WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:03.439 Thank you for listening to the Kelowna Christian Center Podcast. 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:08.080 Our desire is that today's message will be fresh and encouraging to you. 00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:13.679 For more information on KTC and how to connect, visit us at KTC.net. 00:00:14.320 --> 00:00:17.359 Well it's good to be here in the church this morning, eh? 00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:20.559 It's good to be in the presence of God. 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:27.679 Uh if uh I know many of you woke up this morning, you looked outside, and you're like, thank you, Lord, for today. 00:00:27.839 --> 00:00:30.079 Everything you do is awesome. 00:00:30.640 --> 00:00:32.479 Everything you do is great. 00:00:33.520 --> 00:00:37.200 It's a happy day, and I thank God for the weather. 00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:52.799 We used to sing this song, uh we used to sing this song when uh we were in school when we were younger, and uh when I was younger, when I was younger, you know, uh I'll just say, it's a happy day, and I thank God for the weather. 00:00:53.119 --> 00:00:57.200 It's a happy day, I'm living it for my Lord. 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:06.000 It's a happy day, and things are gonna get better, cause I'm living each day by the promises in God's word. 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:07.840 That's the song. 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:14.159 So when I I look out the window this morning, I'm like, it's a happy day. 00:01:15.519 --> 00:01:19.280 Just tell your spirits, thank you, Lord. 00:01:19.439 --> 00:01:20.640 This is the day. 00:01:20.799 --> 00:01:22.799 This is you can get it, right? 00:01:23.040 --> 00:01:24.400 That the Lord has made. 00:01:24.560 --> 00:01:30.560 The Lord made this day for you so we can rejoice and be glad in it. 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:33.840 Go ahead, give your neighbor a high five, tell them, rejoice. 00:01:34.239 --> 00:01:36.480 Today is a good day. 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:39.280 Rejoice, be glad in it. 00:01:39.599 --> 00:01:45.519 Now, I'm waiting for tomorrow, though, where it's plus five or plus six. 00:01:45.840 --> 00:01:53.200 So waiting and being thankful in the moment are two different things, but but I am waiting for that day. 00:01:53.359 --> 00:01:55.359 How many of you are good at waiting? 00:01:55.680 --> 00:01:58.079 Any of you are really good at waiting? 00:01:58.319 --> 00:02:02.959 Like you're just that you're like, Brody, that's my spiritual gift. 00:02:03.120 --> 00:02:04.799 I'm a good waiter. 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:06.640 I'm good at waiting. 00:02:06.879 --> 00:02:10.639 Uh like I do know that there are some of you who are good at waiting. 00:02:10.879 --> 00:02:27.759 You you're called fishermen, you're called hunters, and uh you're those that uh have sat in a snowbank for an hour waiting for something to cross your path when it doesn't, and then it you go and you do it again and again. 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:30.719 And then you're like, this is fun, right? 00:02:31.199 --> 00:02:38.639 And this that's waiting, you know, it's it's a good day fishing when you've when you've waited all day for that fish to bite. 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:44.080 Um, I'm I'm good at waiting, some would say. 00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:47.439 So others would say, I'm not good at waiting. 00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:53.840 Like uh I lack patience, apparently, or I lack self-control, apparently. 00:02:54.080 --> 00:03:02.560 Um, but when I read scripture, I I look at this and I see God's promises, and we see and we hear about it, and we said it today. 00:03:02.719 --> 00:03:04.800 God's promises are yes and amen. 00:03:05.039 --> 00:03:06.800 I want the promise now. 00:03:08.639 --> 00:03:10.400 How many of you are like that? 00:03:10.639 --> 00:03:11.919 I want it now. 00:03:12.560 --> 00:03:15.199 I want, I expect it now. 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:20.000 I have an agenda, I have things that need to be done. 00:03:20.319 --> 00:03:22.319 I, I, I, me, me, me. 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:23.919 You know, you get it. 00:03:24.400 --> 00:03:28.159 This is all about I and a society and a culture. 00:03:28.479 --> 00:03:35.280 I think we've become really, we've we've lost the ability to wait patiently. 00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:38.400 It's like a grind. 00:03:38.479 --> 00:03:42.000 It's like, oh, you know, we live in the culture. 00:03:42.159 --> 00:03:45.919 My children don't know what it's like to have commercials. 00:03:49.039 --> 00:04:00.639 Commercials, like the other day we were watching a TV, and uh you've heard of those, this TV, and commercials came and they were like, this is ridiculous. 00:04:00.879 --> 00:04:07.439 Dad, they're like, Dad, it's like out of 30 minutes, 10 minutes is commercials. 00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:10.879 I'm like, welcome to the my childhood. 00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:15.280 We had to wait all week to watch the next episode of a show. 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:16.399 You remember that? 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:19.360 Boy, they should feel sorry for us. 00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:23.839 They don't, they can't just like you know, marathon an episode uh show. 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:26.879 They now we used to have to wait week after week. 00:04:26.959 --> 00:04:28.720 I my favorite show was MacGyver. 00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:30.720 How many you know MacGyver? 00:04:31.600 --> 00:04:34.959 Man, that soundtrack when that comes on, I just go crazy. 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:37.360 I'm like, yeah, McGyver's my man. 00:04:37.439 --> 00:04:51.600 You know, he had I used to carry a Swiss Army knife in my back pocket, and that was good until I went and we did a uh a kid's um uh the field trip through the airport, and then I got into a lot of trouble. 00:04:51.759 --> 00:04:53.519 I was like, don't take it. 00:04:53.839 --> 00:04:56.319 But this is MacGyver could go anywhere with it. 00:04:56.399 --> 00:04:59.199 I thought I could too, but you can't apparently. 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:02.720 But my kids don't know about commercials. 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:14.160 When I um when I watch, and maybe you've been like me, you watch people like standing in a line um or waiting for a bus or they're waiting for a coffee or they're just waiting for groceries. 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:16.399 If you look at them, what are they doing? 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:17.839 They're doing this. 00:05:19.040 --> 00:05:20.319 Have you seen it? 00:05:21.279 --> 00:05:26.879 Lineups of people on their devices because they haven't got the time. 00:05:27.120 --> 00:05:31.279 They're not waiting for like just waiting for their coffee. 00:05:31.360 --> 00:05:37.360 They gotta keep busy, they gotta keep active, and and it's it's a form of distraction. 00:05:37.600 --> 00:05:44.480 I even saw the other day, you know, Starbucks, you can order your drinks ahead because you don't want to wait in line for your coffee. 00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:56.319 Um even fast food restaurants have now got a way for you to pull in and actually they'll have your food ready for you outside so you don't have to wait in the lap. 00:05:56.560 --> 00:05:58.879 Fast food just got faster. 00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:13.040 You can I can order McDonald's right now and have it ready for when I I leave church, drive up, and there'll be someone out in the snow holding my my uh my McDonald's uh Big Mac combo or whatever. 00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:16.480 That that's what it's gonna be, and that's the way it's working. 00:06:16.639 --> 00:06:41.040 But with the immediacy of culture, we fit into it, we slip into it, and it leaches into our relationship with God, and we begin to expect the same type of immediacy, same type of immediacy with regards to direction in our life, healing, resourcing. 00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:46.959 This becomes a problem because God isn't subject to our timeline. 00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:51.120 We're subject to his. 00:06:52.720 --> 00:07:02.639 And I address this issue with my kids all the time because we kind of live in this entitled environment where it's like, Dad, you don't, you know, when are we gonna eat? 00:07:02.800 --> 00:07:05.040 It's like, I'll tell you when we're gonna eat. 00:07:05.279 --> 00:07:09.360 When the food is ready, when we decide we've made the food. 00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:13.199 Like, we're like, we're gonna tell you when we're gonna eat. 00:07:13.519 --> 00:07:15.199 You don't, when are we gonna go? 00:07:15.439 --> 00:07:17.519 I'll tell you when we're gonna go. 00:07:17.920 --> 00:07:20.000 I'll tell you where you're gonna go. 00:07:20.240 --> 00:07:23.199 If you don't relax a little bit. 00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:26.240 You don't tell us what the plans are for the day. 00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:29.120 This is it's not an evil thing that's in them. 00:07:29.199 --> 00:07:39.040 It's in our nature that we sense that we can actually tell the God of the universe how he's gonna function day by day, moment by moment. 00:07:40.399 --> 00:07:41.839 Am I the only one? 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:44.079 I think I might be the only one. 00:07:44.800 --> 00:07:52.240 But as we move through our prayer time this month, we went through the 21 days of prayer. 00:07:52.399 --> 00:07:58.480 I'm sure that God was speaking to you about this new year and speaking, as he was speaking to me. 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:07.680 One thing I realized about prayer is it slows you down and it prepares you to hear what God is actually speaking to you, wanting to speak to you. 00:08:07.839 --> 00:08:15.279 And oftentimes the things God wants to talk to you about aren't the things that you would naturally bring up with yourself. 00:08:16.079 --> 00:08:25.759 God has a plan for us, and it's and this plan, we need to look at it and we need to record it, and we need to process it. 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:30.319 Because this, when God speaks to us into prayer, it's like a two-way dialogue. 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:37.519 You bring to him something, he brings it back to you, and you process, and it takes patience. 00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:43.840 Some people are like, hey, Brody, this message, you know, I'm just so excited to hear what God downloaded to you today. 00:08:44.080 --> 00:08:48.159 It didn't download, it's not like you click a button and I get this message. 00:08:48.399 --> 00:08:50.240 It's like it's hard work. 00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:59.759 You gotta dig this stuff out, you gotta read scripture, you gotta study, you have to research, you gotta pull from God what's God saying. 00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:03.600 You gotta ask Him in the morning, noon, night, you're like processing. 00:09:03.679 --> 00:09:08.000 I'm up at 5:30 in the morning, Lord, are you wanting me to change anything? 00:09:08.320 --> 00:09:10.000 That's the process. 00:09:11.120 --> 00:09:15.919 It's not an immediate culture, like just download and I'll repeat. 00:09:16.559 --> 00:09:28.000 This isn't the way life works, even within your own family, your own person, your own your own gift and calling, where you're called to, your own business. 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:29.519 It doesn't work like that. 00:09:29.679 --> 00:09:33.039 It's not just a download, you gotta dig this stuff out. 00:09:34.399 --> 00:09:38.559 That's why you have to seek the Lord while he still can be found. 00:09:38.879 --> 00:09:48.000 You have to pray and pray earnestly, fervently, continually, at all times. 00:09:48.159 --> 00:09:51.440 You're pressing in, pressing in, pressing in. 00:09:51.919 --> 00:09:55.200 That's the kind of prayer relationship we have. 00:09:56.000 --> 00:10:08.720 But as God was uh speaking to us over the 21 days, we just felt it's so important to have God's agenda because as we've talked about, good judgment is underrated. 00:10:10.240 --> 00:10:16.960 It's not it's not like it's not cool to have like, oh, you have to wait and then go. 00:10:17.279 --> 00:10:26.080 But there comes a place where it's like, no, I'd rather be with someone who's going the right way slow than someone who's going the wrong way fast. 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:29.679 You get that? 00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:40.159 There is a lot in our culture that like loves passion, excitement, energy, zeal, and it's like, yeah, let's get going, let's run. 00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:42.080 But they don't know where they're going. 00:10:42.879 --> 00:10:52.879 I'd rather stop, get my spiritual GPS on course, and be like, okay guys, let's go that way. 00:10:53.279 --> 00:10:56.399 Because that makes a big difference when you're going the right way. 00:10:56.480 --> 00:11:00.639 It saves you a whole lot of heartache in the process. 00:11:01.039 --> 00:11:18.240 But good judgment is where we look at passion and our energy, and we we look at it secondary to what revelation is, what God is actually revealing to us in terms of our direction. 00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:22.639 We don't want disorientation in life and where to go. 00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:31.120 It can be the most disorienting places where you don't know where, which way is up or which ways down, which ways forward, which ways backwards. 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:36.240 You just have to stop and say, Lord, where are you taking me today? 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:38.799 That's why we pray. 00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:41.279 Just to make it today. 00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:42.639 That's why we're doing. 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:45.440 Oh, I don't know why I went there. 00:11:45.600 --> 00:11:47.679 It was the wrong place to go. 00:11:48.240 --> 00:11:50.000 But you need to pray. 00:11:52.080 --> 00:11:52.879 Prayer. 00:11:53.440 --> 00:11:55.840 Lord, asking, where are we going? 00:11:56.000 --> 00:11:57.279 What do you want me to do? 00:11:57.519 --> 00:11:59.279 Who do you want me to do it with? 00:11:59.519 --> 00:12:00.559 Where's the team? 00:12:01.679 --> 00:12:04.240 Where are the right people that you're bringing my way? 00:12:04.480 --> 00:12:09.039 Lord, give me ears to hear, eyes to see what you're doing. 00:12:09.360 --> 00:12:14.159 Help me to fall in line, help me to assemble where you're where you're directing me. 00:12:15.039 --> 00:12:16.159 New things. 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:18.559 And discussion with others today. 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:28.320 As we've been looking forward, we're looking into the into the church, we're looking into our city, we believe God is preparing us for new beginnings this year. 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:34.080 You may have heard this before, but let me remind you that God's ways are not our ways. 00:12:34.480 --> 00:12:37.679 And that He's promised to do a new thing in the world. 00:12:37.919 --> 00:12:50.320 And if you've been watching the news with any kind of like half an ear in terms of what God is doing, you'll realize that there's there are new things that are happening in the world right now. 00:12:52.240 --> 00:12:53.120 It's new. 00:12:53.279 --> 00:12:55.919 We're to I just listed a few of them here today. 00:12:56.080 --> 00:12:59.679 I was talking to my wife about it, who works in the banking system. 00:12:59.840 --> 00:13:07.039 There's new banking coming, new currencies that are come that are opening up to the world. 00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:16.559 Yesterday, Starbucks CEO uh Howard Schultz announced that you'll soon be able to buy your coffee using an alternate currency. 00:13:17.840 --> 00:13:24.080 A separate currency, a currency that's not available that probably none of us are carrying right now. 00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:34.639 This new currency, new trade agreements, announcements that there's a new uh review over trade between countries, both North America and Trans-Pacific. 00:13:34.799 --> 00:13:42.240 There's new fuel, you know, the internal combustion engines, the gas uh versus electric vehicles. 00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:48.080 Companies are giving dates when they're actually gonna stop their production of gas-powered vehicles. 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:51.440 Right now, there's new manufacturing and computing. 00:13:51.600 --> 00:13:59.039 The biggest question right now between some of the major movers right now is the question related to AI, artificial intelligence. 00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:02.480 They're like, how is this gonna change our world? 00:14:02.720 --> 00:14:07.600 When AI, how many of you use uh you know you self-check out now? 00:14:08.080 --> 00:14:17.200 How many of you are working, doing, using artificial intelligence, new manufacturing, new socializing, there's a new income. 00:14:17.360 --> 00:14:23.919 There's this question right now about where in the world are we gonna address this unit this question of universal income? 00:14:24.960 --> 00:14:26.159 New employment. 00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:33.440 No longer are people being employed the same way that they were before, where you would just keep a job and hold on to that job. 00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:38.080 Now employment looks different, retirement looks different. 00:14:38.320 --> 00:14:45.759 All of these things are starting to hit a pinnacle, and there's a new start happening in the world. 00:14:47.759 --> 00:14:49.360 This is looking forward. 00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:57.120 See, what happens in prayer is when you're in prayer, God begins to open up your heart to new things, the things that He's doing. 00:14:57.279 --> 00:15:09.840 And when His ways are in our ways, sometimes it looks a little cloudy, it's uh it's a little unsure, but you move forward in this and you pray into it and you ask the Lord, Lord, what are you saying in this process? 00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:13.440 What are you saying with the things that you're sharing with me? 00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:18.000 The fact is that the world is being shifted towards something new. 00:15:19.840 --> 00:15:27.200 In fact, the Hebrew year represented by the number eight ref refers to a new beginning. 00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:28.480 And I just have a picture of it. 00:15:28.639 --> 00:15:40.080 This this word, um chet, uh it's uh you have to know how to say it in Hebrew, but it's like rolling, it's got like this chet sound to it. 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:44.240 And uh it's uh gate, I think it's gate, like that. 00:15:44.480 --> 00:15:48.799 It's like the number eight, but like with that guttural sound. 00:15:49.039 --> 00:15:55.360 And that and the way this number looks is it looks like a little door you see on the right hand side, it's like a covering. 00:15:56.480 --> 00:16:02.799 And that covering there is like a doorway, a gateway into a new start, into a new beginning. 00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:14.240 And it was on the eighth day that uh that usually on that day in scripture, the eighth days when a boy was circumcised, marking the beginning of his new life. 00:16:14.399 --> 00:16:23.759 Uh it was eight times that God affirmed his covenant with Abraham, announcing, like, listen, this is my this is my covenant with you. 00:16:23.919 --> 00:16:26.879 Eight times he affirmed it to establish it. 00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:30.080 And it's it's a doorway, a gateway into a new place. 00:16:30.159 --> 00:16:32.559 It represents a new grace. 00:16:32.799 --> 00:16:40.159 And this shelter, this cover represents a new um covering from from trouble and pain. 00:16:40.399 --> 00:16:47.120 And so as we move forward, we're moving through a new doorway, a new gateway into something new. 00:16:49.759 --> 00:16:51.840 So, why do we need the new? 00:16:53.279 --> 00:16:59.360 Really, you only need new when you've got something that's either broken or has become ineffective. 00:16:59.600 --> 00:17:05.119 I I realized that over the holidays, I had a phone that was six years old. 00:17:05.359 --> 00:17:10.319 And it wow, hey, six years old, this phone. 00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:20.640 And this phone actually after a while stopped working, stopped functioning because its updates were no longer being active on the phone. 00:17:20.960 --> 00:17:25.200 And so it began to break down, and I needed to get something new. 00:17:25.920 --> 00:17:35.200 When God is moving you into something new, he's not changing, there aren't too many things in terms of change. 00:17:35.359 --> 00:17:39.440 He's moving you into something that's gonna require you to update your thinking. 00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:40.000 Update. 00:17:41.039 --> 00:17:48.400 Update the way, update the way you view the world, the way you view church, the way you view your relationship with God. 00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:51.039 It's this viewing process. 00:17:51.519 --> 00:17:56.960 And I believe God's moving us into a new season which will require a new perspective. 00:17:57.279 --> 00:18:12.720 And it's not linked to our past experiences, past structures, past relationships, past technology, past income streams, past management, even our language is going to look different. 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:19.680 The way we communicate, the way the way we carry ourselves moving forward. 00:18:20.079 --> 00:18:23.119 So with this new comes change. 00:18:23.759 --> 00:18:34.960 And change is often uncomfortable, but change is resisted, and change can be difficult, but change is good, and ultimately people like it. 00:18:35.119 --> 00:18:38.480 How many of you are glad you have a washing machine at home? 00:18:39.200 --> 00:18:40.559 It was a change. 00:18:40.799 --> 00:18:43.920 At one point, someone had to make that change. 00:18:44.319 --> 00:18:47.119 How many of you are glad you have a dishwasher at home? 00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:50.480 Yeah, that's someone made a change. 00:18:50.640 --> 00:18:52.559 And it was uncomfortable at first. 00:18:52.720 --> 00:19:05.119 Telephones, heating systems, regulation of like uh the power and the and the uh hydro and all these things that that change our world. 00:19:05.359 --> 00:19:14.400 Change ultimately is something that we appreciate in time, but oftentimes we resist it at the forefront, at the beginning. 00:19:14.720 --> 00:19:21.839 So the hardest place to move is to move through the door because you don't know what the other side looks like. 00:19:23.279 --> 00:19:32.319 And the question is this the Bible talks about this space that you need to carry in your heart while you're waiting. 00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:36.400 So let me share with you a few of these scriptures that talk about waiting. 00:19:36.640 --> 00:19:45.440 The first one says this the Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. 00:19:46.720 --> 00:19:50.240 God is good to those who wait for him. 00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:53.359 Waiting. 00:19:53.839 --> 00:20:03.599 Isaiah, those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. 00:20:03.839 --> 00:20:06.799 Another waiting experience. 00:20:07.440 --> 00:20:18.480 Psalms, I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and his and in his word I hope, my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning. 00:20:18.720 --> 00:20:20.079 There's a waiting. 00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:21.440 Would you say that word with me? 00:20:21.680 --> 00:20:22.240 Wait. 00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:24.640 Wait, wait, wait. 00:20:24.880 --> 00:20:26.720 Am I good at waiting? 00:20:27.519 --> 00:20:30.799 I gotta push through and wait. 00:20:31.599 --> 00:20:33.200 I'm excited to wait. 00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:35.359 I gotta hurry up and wait. 00:20:36.240 --> 00:20:39.119 I gotta make this move and wait. 00:20:40.559 --> 00:20:44.720 And too often we don't hold, we don't wait. 00:20:45.039 --> 00:20:51.920 Micah, as for me, I will look to the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation, my God will hear me. 00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:54.240 James 5, 7 and 8. 00:20:54.559 --> 00:20:59.200 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. 00:20:59.519 --> 00:21:07.920 See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it until he receives the early and the late rains. 00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:14.160 You also be patient, establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 00:21:15.200 --> 00:21:15.839 Wait. 00:21:16.240 --> 00:21:17.440 Say it again. 00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:19.359 Wait, wait. 00:21:19.599 --> 00:21:21.440 Oh, it's a horrible word. 00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:23.759 You gotta get through it. 00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:25.119 You gotta say, wait. 00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:26.400 I don't want to wait. 00:21:26.559 --> 00:21:27.759 I want it now. 00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:30.559 I want it now. 00:21:31.359 --> 00:21:32.960 But wait is important. 00:21:33.359 --> 00:21:34.799 Listen to Abraham. 00:21:34.880 --> 00:21:36.640 This is a great illustration. 00:21:36.799 --> 00:21:51.759 Uh in our in our small group this week, we were discussing this illustration of Abraham who had to learn to wait on God's timing and his direction and be faithful in the process, in the obedience. 00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:56.160 So God was moving them into a place of new beginnings. 00:21:56.319 --> 00:22:01.039 God said, Hey, pack up everything that you have, and I'm gonna Move you. 00:22:01.359 --> 00:22:03.519 I'm going to move you into a place of blessing. 00:22:03.680 --> 00:22:10.640 He God actually said this way leave your country, your family, your father's home for a land that I will show you. 00:22:10.799 --> 00:22:13.759 I will make you a great nation and bless you. 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:15.200 I'll make you famous. 00:22:15.279 --> 00:22:16.240 You'll be a blessing. 00:22:16.319 --> 00:22:18.000 I'll bless those who bless you. 00:22:18.240 --> 00:22:24.079 Those who curse you, I'll curse all the families of the earth will be blessed through you. 00:22:24.559 --> 00:22:27.279 So Abraham packed up his stuff. 00:22:27.599 --> 00:22:29.440 And Hebrews says this. 00:22:36.400 --> 00:22:38.160 He obeyed and went. 00:22:38.400 --> 00:22:40.000 Now here's the kicker. 00:22:40.319 --> 00:22:43.440 Even though he did not know where he was going. 00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:50.160 Waiting with faith. 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:52.720 Believing. 00:22:52.960 --> 00:22:54.000 Trusting. 00:22:54.400 --> 00:22:56.720 Seeing what's on the other side. 00:22:57.039 --> 00:22:57.680 Waiting. 00:22:57.920 --> 00:22:58.640 Trusting. 00:22:58.799 --> 00:22:59.599 Believing. 00:23:00.720 --> 00:23:04.400 Obedient to where God is telling you to go step by step. 00:23:06.400 --> 00:23:07.039 Wait. 00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:16.880 When we're faced with uncertainty, our tendency, our tendency is to move in our own strength, in the direction of our own choosing. 00:23:18.880 --> 00:23:20.319 I've done it before. 00:23:20.559 --> 00:23:25.680 I've done that where you feel the pressure and you're like, I just a decision has to be made. 00:23:25.920 --> 00:23:28.319 So you just go ahead and you make that decision. 00:23:28.480 --> 00:23:39.599 And all it would have taken is that little bit more time where it would have been just wait, just wait, just hold, hold, hold until that time. 00:23:40.640 --> 00:23:43.279 I'd like to teach you a new word today. 00:23:43.839 --> 00:23:47.839 When you're running into these situations, the word is this hodl. 00:23:49.359 --> 00:23:50.160 Hodle. 00:23:50.720 --> 00:23:52.319 And this is a new word. 00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:54.559 People are saying it right now. 00:23:55.200 --> 00:23:59.359 You may not have heard it, but it means to hold on for dear life. 00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:00.720 Hodl. 00:24:01.200 --> 00:24:01.759 Say that. 00:24:01.920 --> 00:24:02.480 Hodle. 00:24:02.799 --> 00:24:03.920 Hodle hodl. 00:24:04.480 --> 00:24:12.160 If anyone has been on a roller coaster, I I have this one picture of my daughter where I was on the front of this roller coaster at in Disneyland. 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:19.519 And I just kind of threw the phone in the air and took a snapshot of everyone kind of on the chain of track on the track. 00:24:19.759 --> 00:24:26.240 And it was just after we had finished this uh this mountain roller coaster. 00:24:26.319 --> 00:24:33.279 And my daughter, you could see her, her face was white and her hands were gripping onto the bar in front of her. 00:24:33.359 --> 00:24:35.839 It was just like white, knuckled. 00:24:35.920 --> 00:24:42.319 And I I whenever I think of holding on, I think of that picture because my daughter was like, Will this be fun, Dad? 00:24:42.400 --> 00:24:43.920 I'm like, you betcha. 00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:49.279 Fun for me to be able to watch as you just hold on. 00:24:49.599 --> 00:24:55.039 He's had the quick drops and the spins and the and the and the loops. 00:24:55.200 --> 00:24:57.680 I I was just like, we were having so much fun. 00:24:57.920 --> 00:24:59.759 But you you hold on. 00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:12.559 I remember one time my dad and I were uh up at the trestles and at the time that we were uh riding our our dirt bikes across the trestles, and the trestles are quite high, right? 00:25:13.759 --> 00:25:15.440 Span these canyons. 00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:29.920 And uh we decided, you know what, we'll just you had to kind of hit the trestle kind of quick because if you go slow, you go in between the joints, but if you went really quick, your your motorbike would just like skip across the top of the trestles. 00:25:30.400 --> 00:25:33.519 And we were doing that on the short ones, and it was all all good. 00:25:33.599 --> 00:25:40.000 But then we got to this really long trestle, and it was one of the large ones just up in Myra Canyon. 00:25:40.160 --> 00:25:44.079 And the trestle wrapped around this one big canyon. 00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:50.799 And so we're like, we're just gonna push the motorbike across the across this can this trestle. 00:25:51.119 --> 00:26:02.319 And I remember pushing the motorbike, and all of a sudden a gust of wind came up through the valley, and it it was coming up that that valley pretty hard. 00:26:02.559 --> 00:26:11.519 And I remember my dad just saying, get down, like lay the motorcycle on its side, and just wrap your arm around that motorcycle. 00:26:11.759 --> 00:26:14.559 And that was like my mom's here today. 00:26:14.799 --> 00:26:18.720 She'd probably not be saying too much. 00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:30.559 But I remember at that time we just I threw my arm through the motorcycle uh handlebar and I just locked on and the wind just started blowing. 00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:36.559 And if it wasn't for that motorcycle, the weight of that motorcycle, we would have been blown off that trestle. 00:26:36.960 --> 00:26:46.240 And the Lord would have saved us, mom, because our time, angels would have come and lifted us up, placed us on solid ground. 00:26:46.480 --> 00:26:51.759 But so dad had our safety as premier right there. 00:26:52.400 --> 00:26:53.279 Premium. 00:26:53.599 --> 00:27:06.000 But I remember those times, uh even as young, uh how many of you have ever walked across a suspension bridge, like one of those long suspension bridges, and you just feel it swaying, and you hold on. 00:27:06.240 --> 00:27:08.880 You're holding on for that dear life. 00:27:08.960 --> 00:27:15.680 There's power to this holding on, waiting, and not moving. 00:27:15.920 --> 00:27:28.160 The power to not flinch and just like react in a moment, because God has a promise for us on the other side, and it's something new, it's something different. 00:27:28.480 --> 00:27:37.039 So while we're waiting, one thing we can do while we wait is we can't just go ahead and just put our lives on hold. 00:27:37.440 --> 00:27:48.240 We can't just stop doing everything we're doing, we've got to keep moving forward, but at the same time keeping our eyes open and our ears open to what God is doing. 00:27:49.359 --> 00:28:10.000 So while we're waiting for people to turn to Jesus, while we're waiting for our city to come to the knowledge of who Christ is, while we're waiting for our our the change in our homes or our family members, don't make the air of putting our like your life on hold. 00:28:11.279 --> 00:28:14.400 Um waiting is not an inactivity. 00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:20.319 It's not idleness, it's not laziness, it's not passivity, it's not apathy. 00:28:20.480 --> 00:28:25.519 Waiting is the time to develop habits and skills that you're gonna use later on. 00:28:26.160 --> 00:28:34.720 It's times when you wait, is when you slow down and you're like, okay, Lord, prepare me for what's in it coming down the pipe. 00:28:34.960 --> 00:28:37.359 Prepare me for what's ahead. 00:28:37.920 --> 00:28:44.319 So you might be in a new place thinking, I'm gonna go into a new gateway, a new doorway, into something new. 00:28:44.480 --> 00:28:52.240 And you're needing to trust God that God is gonna actually prepare you for what's lying ahead. 00:28:52.559 --> 00:29:03.440 And sometimes that might be people in your life that God's gonna put around you, sometimes it might be resources coming into your life that God's gonna equip you with, but we need to be waiting. 00:29:03.680 --> 00:29:14.079 So when you're in that waiting state, whether you're in the wilderness or in that waiting period, there's some things that you should do during that waiting period. 00:29:14.240 --> 00:29:17.680 I'm just gonna go over them quickly with you today before we close. 00:29:17.920 --> 00:29:20.799 Number one, keep on praying. 00:29:21.519 --> 00:29:28.400 The scripture says this when you're in the waiting room, you keep on praying, keep on asking. 00:29:28.880 --> 00:29:37.200 Matthew 7 7, keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking, and the door will be open to you. 00:29:37.359 --> 00:29:43.839 That's when the scripture says something like that three times, keep on, keep on, keep on. 00:29:44.079 --> 00:29:47.039 That means it's an active, it's a continuous word. 00:29:47.359 --> 00:29:52.160 It means hold, hold, hold, don't flinch, don't flinch. 00:29:52.400 --> 00:29:58.559 Stick to that habit of what you had kept to and keep on praying. 00:29:58.799 --> 00:30:00.559 Don't stop praying. 00:30:01.200 --> 00:30:02.160 Hold on. 00:30:02.640 --> 00:30:04.640 This is a continuing verb. 00:30:04.880 --> 00:30:07.200 Keep on praying until you get that answer. 00:30:07.359 --> 00:30:10.000 Number two, keep on serving. 00:30:10.559 --> 00:30:18.000 Romans says it this way: never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. 00:30:18.319 --> 00:30:23.279 What this will do is it'll sharpen your skill in this time of your waiting season. 00:30:23.599 --> 00:30:33.920 Focus on, don't just focus on like doing a big thing, focus on looking for the small things you can do in preparation for the big things that God's gonna do. 00:30:34.720 --> 00:30:37.759 There are no great ways to serve God. 00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:40.079 There are no great ways to serve God. 00:30:40.319 --> 00:30:44.960 There are only small ways to serve God done with a great heart. 00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:50.799 There are only great ways, great ways of service that we can offer. 00:30:51.200 --> 00:30:56.160 If you're faithful in the small things, God says He'll make you faithful in much. 00:30:56.319 --> 00:30:56.960 Amen? 00:30:57.839 --> 00:31:00.799 So don't worry about having a significant ministry. 00:31:01.119 --> 00:31:03.279 Just make your ministry significant. 00:31:03.680 --> 00:31:05.359 Make what you're doing significant. 00:31:05.519 --> 00:31:09.680 Go to your workplace and just operate with significance. 00:31:10.400 --> 00:31:12.559 Do it with the best of your ability. 00:31:12.720 --> 00:31:14.480 Do it enthusiastically. 00:31:14.720 --> 00:31:17.680 Reach out and don't stop serving. 00:31:18.880 --> 00:31:28.480 Don't stop, and and you'll know when, you'll know when people are pulling back, when they stop serving, when they stop praying. 00:31:28.720 --> 00:31:34.400 These are things that you have to do continually, even during the waiting period. 00:31:34.640 --> 00:31:37.920 Number three, keep on going to small group. 00:31:38.160 --> 00:31:44.240 The Bible says this let's not give up the habit of meeting together. 00:31:44.720 --> 00:31:46.960 Don't give up the habit of meeting together. 00:31:47.200 --> 00:31:55.759 Instead, eager, instead, let us encourage one another all the more since you see the day that the Lord is coming near. 00:31:56.000 --> 00:31:57.440 Go to small group. 00:31:57.599 --> 00:32:03.519 If you need to change your small group, use this time as an opportunity to change small group. 00:32:03.759 --> 00:32:12.319 If you need to find a different small group or a small group that relates better with you, find that small group that connects with where you're going in your heart. 00:32:12.559 --> 00:32:18.160 We have an app, KCC app, available on all the stores. 00:32:18.400 --> 00:32:26.480 It's got uh access to all of our small groups, we've got access online, we've got access to people in the lobby. 00:32:26.640 --> 00:32:30.799 There is a small group waiting for you to live on. 00:32:31.039 --> 00:32:36.799 Keep on, if you don't, if you need to move, take that opportunity to move. 00:32:37.200 --> 00:32:39.839 Number four, keep on sowing. 00:32:40.400 --> 00:32:43.680 Keep on sowing your seed, for you never know which will grow. 00:32:43.839 --> 00:32:45.599 Perhaps it all will. 00:32:45.920 --> 00:32:47.759 And then keep on believing. 00:32:48.240 --> 00:32:49.200 Keep on believing. 00:32:49.359 --> 00:32:54.960 The Bible says you must keep on believing the things you've been taught, you know that they're true. 00:32:55.200 --> 00:32:59.039 These are things that you need to keep on keeping on. 00:32:59.920 --> 00:33:00.960 Don't stop. 00:33:01.359 --> 00:33:06.079 And if you look at this list and you're like, man, I've stopped in one of these areas. 00:33:06.319 --> 00:33:14.160 You just keep yeah, just change the way you're doing things and make the adjustments that are necessary to keep on. 00:33:14.400 --> 00:33:18.000 Um, we need to be able to trust God in this new season. 00:33:18.240 --> 00:33:24.079 I'm excited about it because I believe that it's gonna be a good day moving forward. 00:33:24.400 --> 00:33:31.359 God's got new things in place for us, He's got new plans for us, His His future for us is good. 00:33:31.599 --> 00:33:32.240 Amen? 00:33:32.720 --> 00:33:36.079 It says that there's a future and there's a hope connected to it. 00:33:36.400 --> 00:33:43.039 Um, I heard this example the other day, just as I close, about uh bamboo. 00:33:43.519 --> 00:33:47.759 And we were just, my kids and I just love learning about these different things. 00:33:48.160 --> 00:33:56.000 But bamboo is an interesting uh it's an interesting item, it's an interesting plant. 00:33:56.240 --> 00:33:59.519 Um it there are different types of bamboo. 00:33:59.599 --> 00:34:07.119 There's the kind of bamboo that you put in the ground and you uh you water it and it and it just grows steady. 00:34:07.200 --> 00:34:12.400 There's the type of bamboo that um you water it a little bit, it grows really fast right away. 00:34:12.559 --> 00:34:14.800 But then there's other kinds of bamboo. 00:34:14.960 --> 00:34:26.320 And uh the way that works, and this is generally with this type of bamboo, is you cut it down, take a shard of it, and you place that shard in the in the ground. 00:34:26.639 --> 00:34:31.039 And when it's in the ground there, you you water it. 00:34:31.360 --> 00:34:35.599 And the first year you water it, you don't see any change. 00:34:36.400 --> 00:34:40.880 And so you don't stop though, you keep on watering. 00:34:41.280 --> 00:34:46.559 So second year you water it some more, and you know what you'll see on the second year? 00:34:47.360 --> 00:34:52.320 Nothing, nothing will change. 00:34:53.199 --> 00:35:02.159