the judgment to come, guess what happens to Felix the governor? He has conviction, he's getting scared, 'cause he knows that Paul's right, so what's he do? He sends him away again. You're back in prison, I can't handle all this stuff. But Paul's not complaining, he's not whining, he's not, how come I have to go through this? Just get me to Rome and get me home. I'm done with this whole missionary thing. No, he's gonna take advantage of every single opportunity that he has. And notice Felix, how corrupt he was, verse 26, "At the same time, too, this is Felix, "he was hoping that money would be given him by Paul. "Therefore, he used to send for him quite often "and converse with him." So Felix was trying to, see if Paul would bribe him to get out of jail, get some money from him or whatever, so he would call Paul all the time, and Paul, every time he would be called, took advantage by doing what? Sharing Jesus with him, sharing Christ with him. I mean, think about this, Colossians 4 says this, Colossians 4-5, conduct yourself with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of every opportunity. In your circumstance right now, especially if, this isn't the circumstance I want, this isn't where I wanted to be,
these aren't the circumstances I would desire, there's opportunity for you to honor the Lord right where you're at. There's opportunity for you to take steps of faith with the Lord right where you're at. Don't say, well, if I get here, then I'll be ready. Once I'm making a million dollars a year, I'll tithe. Once I'm married, then I'm all in. Once we have kids, I'm all in. Once I get my house, we're all in. Once my retirement's set up, I'm all in. Hey, once I've figured out that I've been influential, I'm all, don't make it tomorrow, make it today, how can you bloom where you're planted now? Because here's the truth, even if you're very disappointed about the circumstances you're in, God is sovereign over the circumstances that you're in right now. For some of you, you're in that circumstance 'cause you send your way into it, and God's gracious enough that you need your pen, he can bring you out of it. Some of you are in that circumstance you're in 'cause you've been totally obedient to the Lord, and you're in a season you're like, I don't like this. I've been doing exactly what Jesus has called me to do, and this is really hard. In that season, God has things that he's doing in your life that he'll use for his glory. Amen?
So don't wait till tomorrow, do it today. (congregation applauding) Ephesians 5, 15 talks about making the most of your time. I mean, Paul used prison to become his pulpit. I mean, think about Joseph when he was in prison. I mean, he used the opportunity. I mean, he interpreted dreams of people for them. Even while he was in prison, he's like, well, I'm not interpreting dreams unless the king called. He was interpreting dreams of whomever. He was living for Jesus while he was in prison. Why? Because then the day came, said, hey, there's one in prison that can interpret dreams, king. Why don't you call him? And they did. I mean, here's the reality in life. If you take the opportunities God gives you, they're all over the place. I'll give you an example. I'll give you an example. Year and a half ago, during 21 days of prayer and fasting, I was up here every single day, doing devotions, leading, being down there, the gospel." You agree? I want to reach more people with the gospel. We want to have more campuses. "Lord, how do we do that without spending a bunch of money? How do we do that without buying a bunch of buildings?" Like, "Lord, be gracious to us. Show us how we can reach more people." And I'm telling you, Matthew 25 just burned in my heart as I was praying. I was in prison and you visited me. And all of a sudden, I just clicked. I'm like, "Yes, there are congregations of people all over our
nation that are there and there's no church servicing them." We'll take that on. We'll take that on, God. We'll do that. Now, just so you know, we're in the Buena Vista Correctional Facility. Can you give those guys some appreciation? We love you. We're also having our sermons broadcast of the ADX Supermax Prison in Canyon City. We might. Amen. We love you guys, too. Here's the thing. We're likely going to be in six more prisons by the end of this year, okay? Praise God. And here's the thing. A lot of people see prisons and they see bars and criminals and God sees an opportunity and we see a mission field because you can be more free in Christ behind bars than some people that are out living free. Amen. So we're excited. And so if you just take the opportunities that are right in front of you, God begins to open doors. Amen. And you guys have all heard the statement when life gives you lemons. What do you do? Make lemonade, right? I mean, I had a situation about two months ago. I was out in Washington, D.C. And I went out on a Monday night. On Tuesday, I was supposed to be at the Israeli Embassy. And then also at the White House. And I arrived at 9.30 only to find that my bag did not arrive. And then I learned it wasn't going to arrive. And then the next morning, I learned that it was almost to Frankfurt, Germany. Now, the problem was I had no toiletries. I had my suit in there. I would, you know, and they don't let people in the White House wearing shorts and flip-flops. And I'm like, what am I going to do? And about that time, our executive pastor called me. He's like, what are you doing? I'm like, well, I'm getting ready to set up a lemonade stand in Washington, D.C. I'm going to make some lemonade, right? Because I realized, even in that moment, I'm like, I can get mad about this. I can get mad at the airline. I can do all this. But it's not going to bring my bag back any faster. Man, call him and ask him, put some schnitzel in that bag before you send it or whatever. You know, bottom line, it's not coming back any faster. They said it's going to be two days. I'm like, I just got to figure out what to do. It's okay. It's going to be fine. So I end up at different stores and different places, different Uber drivers, had some conversations I wouldn't have otherwise had that I believed in this day. The Lord wanted me to have it. It's okay. It was fine. Amen. And it all worked out. And it's not a big deal because none of our stuff is a big deal. The reason it's a big deal is because it was my stuff, right? And your stuff is a big deal to you. But it's not because if life gives you lemons, just keep making lemonade and make the most of your opportunities and refuse to waste the ones God has given you. Amen. If David would have had it on his heart, I'm a king. I'm not a shepherd.
I'm not taking care of these sheep. I don't care about that. Barry can eat the sheep all he wants. I mean, if David would have had a heart like that, he would have never had the heart to fight the life. I mean, God's looking at who you are right now in those difficult circumstances. When you have a difficult teacher, a difficult coach, a difficult boss, difficult employees, difficult people around you, people saying he's looking to say, what kind of person are you going to be in? Can I trust you with more? Because if you're faithful with little, it means you can be faithful with much. Amen? So don't be surprised when things are difficult, but just make the most of those opportunities. And then finally, this, this last verse, I mean, it's pretty interesting. But this last verse gives you a clue to when God feels disappointing what you do, refuse to doubt what God has promised, refuse to doubt what God has promised. Now, keep in mind, Jesus stood by Paul's side. We read about in Acts 23 and said, in the same way you've testified about me here in Jerusalem, like, hey, good job, even though it didn't seem like you'd done a good job, because all there was was riots and people angry at him. He's like, you must do the same in Rome. Paul gets a military escort to Caesarea. So he's thinking, I'm going to Rome soon. This is going to be fine. I'm ready to go. It's going to be, it's going to be hard, but I'll do it. And notice verse 27. But after two years had passed, wait, wait, wait, Jesus, you just told me 12 days ago I was going to Rome. It's been two years. Here's the truth, refuse to doubt what God has promised. His timetable is not your timetable. His ways are not your ways. His thoughts are not your thoughts. Don't doubt what God tells you. Oftentimes he's building something. And what I see in the Bible is the longer someone has to wait for what they've been promised, the greater the blessing it is. Finally when they had a son, who was he? He was the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, you start studying the stories of how long it took. Joseph got a dream at 17, and he told his brothers to dream at 17, and it didn't go well for him because the dream was that he was going to be in charge and that his 11 brothers were going to bow to him. The stars bowed, the corn bowed. I mean, it's obvious you guys are going to bow to me. They didn't like that dream.
He got the dream at 17. He was 30 years old when the dream was realized, almost double his age, and he had gone through a lot. He had been falsely accused of sexual immorality, he had been thrown in prison for a number of years, he had been abandoned by his brothers, and at the end of his life said, "Hey, what you intended for evil got intended for good." It was all part of my character development, so I could be number two in the nation and supply you with food, and if it wasn't for me, you'd all die. Isn't God good? Do you understand? But in the season that we're in, we have to refuse to doubt what God has promised. But after two years had passed, listen to this, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus in wishing to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul in prison. So Jesus tells Paul, "Hey, 12 days ago, in the same way you witnessed for me here, you're going to witness in Rome." Now, it's two years later, he's still in the same prison cell, and there's a changing of the guard. Felix is going to, now Festus is going to take over for Felix, and to do a favor to the Jews, Felix says, "Eh, we'll just leave him in jail some more." So what are you going to do if you're Paul? You're either going to believe what Jesus told you in Jerusalem, or you're going to look at your circumstances and say, "What's up, God? You told me this, and you're not doing it, right?" And here's the reality. Oftentimes, when things don't go our way, God is just doing it to say, "Will you still trust His word? Will you still trust His promises?" And not doubt what He says. Amen? Numbers 23-19 says that God is not a man that He should lie.
God can't lie. Hebrews 10-23, "He who promised is faithful." Philippians 1-6, "He who began a good work, and you will bring it to completion in the day of Christ Jesus." He's so faithful. You can trust God even when it looks like nothing's happening. I mean, Abraham was given a promise of a great nation, how long do you have to wait? Twenty-five years. He happened to marry a barren woman, married somebody that could not get pregnant. God's like, "No, no, no. You've got to understand. I'm going to do what I said I'm going to do, and it's going to come my way, and it's going to be honoring to me." But just twenty-five years later, I mean, Noah is a preacher of righteousness. The brother preached faithfully for one hundred and twenty years. The only people that were converted, his wife, his three sons, and their wives. That's it. And God's like, "That's what I'm talking about." A hundred and twenty years of faithfulness, God still sees him as faithful. But the way the world would have seen him is a miserable failure. Amen? It's not what the world thinks about you. It's what God does through you. It's how you trust God, and it's refusing to doubt what He does. Even after David was anointed king, he spent years on the run running from King Saul who wanted to kill him. He even had an opportunity to kill King Saul and didn't, because he would never hurt one of God's anointed. He had every opportunity to cut corners, and he didn't. Here's what I would tell you, never cut corners in the kingdom.
Always do the right thing. Always tell the truth. Always be honest. It will cost you if you do. There will be times that's painful if you do, but you'll never be sorry that you did. You'll never be sorry that you did. If you do it God's way, He will bring about what He wants. I learned about the bamboo tree this week. Some of you may know this already, but do you know this? When you plant a bamboo tree, do you know for the first four years you don't see anything? Like the bamboo doesn't even sprout until year five. So you plant bamboo, and for four years nothing happens. Then on year five, it can grow, listen to this, two to three feet a day, up to 90 feet. So if you were coming by in year five, you're like, "I love bamboo, it just works so fast." But if you've been there for all five years, when you're watering and tilling the soil and doing all that, you're not seeing anything happen, like, "Why am I doing this work? I'm doing all the right things, nothing's happening." But it's just the right time it starts to sprout and grow, and it becomes everything it was intended to be. God often uses our life like a bamboo tree. Sometimes it's year one to four, and we're just sitting there and God's tilling the soil. I'm not seeing it. It's not being realized. This is painful. But at just the right time, when God's ready, it just starts sprouting up. And you can't stop it." And here's what I would say to some of you. Some of you are in the bamboo season where it's still underground and you can't see it. Don't give up hope. Our God is still faithful to bring to completion everything he said he was going to do.
Amen? Amen. So, it's okay to feel something. It's okay to have emotions. I feel disappointed right now. But when you feel that way, there's right responses you can have. And you can refuse to be shaken by what other people say. You can refuse to compromise your convictions. You can refuse to waste your opportunities that are right in front of you. And then refuse to doubt what God's promised. Our God is good. He's holy. He's righteous. He's awesome. Jesus is coming back. He will judge the righteous and the wicked. He will step His foot back on this earth. He will rule and reign in perfect righteousness. And for those of us who are eagerly awaiting Him to come, it's going to be the most blessed start of an eternity that we could possibly even imagine. Amen? So, I just want to encourage you as my brothers and sisters in Christ, because I know some of you are going through a season like that. I know it's like you're living here right now. It's okay. It's okay. It doesn't mean you've done anything wrong. It may mean that you're doing everything right. And God is using what He's doing in your heart to grow the character that you need for Him to take you where He needs you to go.
Amen? Would you stand with me? Our Father in Heaven, we do give you glory, honor, and praise for who you are. Lord, we worship your name and your name alone. Lord, thanks for reminding us, even when we can't see the fruit, even when we don't see the growth, that you're building something awfully special, that you're doing something in and through us because of your faithfulness. Lord, moving our hearts today, we give you all the glory, we give you all the honor, and we give you all the praise. In Jesus' name. Amen, and amen. Can we give God praise for His word this morning? The earth will shout Your praise, our hearts will cry, these bones will sing, "Great, are You Lord, all the earth will shout Your praise, our hearts will cry, these bones will sing, "Great, are You Lord, all the earth will shout Your praise, our hearts will cry, these bones will sing, "Great, are You Lord, all the earth, all the earth, all the earth, all the earth will shout Your praise, our hearts will cry, these bones will sing, "Great, are You Lord, all the earth, all the earth, all the earth, all the earth, all the earth, all the earth, all the earth, all the earth, all the earth, all the earth, all the earth, all the earth, all the earth, all the earth, all the earth, all the earth, all the earth, all the earth, all the earth, all the earth, all the earth, all the earth, all the earth, all the earth, Can we praise Him one more time for His greatness? Amen. My name is Tim Perkins. I serve as campus faster here at Brave Inglewood. If you're new to Brave, we would love to see how we could walk alongside you. On your way out, please stop by the meet and greet area in the main lobby. And until next week, go from this place [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING]
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