When God Seems Slow

If you're ready to worship, put your hands together, come on. ♪ And I'm clean Sin was stained on me And shame was running deep But love was built on Calvary Oh, Hallelujah, I'm clean God, how can it be I'm ransomed and redeemed I'm standing in your victory Oh, Hallelujah, I've been washed in the water Washed in the blood I'm as good as new Oh, Hallelujah, I've been lost in the water Washed in the blood All because of you Oh, Hallelujah, I'm clean It's not what I have done But what you've done for me You've laid it all upon that tree Oh, Hallelujah, I'm clean Your love has overcome And your mercy is supreme I'm dancing in your victory Oh, Hallelujah, I've been washed in the water Washed in the blood I'm as good as new Oh, Hallelujah, I've been lost in the water Washed in the blood All because of you

Sing it again Washed in the water Washed in the blood I'm as good as new Oh, Hallelujah, I've been washed in the water Washed in the blood I'm as good as new Oh, Hallelujah Cause you took away my sin And you nailed it to the cross You got me running out the grave Hallelujah, here I come Come on, sing it out Cause you took away my sin And you nailed it to the cross You got me running out the grave Hallelujah, here I come Oh, you took it away Cause you took away my sin And you nailed it to that old crooked cross You got me running out the grave Hallelujah, here I come Cause you took away my sin And you nailed it to the cross And you kept running through Hallelujah, here I come Hallelujah, here I come Hallelujah, here I come Hallelujah, here I come Hallelujah, here I come

Hallelujah, here I come Come on, put your hands together Turn and clap like this Hallelujah, hallelujah Hallelujah, hallelujah Hallelujah, hallelujah Thank you, Jesus Cause I know that I've been washed in the water Washed in the blood I'm as good as new Oh, hallelujah I've been washed in the water Washed in the blood All because of you Oh, hallelujah Come on, make some noise, church So, so good Happy Sunday, welcome to the local church The perfect place for imperfect people Just like us to experience God's presence It's so good to see everybody My name's Johnny, it's a joy to welcome you to church And you may be seated Listen, if you're a guest in the house Just a special shout out to you We love guests at the local church We really do, and we're so glad that you're here But we want to know that you're here So if you haven't done so already Take out that connect card

It looks something like this Front, back, it's in the seat back there in front of you Take that out, fill that out Give us a little bit of information The best thing to do is as you exit today Turn left, there's the connect corner in the lobby Hand it to one of the team members there They're going to put a free gift in your hand It's just our way of saying Guests, we love you We're glad you're worshiping with us today We're going to transition into a time of giving And by the way, if you're on the left side of the row There's a bucket underneath your chair Take that bucket and pass it to the right And if giving is part of your worship today We just want to say thank you so very, very much You're a generous church Everything you give, your generosity Makes everything we do possible here at the local church Local Kids are happening right now Because of your generosity Local youth happens right here Tuesday evenings because of your generosity. Counseling happens because of your generosity. Things we do in the community because of your generosity. So yes, it's God's goodness all day long, but it's your generosity as well. Your obedience to give that helps. There's several ways you can do it. The buckets is just one. You can even give as you go. There's offering boxes as you exit beside the door. I always say it and I always mean it. It's not your bank account. It's not even the amount. It's your heart that matters. So if you're giving today, give from a cheerful heart. Church, we're two

weeks away from Easter. Can you believe it? Two weeks away and we've got eight identical services. That's right. I said eight identical services. We have two on Thursday. We have two on Good Friday and then we have our four regular services on Sunday. Again, all identical. There are invite cards in the breezeway as you exit and you're going this way. They're on the right, right before you exit to go out in the parking lot. They're beside the wall right there. Just grab some and go, but it's it's been proven, it's been documented that if you invite people for Easter, most of the time they will come. So let's invite a lot of people. Let's flood this place with folks and let's watch what God does on Easter. We're excited about it. Hey, I want to pray for us. We call it familiar prayer. It's something that we do every single week. You guys trust us with lots of prayer requests. By the way, that same seat back in front of you has a prayer card. If you would like us to pray for you this week, just take that, fill that out. You can put it in an offering box by the door or hand it to a team member. We'll get it. We'll pray for you. But I want to pray for a few of those kind of representative of the many that we get in. So if you're good with it, extend a hand in agreement. Everybody bow your head. Let me pray for us real quick. Father, thank you. Thank you for today. Thank you for the gathering of your church all around the world. On this day, God, we pray for every church open in the name of Jesus for your your blessing, your grace, your goodness, your favor upon him. Thank you, God. Bless us as you're blessing others. We're grateful, Lord. I pray for Norman, father, a gentleman with cancer and his Children. God love him, and they're praying for him. And we just want Norman to know in his family to know that we're praying for him as well. We pray for healing. We pray for God for him to have pieces and peace in the family as they go through this journey together. Father, I pray for that dad with regrets. Lord, I won't I won't say the name, but but Lord, just a dad that wishes he would have done a better job raising his Children. Children are grown now, and Lord, I pray for honoring of that repentance. God of not spending enough time with them and and just looking back and recognizing some of the mistakes he made. I pray that healing

happens in those Children's hearts and those those grown Children now, and I pray that reconciliation happens, Lord, and and it can be really good. Father, thank you for that repentance. God, thank you for that prayer. Lord, I pray for Robert, who's near and dear to my heart. This 13 year old Lord who has some it lives in another state, but he has some behavioral issues. God and his family, Lord, they adopted him and they have great plans for him and purposes for him, and he's just ran into some really difficult things. Some tough stuff early in life has put some anger in his heart and his behavior. And so, God, I pray that you would you would just be with that family and help Robert to find peace in his heart that will affect his behavior and Lord, just just the way he goes through school and the way he goes through his actions with his family and all of that. God, just bring healing to Robert's heart. Bring healing to that family. And Father, we prayed for Miss Barbara in the last service as she was here and and Lord, one of her dear friends passed away last week. And so, God, I pray for others today who are going through grief and mourning. God, what a difficult, difficult season that is. And there's not a time limit that you can put on those kind of things. So, I just pray for people who are experiencing loss and difficulty. God, maybe even anxiety and depression. There's there's a lot of that today. And I pray, Father, as only you can do, God, would you lift heavy burdens? Would you shine light in dark places? And Jesus, as you did in the Gospels, would you do it today? Walk slowly through this crowd. Heal what only you can heal, God. We're grateful, Lord, and we lift all of these requests before you in confidence in the blood and the body of Christ, our Savior and our Redeemer. We pray it all in Jesus' name. Say it with me, church. Amen and amen. Well, it's Baptism Sunday and we are excited. We got several folks to be baptized in this service. Remember, baptism is symbolic of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. It's called Believer's Baptism because each one of these has a relationship with Christ. They've already said yes to Jesus. This is their next step in obedience. We put it in worship because we feel like that's where it belongs. It's a

celebration. So let's stand to our feet, continue to worship, and make some wonderful encouraging noise for these wonderful folks being baptized today. Let's worship today and worship in expectance of what Jesus is sending our way, of what God has in store for us today. There is revival, right here and now. There is a fresh wind, and I can hear the sound. Something truly wonderful is happening. There is a difference inside of me, more than a feeling. This is a prophecy. Something truly powerful is happening. Come on church, sing it! The darkness bowed out to the day. The mountains gave up out of my way. Breaking out of yesterday, I got a new thing coming. But tell this giant in my face, you're not greater than my name. Best believe me when I say, I got a new thing coming. I got a new thing coming. I got a new thing coming. I got a new thing coming. There's an anointing to destroy the earth. So tell every stronghold, you gotta let me go. Something really powerful is happening. There is a freedom that I have never known. Out of the shadow, into the overflow. Something really powerful is happening. Oh, it's happening. The darkness bowed out to the day. The mountains gave up out of my way. Breaking out of yesterday, I got a new thing coming. But tell this giant in my face, you're not greater than my name. Best believe me when I say, I got a new thing coming. I got a new thing. I got a new thing coming. I got a new thing coming. I got a new thing coming. Cause I can see a cloud, heavy with rain. And it looks like revival is headed our way. Oh, I can see a cloud, heavy with rain.

And it looks like salvation is headed our way. Oh, I can hear a sound, the abundance of rain. And it sounds like freedom, and it's headed our way. Oh, I can hear a sound, the abundance of rain. And it sounds like provision is headed our way. Oh, I can see a cloud, and it's heavy with rain. And it looks like healing is headed our way. Oh, I can see a cloud, and it's heavy with rain. And it looks like joy, and it's headed our way. It's headed our way. It's headed our way. It's headed our way. It's headed our way. Oh, I can see it coming now. It's headed our way. It's headed our way. It's headed our way. It's headed our way. It's headed our way. It's headed our way. Darkness bowed out to the day. Mountains gave up on my way. Freaking out of yesterday, I got a new thing coming. Tell this giant in my face, you're not greater than my faith. Best believe me when I say, I got a new thing coming. I got a new thing coming. I got a new thing coming. I got a new thing coming. ♪ New mind, new heart, rest straight ♪ ♪ I got the new mind now worries me ♪ ♪ I got a new thing coming ♪ ♪ I knew it ♪ ♪ I got a new thing coming ♪ ♪ I got a new thing coming ♪

♪ I got a new thing I got a new thing coming ♪ ♪ I got a new thing coming ♪ ♪ I got a new thing coming ♪ ♪ I got a new thing coming ♪ ♪ I got a new thing coming...yeah...yeah, whoa...holy spirit, oh, the song ♪ ♪ I can see a cloud, it's heavy with rain, and it looks like freedom is headed our way. ♪ Oh, I can see a cloud, heavy with rain, and it looks like Jesus is headed our way. Praise the Lord. Lord, we trust in you, in your perfect timing, and so we surrender our worries to you. ♪ Christ is my firm foundation, the rock on which I stand when everything around me is shaken. ♪ And I've never been more glad that I put my faith in Jesus, ♪ because he's never let me down. He's faithful through generations, so why would he fail? Now, he won't. ♪ Yeah, and I've still got joy and chaos. I've got peace that makes no sense, and I won't be going under. ♪ I'm not held by my own strength, because I've built my life on Jesus, because he's never let me down. ♪ He's faithful in every season, so why would he fail? Now, he won't. ♪ He won't. He won't fail. He won't fail. He won't. ♪ He won't. He won't fail. He won't fail. ♪ Christ is my firm foundation, the rock on which I stand when everything around me is shaken. ♪ And I've never been more glad that I put my faith in Jesus, because he's never let me down. He's faithful through generations, so why would he fail? Now, he won't. ♪ He won't. He won't fail. He won't fail. He won't fail. He won't fail. He won't fail. He won't fail. He won't. ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ Holy Spirit, come and have your way. No matter how strong the storm may feel, Jesus is with you. And so we surrender to you, Lord, and we trust in your work in our life. ♪ When came wind blew, my house was built on you ♪ ♪ And I'm safe with you, I'm gonna make it through ♪ Come on, declare it, church. ♪ When came wind blew, my house was built on you ♪

♪ My house was built on you, and I'm safe with you ♪ ♪ I'm gonna make it through, say it, rei king ♪ ♪ When came wind blew, my house was built on you ♪ Say, I'm safe with you. ♪ I'm safe with you, I'm gonna make it through ♪ Say, I'm gonna make it through. ♪ I'm gonna make it through, I'm standing strong on you ♪ ♪ I'm standing strong on you, and I'm gonna make it through ♪ ♪ I'm gonna make it through, my house was built on you ♪ ♪ My house was built on you, Christ is my first foundation ♪ ♪ First foundation, the rock on which I stand ♪ ♪ When everything around me is shaking ♪ ♪ I've never been more proud than I've been in Jesus' name ♪ ♪ He's never let me down, He's never let me down ♪ ♪ He's gone through generations, no generations, yeah ♪ ♪ So why would He fail now, He won't, no, no, no, no, no ♪ ♪ He won't, He won't fail, He won't fail, no, no, no, no, no ♪ ♪ He won't, He won't fail, He won't fail, no, no, no, no, no ♪ Come on church, lift up your hands and declare it. ♪ He won't fail, He won't fail, He won't fail, no, no, no, no, no ♪ ♪ He won't, He won't fail, He won't fail, no, no, no, no, no, no ♪ Father, as some of us sing that song, it's a reminder of your faithfulness. And for some of us, God, it's a declaration of something we don't see right now. It's difficult. Rains may be coming, waves may be beating against the foundation of our life, God, but your truth still remains that you are faithful in every season, that you won't fail us.

You've never done it, you won't start now, God. Today, we surrender ourself to your timing, your plan, and your will, God. Speak to us, teach us greater than any teacher could teach, Lord. You know every detail about our life, God, and you wanna help us to grow and mature into who you created us to be. So give us room, Lord, help us as we make space for that to happen in this place. Thank you, Lord, for what you're about to do. Thank you, Lord, for your love for us, that the best is still before us. We pray all of these things in expectancy, in faith, in Jesus' name, and all God's people who love him and believe him said. Come on, church. If you are grateful to be in the house of the Lord with the people of God, he's worthy of our praise, amen. You may have a seat. I wanna welcome you once again to the perfect place. For imperfect people to experience the presence of God, I'm Eric, and I'm so grateful for what God is going to do today to grow us together. This is the most spiritually significant, important season of the history of our church so far. Last week, we began preparing our hearts to see the ones that we love saved and set free as we do our part to go all in for God. And if you weren't here last week,

because of spring break or for whatever reason, let me give you a very simple one-sentence summary to keep you up to speed. Write this down. Our all in God is looking for all in followers to invest in his vision and mission. Last week we talked about the vision that God has given us as a church for South Florida to be on mission for our friends and our family and the people in our local community. Specifically, what we're asking God for is to trust us with a thousand more ones, a thousand more people who will hear the good news of Jesus that sets them free, who will take a public step of obedience to God's word through baptism. We're praying, Lord, would you trust us with a thousand more people whose lives have been changed over the next three years? And there's over a thousand names written on our all-in wall on the breezeway. We said that we would pray for those names every time we step into this place, that over the next three years, God would transform their lives. Now, why the next three years? Why not now? Because we understand that God works in seasons. We tend, as human beings, we tend to see things more in seconds.

And so, because God works in seasons, if we're honest, God's timing, a lot of times, feels slow to us. I wanna talk about that today. Here's the question. Why does our all-in God seem to sometimes be slow? Why does He seem to sometimes be so like? These thousand people, these ones that we love, that we're praying for, I wanna see them saved now, amen? This expansion of our auditorium, this enclosure of our property, so we can fit more people to experience the presence of God. I want that now. I wanna be able to reach more people for Christ now. God, why not now? Why do you seem slow? Second Peter 3.9 says this. I wanna read from the New Living Translation, because I think it says it completely. It says, the Lord isn't really being slow about His promise, as some people think. No, He is being, what? Say it louder. He's being patient for your sake. He doesn't want anyone to be destroyed. He wants everyone to repent. This passage is about God's timing of when He comes back to take all of us home. We see signs, we see wars, and hear rumors of wars,

and all these things happening, and people are like, He's coming soon, He's coming soon. They've been saying that for years, for decades, for hundreds of years. Why does it seem like God is being slow when we see the signs? He's not being slow. He's being patient. He wants more people to repent, to be saved and set free. So the issue with God's timing is not about His pace. The issue is our perspective of His pace. I wanna give three truths today, three truths that we need to remind ourselves, that we need to remember about God's timing. If you're taking notes, write this first one down. We need to trust that God is not slow, He's patient. Like His word says, He's not slow, He's patient. This is the tension that we live in. This is the perspective that a lot of us hold. This is our point of view. Life can fall apart fast, and God seems slow to respond. Isn't that our perspective? I don't know about you, but when I get in trouble, I get in trouble fast. I say something dumb to my wife that I did not mean to say, and now all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I'm in trouble. When I get in trouble fast, I want God to rescue me fast. When I make a mess, it's not a slow mess over time. It happens instantly.

I'm in the kitchen, I get all the pots and pans, and now the kitchen looks like a war zone. When it comes to relationally or financially, when I get into a mess, when I get into trouble, it's fast. And as fast as I got myself into it, I want God to get me out of it. So we say, God, why are you taking so long? God, hurry up. But here's God's point of view. Life can fall apart fast, and God knows when to respond. See, God is not like us. God is not freaking out over the problems. God doesn't react. What does God do? God responds. He's not panicking. No, he's purposeful in everything he does. The Bible says, we just read it, that God is patient. And God's patience is not our patience. We think being patient is barely holding on in a two-hour dinner with some dumb people, right? Babe, you have no patience. Oh, I held back when he said that ignoramus statement. Could you believe it? I was patient. That's not God's patience. We think we're being patient when we have to sit in a drive-thru longer than five minutes. Lord, Lord, give me patience right now.

Oh, I was patient. I didn't blow up at the work at Taco Bell. That's not God's patience. Here's what God's patience is. God's patience is a purposeful waiting for a redemptive purpose. God's patience is letting us sit in something to show us something greater, to grow us. That's God's patience. He has a redemptive purpose. He waits, he tarries so that people can repent, so that we can grow, so that we can become something greater. And scripture teaches us how to posture ourselves in this tension while we're waiting. And you're not gonna like this. Psalm 37, seven, it's up on the screens. Say those first two words with me, say it. Be still in the presence of the Lord. And wait what? Patiently for him to act. That's hard, isn't it? We don't like still. We like to fix the problems. We like to figure it out. And if it doesn't work quickly, we'll force a solution if we have to. But the scripture tells us to be still. And not still because nothing is happening. We're still because we know that God is working it all together for my good and his glory.

It says, be still. Psalm 41 says, I waited patiently, patiently for the Lord to help me. And he turned to me and he heard my cry. I love that. It says, I waited and God heard. I waited on him and he heard. Which means that waiting isn't ignoring. Waiting isn't abandonment. Waiting isn't silence on God's parts. Hear this, he hears you. He hears every prayer. And he answers every single prayer we pray. Now, we'll talk about how he answers, but we need to understand this. Because too many of us, we think that God's will is getting me what I want when I ask of it. And if we don't understand God's will, specifically about timing, we'll get things mixed up in this life. This is what God's will looks like. Write this down. God's will is doing the right thing in the right way for the right motive. Not done yet. At the right time. God's will is doing the right thing in the right way for the right motive

at the right time. And for a lot of us, we get three out of four of those pretty good, right? Like I want the right thing. We may even want it the right way. We check to make sure we have the right motives, that we're not doing this just to benefit ourselves. But when it comes to the timing, that's when too many of us struggle. We want it right now, don't we? I can't wait. We live in a world that tells us we shouldn't wait. Everything is instant in our culture. We have instant messages where we can talk to someone immediately, whether they respond back to us immediately, that's a different story. But we have instant messages. We have instant ramen noodles, instant food, instant downloads. You can order something from Amazon and get it to your house in two hours. I can't even get something in two hours. It takes me that long to pick out an outfit to leave my house, right? We want everything in this life to be on Amazon Prime speed, but God wants something different. God wants patience.

Turn to someone, tell them, be patient. Married people, I don't hear you saying that out loud. I know why. Lamentations 3.25 and 26, it says, the Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. I want you to read this next sentence all out loud together. It says, it is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Now you all said that out loud, but no one says it on their own accord. I haven't met a single person that says, I love waiting. Give me a line. Put a calendar and don't X out when I can expect. I just love waiting. It's my spiritual gift, right? We don't like waiting, but the scripture says that there is goodness. in the waiting. Goodness, why? Here's why. Because waiting exposes what's really in you. Waiting reveals who you really are and how you're growing. Waiting, it tests your motives. You ever notice how spiritual you are when God gives you a promise until you have to wait? Like, God, I receive it. You're gonna do that through my life? Oh, absolutely, I'm all in.

And then a month later, God, it's been a month. What's going on? You haven't done it yet. That's what waiting does. Waiting has a way of exposing the gap between what we say we believe and how we actually live. And that's why waiting is so powerful. Because God doesn't use waiting simply to change our situation. No, he uses waiting, hear this, to change who we are. Write this down. God is more concerned with my character than my comforts. So he's willing to let me wait in order to teach me more. Now, by show of hands, how many of us like that point? Exactly. We don't like waiting. We want comfort. We want everything to feel good. But God doesn't want us to simply feel good. God wants us to be better. So he's willing to let us wait in order to teach us more. He's willing to let us sit in a season longer than we prefer because he's doing something deeper than we realize. He's developing character. He's building endurance. He's shaping who we are. That's important. Because if God gave us what we asked for before we were ready to receive it, and we don't have the character to carry it, we will ruin it. Church Familia, I'm living in a season today where God is

finally answering prayers that I prayed in faith 15 years ago. Why is that? Because if this church saw the success that we see right now when we first started this church, I would be a prideful preacher. I would be an arrogant pastor. God had to allow seasons of pruning. Stretching me. Allowing things that were out of my power to control. That were painful. 2020, anybody remember that? He had to allow these seasons of stretching and growing and pruning for me to finally be at the place where I realize he doesn't need me. But thank God he uses me. To bring me to a place where I'm comfortable that this doesn't have to be all about me. All of us are called to be pastors, priests, ministers and missionaries. So what if the delay that you're frustrated with today is actually God developing you. What if we reframed it that way? What if you saw this season of waiting not as punishment from God, oh, I want to make his life miserable. But as preparation for what he has next for you. What if we reframed it that way? Turn to the person next to you and tell them, God is working on me. Listen, don't mistake God's patience for his absence. He's always present.

He's always working. Just because you don't see movement doesn't mean that God isn't moving. He's doing more than you can see behind the scenes so that you can become more than who you think you are. Why? He's not slow. He's patient. Amen. Second big idea that we need to remind ourselves today. We need to remember. We need to trust that God's delays are not denials. I want to deal with one of the biggest lies that we believe in seasons of waiting. When we say this, we speak it to ourselves. We communicate to the people around us. We say, if it hasn't happened yet, then it's probably not going to happen at all. Right. Don't we start to believe that? When we say it, we believe it. When we say it, we believe it. When we say it, we believe it. When God delays, when things are taking longer When we say it, we believe it. When we say it, we believe it. than we anticipate, this is when doubt begins to creep in, When we say it, we believe it. when discouragement begins to start settling in our lives, and we start thinking, if it hasn't happened yet,

then it's never gonna happen at all. This is the same season that the prophet Micah was living in. He was living in a time where everything was broken, where people had turned away from God. And in those moments, it's easier to give up. It's easier to lose hope. It's easier to walk away from God because you don't see his promises coming to pass. But instead of drifting in discouragement, Micah makes a decision that I wanna share with you. Micah 7, 7, he says this, he says, but as for me, I will look to the Lord. I will wait on the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. I love that posture. But as for me, what he's saying is, I can't control them, I can't control the timing, how long this takes. But as for me, though, he's saying, I'm making a decision. See, when you're in a delay, you have options. You can look to what hasn't happened, you can look to the timeline, or you can look to the Lord's. He says, I'm choosing where my focus is going. As for me, what does he say? He says, I will wait. I will wait for the God of my salvation. I'm not gonna complain, I'm not gonna worry, I'm not gonna force it, I'm gonna wait.

And not just wait, not just sit around waiting for something to happen, I'm gonna wait with expectation. How does he end it? He says, my God will hear me. That's confidence. I want us to have that same confidence while we're waiting. Write this down. Just because God doesn't respond the minute you ask doesn't mean that he's not at work. Just because God hasn't done it yet doesn't mean that God won't do it. And just because God didn't respond in the way that you expected, it doesn't mean that God didn't respond at all. It may mean that he responded in a way that you haven't seen. That he's working behind the scenes, responding, working all things together for your good and his glory. He's not inactive in delay. He's intentional in everything he does. There's a purpose behind everything that he does. A few years ago, my son came up to me. He was 10 years old. He says, dad, I'm ready for a cell phone. You already know he wasn't asking, he was presenting a case. He said, dad, I know I'm 10, but all my friends in school have a cell phone already. All your friends in school eat hot, Flamin' Hot Cheetos for breakfast.

It doesn't make it right, right? Dad, but I need one. I need one as a 10-year-old. No, you don't. You need food. You need water. You need shelter. You need an education. You need Jesus. You might need a swift kick to the rear with your attitude right now. You don't need a cell phone. No one needs a cell phone. I would love to not have a cell phone. I would love to not have people communicate to me when they want. You don't need a cell phone, son. He says, but dad, I'll be responsible. I laughed, he didn't. My son in that moment thought he was ready. He's giving all these reasons why he's ready. But as his father, I could see what he couldn't see. As his father, I could see what he might be exposed to. I could see the things that he was not ready to process yet. I could see how one wrong click could open a door that he would not be able to close. And so I told my 10-year-old son, now's not the time, not yet. And to him, it felt like a no. But it wasn't a no.

It was a not yet. It was all about timing. It was for his protection. It was out of a deep love for my son. Because a good father doesn't give just based off of desire. I want it, I need it. No, a good father gives based off of readiness. I didn't deny him, I just delayed it. When he was ready, eventually he got one. He got one in middle school. He got one when we needed to reach him immediately, right? He got one when he learned responsibility, when he can show us faithfulness. the things that we've entrusted to him. It wasn't a no, it was a not yet. And I wonder how many of us have done the same thing with God. God has told us not yet. Now's not the time and we translate it as not ever. It's never gonna happen. God delayed it and we assume he just denied us. But what if God is saying the same thing to you? What if he's saying, I love you too much and I see what you can't see and I know what you don't know right now and you're not ready, not yet. He loves us too much to give us something prematurely. So sometimes he says not yet. And when he says not yet, we can trust that.

Why? Here's why, Jeremiah 29, 11. He says, for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. What are those plans? Plans to prosper you, not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future. God is speaking this to a group of people who are enslaved. But the promise is still true for us because this is his character. He says, I know the plans I have for you. That enough, that's good enough. God has plans for our lives. The problem is we wanna know all of those plans. God, tell me the plans, give me the blueprints. God says, no, I won't show you all of my plan all at once. Why? Because I want you to trust that I'm the planner. If we knew every step, we wouldn't need faith. If we had the blueprint for every decision we'd ever make and where that would lead us, we wouldn't have to rely on him daily for our daily bread. He wants to build our faith. He wants to build our dependency on him so he can do in us and through us more than we could do on our own. But faith is built in the process between the promise and the payoff. We talked about this last week, but all throughout scripture, we see this pattern.

God gives a promise, right? Then what happens? Time passes. A lot of time, most of the time passes. Then the promise comes to pass. Joseph, Joseph had a dream from God, a vision from God. What happened after that vision from God? He went into a pit. What happened after the pit? He was in prison. And after many years had passed, finally he got to the palace. And when he's there, he says to his brothers, man, I know you meant this for evil, but God, God meant all of this for my good and for the good of all people. It was God's purpose the entire time. God was preparing me and positioning me for the palace. So he had to take me through this process over time. It wasn't the right time. Sometimes God says yes. Sometimes God says not yet. But I wanna make this clear before we continue. Sometimes God says no. Luke 7 and Matthew 11 tell us that God's a good father and he wants to give good gifts to his children. The problem with some of our prayers is we pray for bad things to a good father. Well, what do you mean I pray for bad things? Ladies, sometimes you pray for a man

that's not good for you. I know he looks good. I know you like how rugged and rough in his illegal criminal activity past. But his history in relationships has shown that he is bad for your health. So stop praying for him. If you're next to someone who's praying for a bad guy, nudge him right now. Ladies, that's you men, we're not exempt for this. Sometimes we pray for a bad opportunity. I know it's a whole lot of money. I know it's more money than you've ever made in your life. But to put yourself in a situation, an environment where there's temptation, where your character can be compromised, it's not good for you. We pray for bad things to a good father who wants to give good gifts. And in those moments, God says, no, it's not good for you. And in those moments where God says no, we can still trust that it's for our good, it's for our growth, amen. That leads to our third and final big idea. We need to trust that God's timing is always perfect. God's timing is always perfect. When things start to feel slow, when things feel delayed, it's easy to start questioning His timing and His intentions. We wonder if He's holding out on us, if He's up in heaven playing games with us.

Okay, I want you to wait, I want you to wait. Oh, I'm dangling right now. No, you gotta wait a little bit longer. Like He's playing hide and seek with our blessings. It's easy for our mind to go that way when things don't go our way. But let me say it plainly. If you feel like God is out to get you, you need to understand that God is not playing games with you. He's not teasing you. He's not delaying just to see how you react. Hey, angels, take a look. Look at this bonehead. He still doesn't get it. I'm gonna continue to delay it. No. That's not who He is. He's a good Father. He's not playing with us. What is He doing? He's pacing us for His perfect time. But the time now feels perfect. Everything around me is falling apart. God, now is the perfect time. Can't you see it? Isaiah 55, 8 and 9. God says, my thoughts are nothing like your thoughts. My ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For as high as the heavens are from the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

God is saying, you're trying to understand me from your limited perspective, from your level, but I'm at a much higher level. You see everything right in front of you. I see everything as it is. Again, God works in seasons and generations. We see things in seconds and minutes and hours and days. God says, no, I see all things all at once and I know when the perfect time is. We're thinking about the immediate moment all the time. How does it feel right now? And God is more focused on the eternal mission. So everything that God does and every way that God works is with purpose, is with precision, and it's with perfect timing. When I was younger, I thought I had my life all figured out. I thought I had the perfect plan for God. God gave me this plan. God gave me this vision and I created the timeline. I said, God, you put this on my heart and now I need you to do it at this time. I had a neighbor, childhood neighbor growing up named Blair. He got married at 18 years old. And when I saw this, I said, that's the blueprint for my life. God, you've called me into ministry and so I need to be married. By 18, I want to be married and I want to be pastoring somewhere. That was my prayer. Big, bold prayer. God, you want to use me?

You got to give me a bride and you got to give me an opportunity. 18 years old, Lord. 18 happened, not married. 19 came along, no wife. 20, still single. It took seven years. Seven years of God developing me. For me to realize that his primary mission for my life wasn't to be married and pastoring. It was to be all in to him. I had a plan. I thought I was ready. But in hindsight I realized I was so immature. I couldn't keep my house clean. It was a mess. Couldn't pick my clothes off the floor. You think I'm ready for marriage? Women, do you want a husband who leaves his underwear on the floor every day? No. Well, he still does, we've been married for 25 years. That's your bad. My car was a mess. Leftover Taco Bell and Burger King bags and the passenger foot well. I had a gym bag with mystery smells in my car. I thought cleaning was you just throw everything in the washer. Shoes, blacks, whites, doesn't matter. Throw it all in there and you press wash. I was so immature. I was spending money on stupid things like I had a trust fund. I did not have a trust fund.

Lived off of government cheese and I'm blowing my money like I don't know better. And again, I said it earlier. I had read the entire Bible my first year as a believer. At 16 years old I read the Bible from cover to cover six times. I was arrogant. No preacher could teach me anything. I didn't have to learn anything from anybody. I was immature and it took God seven years for me to realize. That his primary mission wasn't to get married and be in ministry. It was to be all in. and surrender to him. And after seven years, when I finally stopped fixating my mind on what I thought I needed most, that's when God gave me who I needed. He gave me my incredible bride, Jessica. Her love for God, her love for people reminded me of why God called me in the first place. It humbled me. I've learned so much from her. His timing was perfect. Because six months after we got married, we're pastoring together, teenagers, for the best years of my life. Four years after we got married, God birthed this church. I thought I was ready, but God did it all at the right time. I want you to write this down. I can't say any more plainly than this. God's ways are better than my ways.

God's plans are better than my plans. God's timing is better than my timing. Even when I don't understand it, even when I don't like it, even when it stretches me, God is God, and I am not. His ways are perfect. His plans are perfect. His timing is perfect. Mine is not. So I learned to trust him. Isaiah 60, 22. God says to the prophet Isaiah, he says, at the right time, not your time, not my time, at the right time, I, the Lord, I will make it happen. You wanna know what God's timing is? Write this down. God is never early. We want him to be early. I want you to answer prayers before I even ask it. God is never early. God is never late. God is always on time. His time. His perfect time. His perfect time to use us for his plans. And I know you don't see it right now as you're looking forward,

but one day you'll be able to look back and see that his timing was perfect. Had you stepped into that opportunity now, have you walked into that open door before he developed you, you would have walked into it a very different person and may have missed what God wanted to do in and through you. Had he given you the thing that you prayed for when you asked of it, you might not have had the character to carry that high calling. Next week, what we'll talk about is how we can wait well. What we do while we're waiting. But while we wait for that, I have one final question for us. Who is your one? Who's your one? All of us, God has given us a one. That one is the person that you care about, but you're not sure how to reach. The person that you know that's far from God, but they're close to you and you care for them. It's a person you thought about inviting, but still haven't done it yet. It's a person right now, as I'm talking about the one, God is putting an image or a name in your heart and in your mind, that's your one. A year ago, we started this all in faith adventure.

And over a thousand of us, we wrote down the name of our one, and we put them on our all in wall. So every time we walk in this place, we can pray for them. We can pray that God would rescue them. We can pray that God would use me to reach them. Last week, we celebrated that in the 12 months that we started all in, we saw 296 people say yes to Jesus. It's one more as of last week. One more one has been saved and set free. Last week, we celebrated 194 people, took a step of obedience in baptism. As of this service, it's now 198. God isn't done, this is just the beginning. The best is still before us, but it's all gonna happen in God's time. So while we wait, our part to play is prayer. And not just any prayer, but prayer with patience. As you walked in today, you should have received one of these hang tags. Can you lift it up if you have one? Next week is gonna be a spiritually significant moment for our church family, where my prayer is that all of us, we would say yes to Jesus to go all in for the one. Next week, we're gonna take time to write those names on those acrylic transparent tiles, and we're gonna hang them up so that people can see them, that we can pray for them every time we attend.

But our next step today is for us to pray consistently. Not just when we come back next week, but every day. Our next step of going all in is to pray for the one. So we gave you this hang tag. You can write it now or you can wait till you get home and you have a Sharpie. But we want to encourage you to write the name of that one. The one that you want to see saved and set free in Jesus. To know the love of Jesus like you know. And after you write that name, we want you to hang this somewhere where you'll see it daily. For some of you, most of you, it might be on your rear view mirror. So that every day this week you'll see that name and you'll begin to pray for that one. For some of you, you may use the restroom more than you drive. Put on your bathroom door or on your fridge. Just put it somewhere where you'll see it every single day. And when you see that name, pray. Pray that God would soften their heart to a relationship with him. Pray that the Holy Spirit would convict them of their need for him. Pray that God would give you courage to go all in for that one. Whatever it takes, whenever, however, Lord, use me. But here's the key when we pray. To pray patiently. Like God prays for us. Like God waits for us to repent.

And I pray that we would pray with patience for them. Because it may not happen next week. They may not be saved and set free next week. They may say no to your invitation to come to Easter. It may take several seasons before their eyes are open to the goodness of God. But Church Familia, if we pray with patience, if we are faithful to continue to lift them up and do our part and invite them and reach them, we will see God's promise come to pass. Do you believe that, church? Do you believe that for your one? Write this final thing down and then we're going to worship God one final song. Changing the spiritual landscape of South Florida doesn't happen all at once. It happens one life at a time. Lord, we are committed to seeing the one you've put on our heart. Whether that's our spouse, our child, our neighbor, our co-worker, our childhood friend. We are committed to seeing that one saved and set free. Today, Lord, as we just simply commit to pray for them over the next seven days. Lord, I pray that you would put a burden, a desire for salvation, a sensitivity for the one on our heart. Help us to be patient as you are patient and help us to trust that in your time, your will will be done. In Jesus' name, we thank you and all God's people said. We're going to stand to our feet. We're going to continue to worship. And if there's a prayer that we can pray with you, our prayer

partners are coming up right now. Don't carry this alone. Trust that he will do it. That he won't fail. That the best is still before us. Amen. He won't fail. He won't fail. Christ is my first foundation. The rock on which I stand. When everything around me is shaking. I've never been more glad that I put my faith in Jesus. I've never been more glad that I put my faith in Jesus. I've never been more glad that I put my faith in Jesus. That I put my faith in Jesus. He's never let me down. He's made for new generations. So why would he fail now? He won't. He won't. He won't fail. He won't fail. You won't fail us Lord. I'm going to make it through, I'm going to make it through, I'm going to make it through. I'm going to make it through, I'm going to make it through, I'm going to make it through. Say, I'm going to make it through, I'm going to make it through, I'm standing strong on You. I'm going to make it through, I'm going to make it through, my heart was built on You. Christ is my first foundation. The rock on which I stand, with everything around me shaking. I've never been, but I've learned my lesson.

He's never let me down, He's made for new generations. So why would He fail? He won't. He won't. He won't fail. He won't fail. Come on church, make some noise!