Speaker 1: If you would grab your Bibles and let's go back to Isaiah 40.
Speaker 1: We're going to start in verse 21.
Speaker 1: Do you not know?
Speaker 1: Do you not hear?
Speaker 1: Has it not been told to you from the beginning?
Speaker 1: Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
Speaker 1: It is he who sits above the circle of the earth and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them like a tent to dwell in, who brings princes to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.
Speaker 1: Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth.
Speaker 1: When he blows on them and they wither and the tempest carries them off like stubble To him, then will you compare me?
Speaker 1: That I should be like him, says the Holy One.
Speaker 1: I should be like him, says the Holy One.
Speaker 1: Lift up your eyes on high and see who created these, he who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name.
Speaker 1: By the greatness of his might and because of his strong in power, not one is missing.
Speaker 1: Why do you say O Jacob and speak O Israel?
Speaker 1: My way is hidden from the Lord and my right is disregarded by my God.
Speaker 1: Have you not known, have you not heard.
Speaker 1: The Lord is everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth.
Speaker 1: He does not faint or grow weary.
Speaker 1: His understanding is unsearchable.
Speaker 1: He gives power to the faint and to him who has no might.
Speaker 1: He increases strength.
Speaker 1: Even you shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted.
Speaker 1: But they who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
Speaker 1: They shall mount up with wings like eagles.
Speaker 1: They shall run and not be weary.
Speaker 1: The word of God.
Speaker 2: For the people of God, you may be seated.
Speaker 2: Excuse me, get a little bit of ring up here.
Speaker 2: If I can fix that before I get into this, that would be fantastic.
Speaker 2: Check 1-2, 1-2, 1-2.
Speaker 2: Well, the strongest of men and women eventually grow weary.
Speaker 2: 65 million people tuned in several days ago to Netflix to stream the epic fight between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul, and this is a vast understatement, but it didn't quite live up to the expectations.
Speaker 2: Matter of fact, when I tuned in, all I saw was the circle trying to load Netflix.
Speaker 2: But I went back and watched clips and I know that many say it was rigged and there's reason to believe that.
Speaker 2: But regardless, here's what I know Mike Tyson today is not the fighter that I remember.
Speaker 2: He's not even the fighter that was on Mike Tyson's punch out.
Speaker 2: All right, some of you remember that it was obvious that as the fight went on, that Tyson, this once great heavyweight champion and hall of fame boxer, was getting very weary.
Speaker 2: He's weaker than he used to be, though I still wouldn't mess with him.
Speaker 2: You know, life often feels like a boxing match, doesn't it?
Speaker 2: Fight after fight, one opponent after another, you survive one round, you go exhausted.
Speaker 2: Sit in the corner, drink some water, get some encouragement.
Speaker 2: It seems like you've been there mere seconds when you hear the bell ring again and you're called back to the canvas.
Speaker 2: Life, the flesh and the devil have a way of draining us, depleting our strength.
Speaker 2: Both, you could say, say emotionally, spiritually and physically.
Speaker 2: Anybody weary today?
Speaker 2: I came today as we continue our series through Isaiah, chapter 40.
Speaker 2: I came with a word for the weary and if you're not weary this morning, if you don't feel weak, I would suggest you still tune in, because in one phone call, with one call into the boss's office, with one diagnosis, with one conversation, everything can change and you will realize how frail you really are.
Speaker 2: In Isaiah, chapter 40, isaiah is writing to a generation.
Speaker 2: He begins.
Speaker 2: This is a transition chapter.
Speaker 2: He moves from addressing his contemporaries to writing to a generation who, at the time of his writing, had not even been born yet, who at the time of his writing, had not even been born yet.
Speaker 2: It anticipates the future people of Judah, god's people, the Hebrews, who would find themselves as exiles in Babylon.
Speaker 2: And by the time they received these words from Isaiah, they are weak and weary and tired and frustrated.
Speaker 2: But Isaiah, in chapter 40 and on to the rest of the book Gives encouragement to the weary exiles.
Speaker 2: In verse 9, that's kind of been our theme verse for this series Isaiah challenges the exiles to behold their God.
Speaker 2: In other words, the exiles were looking at their problems and Isaiah says look to your God.
Speaker 2: They were looking at the strength of their enemies and Isaiah says look to your God.
Speaker 2: They were looking at their own weakness and Isaiah says look to your God.
Speaker 2: At the end of this chapter we find one of the most familiar passages in the Bible, verse 31,.
Speaker 2: They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
Speaker 2: It's a word for the weary.
Speaker 2: Somebody ought to smile at me this morning, because this is better news than you're letting on.
Speaker 2: They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.
Speaker 2: They shall mount up with wings like eagles.
Speaker 2: They shall run and not grow weary.
Speaker 2: They shall walk and not faint.
Speaker 2: Oh, what a promise.
Speaker 2: See, the problem with the exiles is this God promised them as they were in Babylon.
Speaker 2: He said I'm going to bring you back to the Holy Land.
Speaker 2: I'm going to bring you back to Jerusalem.
Speaker 2: And then the book of Isaiah anticipates another and greater promise that there would be a Messiah who would come through the line of Judah and would ultimately deliver and save his people.
Speaker 2: The problem with that is, I mean, they had this great hope, this great hope.
Speaker 2: But the problem is, as one pastor said, there's a lot of time between isaiah until you get to matthew, mark, luke and john.
Speaker 2: So the question becomes what do you do in the meantime?
Speaker 2: Beloved, we have a promise, don't we?
Speaker 2: We christ has come and he has died for us, and we are saved in christ, and the promise of the lord is that he's going to return again.
Speaker 2: Can I get a witness?
Speaker 2: He's going to come in glory and bring justice to the earth, renew his creation and we shall forever be with the Lord.
Speaker 2: Oh, what a promise.
Speaker 2: Oh, what a hope.
Speaker 2: The question becomes the same as what the exiles faced.
Speaker 2: But what do we do in the meantime?
Speaker 2: You see, there are some people who masquerade themselves as preachers, telling you that if you come to Christ and you have enough faith that you will never be sick and you will never struggle and you will always be successful.
Speaker 2: But that's not what the bible teaches.
Speaker 2: Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come, and that continues even through the christian life.
Speaker 2: And god does not promise us that he will get us around every problem, though sometimes he does bring us out.
Speaker 2: But, but often what God does and the promise here is I'm going to bring you through.
Speaker 2: If you wait on me, I will give you strength.
Speaker 2: Listen, you shall walk and not faint.
Speaker 2: This is a walk, day by day by day.
Speaker 2: It's a grind.
Speaker 2: And he says you'll walk, you'll walk, but you will not faint.
Speaker 2: You'll walk, you'll walk, but you will not faint.
Speaker 2: So we've been looking at this idea of beholding our God, reorienting ourselves to who God really is.
Speaker 2: We want to be reminded, people of God, of the majesty of the Lord, the greatness of God.
Speaker 2: We want to be reacquainted with the true and living God.
Speaker 2: And so we've looked in past weeks at the omnipotence of God, as Jerry said earlier, and the omniscience of God.
Speaker 2: But today, as we consider a word for the weary, I want to consider in this passage, the strength of God.
Speaker 2: How many know he is almighty, he is almighty, he is almighty.
Speaker 2: The Lord says I will give you strength.
Speaker 2: That's the promise.
Speaker 2: Who is the you?
Speaker 2: Well, in verse 27 he says O Jacob, and then O Israel.
Speaker 2: He's talking to his people.
Speaker 2: So I want to say first off usually this would be at the end of the message, but I want to just go ahead and tell you that the only way you get the strength of God in your weariness is if you belong to God.
Speaker 2: And just in case you don't know how to do that, let me just take you to Ephesians, chapter 2, and read for you verses 12 and 13.
Speaker 2: Paul writes remember that you were at the time, at one time, separated from Christ.
Speaker 2: That was, all of us alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
Speaker 2: But now, in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ Beloved.
Speaker 2: Without Christ, there is no hope for strength.
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, in Philippians 4.13, another famous verse, paul says I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.
Speaker 2: Strength in the Lord does not come apart from faith in Christ.
Speaker 2: So just wanted to get that out of the way.
Speaker 2: If you don't know, jesus, today is the day of salvation, amen.
Speaker 2: So let's consider the strength of the Lord.
Speaker 2: Look at verses 21 through 24.
Speaker 2: Isaiah writes do you not know?
Speaker 2: Do you not hear?
Speaker 2: Has it not been told to you from the beginning?
Speaker 2: Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
Speaker 2: And what Isaiah is saying here?
Speaker 2: He's saying listen, surely you've heard the stories of old, the way that God parted the Red Seas and brought your ancestors out of Egypt, Delivered them from slavery, took them through the wilderness, gave them the law, showed himself faithful, showed up in the tabernacle and then, in the temple, brought them safely into the promised land.
Speaker 2: He said you do not serve a puny God.
Speaker 2: Haven't you heard how excellent and mighty your God is?
Speaker 2: And Isaiah is encouraging these exiles, like I would encourage you, to remember your God is.
Speaker 2: And Isaiah is encouraging these exiles, like I would encourage you to remember your God.
Speaker 2: You've heard about him for a long time, but sometimes we forget just how powerful he is.
Speaker 2: Verse 22, it is he who sits above the circle of the earth and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain.
Speaker 2: Listen, do you know?
Speaker 2: The universe is always expanding.
Speaker 2: We can't even keep up with it.
Speaker 2: And to the Lord, it's like us just stretching out a curtain.
Speaker 2: Our God is so mighty, amen.
Speaker 2: So he says the inhabitants of the earth are like grasshoppers, he said verse 23,.
Speaker 2: It's him who brings princes to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.
Speaker 2: Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth.
Speaker 2: And when he blows on them, just a poof.
Speaker 2: These leaders who are so great, they're gone.
Speaker 2: They wither and the tempest carries them off like stubble Again.
Speaker 2: Judah in their exile.
Speaker 2: They were looking at the great Babylon.
Speaker 2: Who could conquer Babylon?
Speaker 2: How could we ever get back to the promised land?
Speaker 2: And God just reminds them those people, everyone on the earth.
Speaker 2: Compared to me, they're like grasshoppers.
Speaker 2: Any leader who thinks they're untouchable, listen.
Speaker 2: They're here, but for a moment, in a breath, god can take them out.
Speaker 2: God alone is almighty.
Speaker 2: His kingdom alone shall stand forever.
Speaker 2: God is eternal.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 2: He was there from the beginning and he'll be there to the end.
Speaker 2: Amen, for all eternity.
Speaker 2: God's throne will never be abdicated.
Speaker 2: It's the only kingdom that shall never fall.
Speaker 2: Amen.
Speaker 2: So God is amazingly strong.
Speaker 2: He is almighty.
Speaker 2: So over the last few weeks we've been praising God for what he can do, who he is and what he can do.
Speaker 2: But I want to do something a little odd this morning.
Speaker 2: I want to praise God for what he can't do.
Speaker 2: I got your.
Speaker 2: There's three things in the text that God, that I see that God cannot do.
Speaker 2: Number one God cannot lie.
Speaker 2: God cannot lie.
Speaker 2: In verse eight I don't have this on the screen, but you'll remember a few weeks ago, isaiah tells Judah that the word of the Lord is sure.
Speaker 2: God cannot lie.
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, in verse 25, isaiah writes To whom, then, will you compare God?
Speaker 2: That?
Speaker 2: Or the Lord speaks through Isaiah.
Speaker 2: To whom, then, will you compare me?
Speaker 2: That I should be like him.
Speaker 2: And here's what the Lord says Says the Holy One.
Speaker 2: Isaiah Says the Holy One.
Speaker 2: Isaiah calls God the Holy One.
Speaker 2: You know what it means to be holy?
Speaker 2: It means to be separate.
Speaker 2: God is not like us.
Speaker 2: He transcends us, he transcends creation.
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, in this text it calls God creator, and there's a theological assumption there.
Speaker 2: It's why we've got to hang on to a biblical creation account that God in fact did speak and the heavens and the earth were created by his word.
Speaker 2: Because God created everything, it assumes that he is above that which created the thing Is greater than the creation itself.
Speaker 2: That's why you don't worship the moon and the stars, because they're not worthy.
Speaker 2: It is the Lord who created those things, who is worthy.
Speaker 2: So God is holy, he transcends us and in Numbers 23.19, that's unpacked God is not a man that he should lie.
Speaker 2: You might remember, a couple of weeks ago I argued why it is God alone who is able to keep a promise for sure.
Speaker 2: He's the only being we can absolutely trust.
Speaker 2: And here's why there are some people who tell you something.
Speaker 2: Hopefully this is not true of any of you but some people tell you something and they have no intent of keeping the promise.
Speaker 2: That's an integrity issue.
Speaker 2: But our God is holy, he's a God of integrity.
Speaker 2: He's going to, he says what he means and he means what he says and he's going to keep his word.
Speaker 2: He says what he means and he means what he says and he's going to keep his word.
Speaker 2: But there's another issue with people and making promises.
Speaker 2: Let's take a politician.
Speaker 2: We just got through the election, I know, listen, politicians make promises.
Speaker 2: Now let's just imagine, let's just dream and say a politician, pick one, that that politician has every intention of keeping a promise.
Speaker 2: But you can't take that promise to the bank.
Speaker 2: And here's why because that politician does not know what obstacle will come his or her way and that politician is not all powerful.
Speaker 2: So who's to say that that politician can carry out a promise when they don't even know the obstacles that they're going to face?
Speaker 2: But see God.
Speaker 2: Not only does he have integrity, he has all power.
Speaker 2: Right, you say well, god doesn't know.
Speaker 2: First of all, he does know every obstacle that's going to come His way.
Speaker 2: Secondly, god has no rival.
Speaker 2: There's no problem too big for our God.
Speaker 2: God cannot lie.
Speaker 2: He is trustworthy and I'm grateful.
Speaker 2: Secondly, god cannot forget.
Speaker 2: Look at verse 26.
Speaker 2: Lift up your eyes on high and see who created these things.
Speaker 2: He's calling us to look to the heavens on a clear night.
Speaker 2: Who created all these things?
Speaker 2: He who brings out their host.
Speaker 2: This would be the stars by number, calling them by name.
Speaker 2: By the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one star is missing.
Speaker 2: Now get a little nerdy again this week.
Speaker 2: Do you know that there are an estimated 200 billion trillion stars in the observable universe?
Speaker 2: Did you catch what Isaiah said?
Speaker 2: God knows each one by name.
Speaker 2: He hung them, he named them and he knows them.
Speaker 2: Not one is forgotten.
Speaker 2: God cannot forget.
Speaker 2: You're going to argue with me and say well, the Lord says that he doesn't remember our sins when we confess them.
Speaker 2: He doesn't remember our sins anymore.
Speaker 2: Okay, well, fair enough.
Speaker 2: What does that mean, though?
Speaker 2: God does not have divine amnesia when it comes to our sins.
Speaker 2: When it says that he doesn't remember our sins, what it means is this he doesn't count them against.
Speaker 2: You Are you grateful for that?
Speaker 2: There's a song it's really pretty.
Speaker 2: You go to the Lord what sin, what sin?
Speaker 2: You know that song that you ask the Lord about sin and the Lord says what sin?
Speaker 2: Well, he remembers what sin, but he also remembers the blood of Christ, in which our sin is covered.
Speaker 2: So here's what happens in verse 27.
Speaker 2: There's a question that Isaiah asked why do you say oh Jacob and speak oh Israel?
Speaker 2: My way is hidden from the Lord and my right is disregarded by my God Beloved, have you ever been through something and you felt like God had forgotten you?
Speaker 2: Maybe you're there.
Speaker 2: Today.
Speaker 2: You're going through a tremendous trial.
Speaker 2: I pray that some people would come today that need to hear this message, and you're struggling and you feel like God has forgotten you, and Isaiah's words for Judah are the same words for us today.
Speaker 2: He knows the stars.
Speaker 2: He hasn't lost one of them.
Speaker 2: God has not forgotten you, the one who is created in his image, the one whom he loved, the one whom Christ died for.
Speaker 2: God has not forgotten you.
Speaker 2: God cannot forget One more divine inability God cannot faint.
Speaker 2: God cannot faint Verse 28,.
Speaker 2: Have you not known?
Speaker 2: Have you not heard?
Speaker 2: The Lord is everlasting.
Speaker 2: Have you not known?
Speaker 2: Have you not heard?
Speaker 2: The Lord is everlasting, the creator of the ends of the earth.
Speaker 2: He does not faint or grow weary.
Speaker 2: His understanding is unsearchable.
Speaker 2: The Lord doesn't get tired.
Speaker 2: You might have prayed 300 times this week and asked the Lord for help.
Speaker 2: He's not tired.
Speaker 2: So don't go to Him and go.
Speaker 2: I've asked Him for a lot this week.
Speaker 2: I've asked for His help and His strength a lot this week.
Speaker 2: The Lord does not weary.
Speaker 2: He will not faint.
Speaker 2: The Lord has never aged.
Speaker 2: The Lord has never grown weaker, nor has he grown stronger.
Speaker 2: He has had perfect in all might and all power, forever, for all eternity.
Speaker 2: The Lord does not faint.
Speaker 2: And it says here His understanding is unsearchable.
Speaker 2: You may not understand what you're going through right now.
Speaker 2: You may see no good reason for what's happening in your life and Judah didn't understand their exile.
Speaker 2: But his ways are unsearchable.
Speaker 2: God's got a plan.
Speaker 2: Can I just encourage you?
Speaker 2: God's got a plan.
Speaker 2: Can I just encourage you?
Speaker 2: God's got a plan and I really believe Romans 8, and this is only true for the people of God that all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose.
Speaker 2: Beloved God hasn't forgotten you and he's got a plan.
Speaker 2: He's strong enough to help you.
Speaker 2: He hasn't forgotten you.
Speaker 2: There was a story that I heard of a young boy who his mother paid.
Speaker 2: This was years and years ago, but his mother paid someone else to walk him to school.
Speaker 2: She paid, like an older kid, to walk him to school every day he was in first grade 15 cents.
Speaker 2: The older boy would get paid every single day.
Speaker 2: The year went by and the next year the boys you know he's growing up and he said mama, I don't need somebody to walk me to school anymore, I'm big.
Speaker 2: She said, baby, I'd really feel better if somebody just walk you to school.
Speaker 2: No, mama, listen.
Speaker 2: He said you give me a nickel, keep the other 10 cents and I'll walk myself to school.
Speaker 2: So finally she said okay, she gave in.
Speaker 2: So all year he walked to school without that older kid.
Speaker 2: All year he walked to school without that older kid.
Speaker 2: Well, soon after there was a family dinner and the boy was bragging about how big he was and he was showing a little bit of pride and saying I don't need anybody to walk me to school, I'm big.
Speaker 2: And his mama chimed in and said baby, I hate to burst your bubble, but you didn't walk to school alone.
Speaker 2: She said, when you would leave in the morning, I would just wait till you got a few steps and I would walk behind you so I could watch you and see that you safely made it to school.
Speaker 2: And before you would leave the school building, she said I would hide behind a tree and I'd let you get a little ways ahead and I would follow you.
Speaker 2: Baby, you thought you were alone, but I want you to know you were never alone.
Speaker 2: So you may not perceive God on your right or your left, in front of you or behind you, but I want to tell you you may not feeling, but you are never alone.
Speaker 2: His promise is I'll never leave you nor forsake you.
Speaker 2: We have a God who cannot lie, he cannot forget and he cannot faith.
Speaker 2: Praise God for what he can't do.
Speaker 2: Amen, amen.
Speaker 2: Somebody's happy about it All right.
Speaker 2: So how do we find strength in this God?
Speaker 2: That's the God, the one that doesn't faint, who offers you strength.
Speaker 2: How do we find strength in God Number one?
Speaker 2: You've got to admit your weakness.
Speaker 2: Verse 29, he gives power to who?
Speaker 2: To who?
Speaker 2: The faint.
Speaker 2: He gives power to the faint and to him who has no might, he increases strength.
Speaker 2: Beloved, if you listen, let me say it like this there is no room in the kingdom of God for pride.
Speaker 2: If you want to inherit the earth, you've got to be poor in spirit.
Speaker 2: If you want to be exalted, you've got to humble yourself in the eyes of the Lord.
Speaker 2: If you want to be forgiven, you've got to confess, admit your sin.
Speaker 2: And if you want strength, you've got to admit to the Lord and to others.
Speaker 2: I can't do it alone, god.
Speaker 2: I can't believe.
Speaker 2: I'm using two boxing illustrations in one message, but I read there's a popular story about Muhammad Ali and Muhammad Ali was on an airplane and they came into some turbulence.
Speaker 2: And the flight attendant approaches the champ and she says sir, she said you need to take a seat and buckle up.
Speaker 2: And the story goes that Ali looked at this flight attendant and said do you not know who I am.
Speaker 2: I'm the greatest, I'm the champ.
Speaker 2: He said.
Speaker 2: I'm Superman, and Superman don't need no seatbelt.
Speaker 2: The flight attendant looked at him and said champ, superman don't need no airplane.
Speaker 2: Beloved, we're not as strong as we think we are.
Speaker 2: If you want strength, you've got to admit your weakness to the lord.
Speaker 2: Say, lord, I need your help.
Speaker 2: We receive, not because we ask, not number two you want strength in God.
Speaker 2: You've got to recognize the exhaustibility of human resources.
Speaker 2: They'll eventually run out.
Speaker 2: Look at verse 30.
Speaker 2: Even youth, young people shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted.
Speaker 2: Don't misunderstand me.
Speaker 2: Here we need one another.
Speaker 2: Don't misunderstand me here we need one another.
Speaker 2: I preach it all the time.
Speaker 2: God uses us to bear one another's burdens.
Speaker 2: We serve one another, we help one another, we use our resources to to bless one another.
Speaker 2: But the point is, human resources only go so far.
Speaker 2: There are going to be times when your money can't buy you out, when your intellect cannot think you out and your people cannot pull you out.
Speaker 2: Human resources eventually dry up.
Speaker 2: Beloved, you need the Lord.
Speaker 2: I don't care how much money you have or how many friends you have.
Speaker 2: You need the Lord and you need to see that your human resources are not enough to strengthen you in this life.
Speaker 2: So we've got to find strength.
Speaker 2: We've got to admit our weakness.
Speaker 2: We've got to recognize the exhaustibility of human resources.
Speaker 2: And you're not going to like this last one the exhaustibility of human resources and you're not going to like this last one.
Speaker 2: We've got to wait.
Speaker 2: Look verse 31 again.
Speaker 2: I just love it.
Speaker 2: They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.
Speaker 2: They, the ones who wait, only the ones who wait, will mount up with wings like eagles.
Speaker 2: They, the ones who wait, will run and not grow weary.
Speaker 2: They, the ones who wait, will walk and not faint.
Speaker 2: We don't like to wait.
Speaker 2: I ordered something a couple of weeks ago and it said it was going to take six or seven days and I thought that's an eternity.
Speaker 2: I got mad.
Speaker 2: You know, when the Lord doesn't respond when we want and how we want, we tend to try to take things in our own hands.
Speaker 2: We'll pray and if God doesn't answer us in five minutes, we're done.
Speaker 2: I'll take it into my own hands.
Speaker 2: You know, god's timing is not our timing, but it's perfect.
Speaker 2: I was listening to a great preacher, hb Charles, preach on this and he said you know what?
Speaker 2: God showed up 100 years before it rained to Noah, but he was right on time.
Speaker 2: When Shadrach, meshach and Abednego were in the fire, god waited till they were in the furnace to show up.
Speaker 2: And he waited to show up to Mary and Martha after Lazarus had been dead four days stinking, but he was still right on time.
Speaker 2: Had been dead four days stinking, but he was still right on time.
Speaker 2: You remember that old song?
Speaker 2: He's an on-time God.
Speaker 2: Yes, he is, he's an on-time God.
Speaker 2: Yes, he is.
Speaker 2: He may not come when you want him to, but he'll be there right on time.
Speaker 2: He's an on-time God.
Speaker 2: Yes, he is the Lord.
Speaker 2: I hate to tell you this, but he doesn't work by your calendar.
Speaker 2: He doesn't look for your open appointments.
Speaker 2: The Lord is outside of time and space and His timing, though it may not be, your timing is perfect.
Speaker 2: So we have got to wait on the Lord.
Speaker 2: And to wait on the Lord, by the way, doesn't mean you sit back idle and do nothing.
Speaker 2: A farmer can wait all he wants, but if he doesn't sow seed he's not going to get a harvest.
Speaker 2: So you do what the Lord says, you seek Him.
Speaker 2: And the Bible said the steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord, but you wait on the Lord to move for strength.
Speaker 2: They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.
Speaker 2: They shall mount up with wings like eagles.
Speaker 2: Now I want to talk about two different birds as I bring this to a close, two different birds my wife and I have.
Speaker 2: In due season we put out little red bird feeder, one on the front and sometimes one on the back porch, because we love to watch the hummingbirds.
Speaker 2: They're fascinating, these little small birds.
Speaker 2: They can hover, like in midair, they just hover.
Speaker 2: It's amazing.
Speaker 2: Now listen to this, don't go to sleep on me, because you need to hear this.
Speaker 2: A hummingbird flaps in normal flight, so they're not trying to get anywhere quickly, just normal flight.
Speaker 2: 70 times a second their wings flap.
Speaker 2: When I watch them I get exhausted just looking at them.
Speaker 2: An eagle, on the other hand, they flap their wings very infrequently.
Speaker 2: They flap just enough to get to the air current and sometimes to catch prey.
Speaker 2: Otherwise they just spread their wings and soar.
Speaker 2: Now hear me, I want to ask you are you a hummingbird, are you an eagle?
Speaker 2: Some of you come into trouble and you complain and you grumble and you're yap, yap, yap, yap, yap.
Speaker 2: And then you get all frantic and you're flap, flap.
Speaker 2: Yap, yap, yap.
Speaker 2: And then you get all frantic and you're flap, flap, flap, flap, flap.
Speaker 2: Let me just say this Quit your yapping and quit your flapping.
Speaker 2: Trust the Lord and He'll make it happen.
Speaker 2: That was worth coming to church for right there.
Speaker 2: Quit your yapping, quit your flapping.
Speaker 2: Trust the Lord and he will make it happen.
Speaker 2: Amen, amen.
Speaker 2: No, we don't need to be crazy anxious hummingbirds wearing ourselves out with.
Speaker 2: I got to do this and I got to do this.
Speaker 2: Wait, chill out, baby, it's going to be all right.
Speaker 2: The Lord's got this.
Speaker 2: We need to be like eagles.
Speaker 2: This.
Speaker 2: We need to be like eagles.
Speaker 2: Eagles flap their wings just enough to get to the air current, and then the air current just lifts them up and they soar.
Speaker 2: You know what we do.
Speaker 2: We are weak.
Speaker 2: We pray.
Speaker 2: You know what we do.
Speaker 2: We are weak, we pray, we flap just enough to get to Jesus and the wind of God's spirit lifts us up and we soar like eagles.
Speaker 2: And you know what we do when we soar, you know how we soar.
Speaker 2: The eagle spreads its wings.
Speaker 2: And when we spread our wings, what is this, it's a posture of worship.
Speaker 2: So instead of flap, flap, flap, flap, flap, you just worship God in the struggle and he'll lift you up and you will soar like an eagle.
Speaker 2: Let me take it one step further.
Speaker 2: Do you know?
Speaker 2: Storms actually allow eagles to reach heights that they never could reach otherwise?
Speaker 2: Maybe that's why James in chapter 1, verses 2 through 4, says Count it all.
Speaker 2: Joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and the steadfastness let it have its full effect, that you may become perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
Speaker 2: Dina, do you mind to come to the keys?
Speaker 2: Some of you, all you don't understand what you're going through right now, but if you're in the Lord, jesus Christ, he's got a plan and purpose, and if you'll keep your head up and you'll run to Jesus and you'll trust Him and you'll go to Him for strength, here's what will happen.
Speaker 2: Because of this storm, you will rise higher than you could ever imagine.
Speaker 2: You will rise higher than you could ever imagine.
Speaker 2: God will use those hardest things in life to bless you.
Speaker 2: I don't want to minimize what you're going through.
Speaker 2: I just want you to know you don't have to go through it alone.
Speaker 2: I'll tell one final story.
Speaker 2: Several years ago I was cycling with a group of men and when I first started I thought, man, I used to ride a bike as a kid.
Speaker 2: This would be pretty easy.
Speaker 2: They rode 30 miles every Tuesday and Thursday night, between 25 and 30 miles on the hilly roads of Richmond.
Speaker 2: That's not easy, but I thought I got this.
Speaker 2: So I got my bike, I got my gear Stupid biker shorts with a diaper in them you know crazy and I began to ride with them.
Speaker 2: And I got about five miles in and I was already felt like I was going to fall over.
Speaker 2: I was a little embarrassed because most of the guys there were like a lot older than me and I thought, man, I got to push through this.
Speaker 2: So I pushed through and you know how you get so exhausted.
Speaker 2: You just want to cry Sometimes.
Speaker 2: You can take my man card, but I'll just tell you, if you ever been that exhausted where you just want to weep, you can take my man card.
Speaker 2: But I'll just tell you, have you ever been that exhausted where you just want to weep?
Speaker 2: The final five miles we were approaching a hill.
Speaker 2: It was massive.
Speaker 2: I can't remember where it was.
Speaker 2: I almost blacked out, but I was almost on the verge of tears and I had my bike in the easiest gear and I was going up this hill and I could barely get enough motion to keep the bike upright.
Speaker 2: And I was going in my mind oh, I can't, I don't think I can make it.
Speaker 2: I don't think I can make it.
Speaker 2: I'm going to have to call my wife.
Speaker 2: She's going to have to come pick me up.
Speaker 2: They're going to have to leave me behind.
Speaker 2: When, all of a sudden, it's like I just I could pedal and I was moving and I thought what in the world?
Speaker 2: What I realized it took me a few seconds is that the owner of the bike shop that used to be right down the street here, professional rider came up beside me and put his hand on my back.
Speaker 2: He could pedal, he had the strength to pedal.
Speaker 2: I didn't.
Speaker 2: So he just pushed me along.
Speaker 2: I still pedaled, but I didn't exert a lot of energy.
Speaker 2: If you're tired today, if you will turn to the Lord, jesus Christ, he'll give you strength.
Speaker 2: You still got to pedal.
Speaker 2: Let's not put one foot in front of the other, but he'll gently give you that push that you need.
Speaker 2: They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.
Speaker 2: They'll mount up like eagles.
Speaker 2: They'll run and not grow weary.
Speaker 2: They'll walk and not faint.
Speaker 2: If you're tired today, behold your God.