Sunday May 10, 2026

Sometimes, I get so caught up in my earthly life that I tend to forget about my eternal life. I always think about my career, my family, and even what’s coming in a week. But how often am I truly thinking about my eternal life? In today’s message, Dr. Timothy Brown is encouraging YOU to look eternally instead of at the present. Your time on earth is only a small fraction of what your time in eternity will be, so your decisions now DO matter. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Welcome to Truth for Transformation with Dr. Timothy Brown. You're about to hear a message from God's Word filled with biblical wisdom, practical insights, and life-changing truths. A message designed to inspire your faith and give encouragement.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

It's okay to realize that you're in this little space here of 100 years or whatever it may be. But we don't live by the temporary, we live by the eternal. We set our eyes on Jesus. We focus not what is seen. What is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is what? Eternal. So we don't minimize the now, but we reframe the now against the backdrop of eternity. So don't live just for that little dash. Live that little dash in view of forever.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

Sometimes I get so caught up in my earthly life that I tend to forget about my eternal life. I always think about my career, my family, and even what's coming in a week. But how often am I truly thinking about my eternal life? In today's message, Dr. Timothy Brown is encouraging you to look eternally instead of at the present. Your time on earth is only a small fraction of what your time in eternity will be, so your decisions now do matter. Prepare your heart, open your mind, and get ready to embark on a journey of faith with Dr. Timothy Brown in the book of Psalms chapter 37 with today's edition of Truth for Transformation.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

God gives you an opportunity. You can exchange striving for striding. Striving produces anxiety, stress, depression, burnout. If you're doing it on your own, in your own strength. But when you stride, it produces this holy confidence that God is with me, that God is for me, that He has a plan. And life is not just a sprint, but it's also a marathon, and I can rest along the way. I can Sabbath along the way. I can trust that God's got a greater plan even when I'm in pain. Amen. So it brings the why question. Some of you are like, Timothy, you've answered the what, right? We've got to wait, and God's timing's different. But have you ever asked the question, why? Why is God's timing so much different than yours? Why did the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer? Why is God still not answering my prayer? I've waited on him so long. Why, God? I want to give you seven reasons why God's timing is different than yours. And I want to make this personal to you. Number one, God's timing is often very different from my timing. Isaiah 55, 8 says, My thoughts are not your thoughts, says the Lord. Think about that. His thoughts are different, his ways are different, his ways are higher. So just remember it, God's timing is different. Second reason, God's timing normally takes much longer than I expect. How many of you, God usually answers your prayer before you even pray? Before you even say amen. It's bam, right? Most of us, it's wait for it. It's like, God, I've been praying like if you're older, it's like I've been praying 20, 30, 40 years. If you're a teenager, God, I've been praying two weeks. Where are you, God? Right? Timing's perspective. So notice 2 Peter 3:8. This is about the day of the Lord when Jesus returns, the context, but listen to the time frame. Do not forget this one thing, dear friends. With the Lord, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. So, God, I've been waiting a day, but for you, it's like a thousand years. And God, it feels like I've been waiting a thousand years, but for you, it's like a day. God's time frame is so much different. Number three, why do we have to wait? God's timing is always perfect, even though it seems late from my perspective. So not only do I have to wait on it, I feel like God's late. But how many of you know God's never late? He's never late. Ecclesiastes 3:1 says there's a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven. So here's the truth. You guys may be waiting. It may be the right thing, but the wrong season. I'll say that again. You it may be the right thing, but for the wrong season. Now, I'm gonna say something a little embarrassing, and uh my wife knows this truth about me. But I wanted to meet her like in high school. I'm like, God, I'm ready to get married at 16 years old. Now keep in mind I had a job making almost minimal wage at a restaurant, but I wanted her right now. But was I ready? No, even though I was I thought I was waiting on the right thing, but she didn't come until 10 years later. So for a high school college student, she's like, I want to get married like yesterday, like 10 years ago. Listen, it may be the right thing, but it may be the wrong season. So Ecclesiastes 3 says there's a season for everything. The fourth truth is that God's timing often includes a season of waiting so that I can grow and be ready for the answer to prayer. So it's the right thing, but God's like, you're not ready. I've got to grow you, I've got to mold you. I've got uh few of my children on the front row. Noelle's a hard worker, she's like one of the hardest working kids I've ever seen. But imagine if she says, I'm gonna quit school at 11 and I'm gonna start working and I'm just gonna start a career. We'd be like, Noelle, that's a good thing to have a career and want to work, but 11, you're not ready for that yet. You've got to finish school. And uh Gabriel's on the front row, he's nine. He wants to drive a truck one day. And I could say, All right, you can here's the keys, take the will. At nine years old, what would happen if he started driving? So you see the point. These are right desires to have a job or to drive a truck or whatever, but it's the timing. Kids, you have to wait. Number five, God's timing is always for his glory and my greater good and will fulfill his purposes for me. All of us know Romans 8.28, if you've been in church. If not, let me introduce you to it. Romans 8.28 says that all things work together for good. So those who love God are called according to his purpose. But I'm like, God, yeah, I believe you have good, but do I really have to wait for it? Like, I want it like Amazon delivery. I want it like now, right? Two-day delivery, God. Wouldn't that be nice if you could throw an offer up a prayer? And like Amazon, it said one day, two-day, three-day delivery? God doesn't work like an Amazon delivery driver. He doesn't. I mean, we just have to wait. His timing is it's for ever greater good. Now, number six and seven is hard for the type A personality if you're type A. God's timing teaches me to trust his heart even when I can't understand his plan. So, how many of you have ever waited on something, and when God answered it, it you had greater trust that God knows what's best? Like, God, thank you. It's almost like the Garth Book prayer, Garth Brooks, you remember his prayer, thank God for unanswered prayers? Like he went back to a high school reunion and he's like, that's the girl I wanted. Thank God he said no, right? It's like sometimes in life you look back in hindsight and you're like, God said no. It wasn't answered in the way I wanted, and thank you, Lord. Amen. Enough said about that. And number seven, this is the one my least favorite, but it's true. God's timing reminds me who's in control. It's not me, it's it's him, right? So for those of you who are leadership-oriented personality that are used to getting things done, when God delays, it reminds you, I'm not calling the shots. There's one God and I'm not him. Psalms 46, 10 says, be still and know that I am God. So sometimes in the waiting in the stillness, you're reminded that he's God, he's got a plan, and he's gonna work it out. So when we wait on him patiently, we don't fret, we don't get upset at others. We know that God knows what's best. So you've often heard that God answers prayer like in two or three ways, like yes, no, wait. Well, I'm gonna give you four ways God answers prayer, okay? You might want to write these down. The first one is no. How many ever used to no answers? No, I'm not. But at least you've got a definitive yes, no. Like it's no. I'm not gonna do it. So if my children come to me and they want cotton candy for lunch, even though I want them to enjoy the finer things of life, I'm gonna tell them no, because my boys are gonna have so much energy and my girls won't want to eat any protein. You cannot have cotton candy maybe after you eat your lunch. On Fridays, we allow desserts, okay? So no. The second is go. So, no, the go is a yes answer. So don't you love the go? Go for it. I trust, I trust that I plan this out. I trust that I put these desires in your heart. I trust in the Lord that He's gonna do it. The third one we often don't like is grow. So you have no, you have go, and then you have grow. The grow is the wait for it. Yes, I'm gonna answer it, but either you or they or the situation's not ready. So you have to wait. You like waiting for the next word? I mean, no one likes waiting, right? Wait. And then the fourth one that you may not have heard about is surprise. How many of you have ever prayed a prayer and God answered it, but not in the way you prayed for it? The surprise. Now, the surprise is interesting because it's God's goodness knowing that he knows better what's good for you than you know what's good for yourself. And it's like, wow, thank you, God. Thank you for the surprises. Truth number five as we work our way through Psalm 37. Remember, it's not your best life now, it's your best life later. So whoever wrote the book, and don't say his name out loud, he got the title wrong. It's not your best life now. That's only true is if you're dying and going to hell, it's your best life now. That's all there is, right? And I understand the concept, it's living life to the fly, get that, but I would recommend a different title. It's your best life later, right? It's a full life now, but it's your best life later. Psalm 37, verse 9. The evildoer shall be cut off, but those who wait on the Lord, there's that word wait again. Isn't the Bible challenging? Wait, okay, I'm getting the hint here. Those who wait on the Lord, they shall. It shall, what tense is that? It's a future tense, right? It's not now, it's later. They shall inherit the earth. For those of you who didn't go through Revelation with us, it's online, but we talked about in the eternity state, God's gonna make a new heaven and a new earth, and you remember the heavenly city is gonna come out of heaven and be upon the earth. So when the Bible says, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inhabit the earth, I thought we're gonna die and go to heaven. Well, we are, but in the eternal state, heaven's gonna come down, and it's gonna be a new heaven, a new earth, and the new city, the new Jerusalem, according to Revelation, is gonna be upon the new earth. That's exciting. For yet a little while in the wicked shall be no more. Verse 10. Indeed, you shall look for his place, but it shall be no more. But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

SPEAKER_01 12:02

You've been listening to Pastor Timothy Brown. We'll be right back with the message, but first we'd like to share some exciting news with you. We're releasing Dr. Timothy's new book called Go After Jesus. This book is a fresh approach to discipleship and focuses on your identity in Christ as the launching pad for Christian growth. In Go After Jesus, Pastor Timothy paints the picture of the six identities for every follower of Christ. You are a seeker, a disciple, a friend, a fisherman, a warrior, and a lover. We're currently offering two free chapters of this book as a digital download. To get your free chapters, go to Dr. Timothy's website at drtimothybrown.org. Now let's get back to the rest of the message with Pastor Timothy.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

So I like visual illustrations. I don't know about you, but it helps me. And I gotta give credit to where credit's due. I stole this all Francis Chan. Anybody ever heard of him? So I stole this all to him. So I want you to think about this illustration. It's a long rope. For those of you who are colorblind, some of us are. This is uh, what it what color is this?

unknown 13:05

Purple.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

It's a purpose, maybe lavender. Sometimes I don't get the right colors, but it's a purple family color. And so this is just one little strip in the long rope, right? I think this is like a 20-foot rope. It's pretty long. Keeps going and going and going. So I want you to think about your life. Your life is like this little strip of tape. It's very short, but how many of us focus all of our life on this little this little strip? We want to have the nicest car we can, the nicest house, the nicest spouse, and those are those are good things, but then the nicest career, and then the nicest retirement, and the nicest vacation. Those are not bad things, right? Those are good things, right? It's good to have a nice spouse and nice vacation. But how many of us focus so much attention that we don't think about the rest? We don't think about the fullness of life, okay? So, Lincoln, I want you to catch this right here. Ready? All right. So let's see how long this is. It keeps going and going and going, okay? So look how long that is. Some of us focus on this little part. And Psalm 37 reminds us that if you wait on the Lord, He's got so much more in store. And so don't focus your life on this little thing. If you lose your job, that's tough, but that's not the end of it. If you get a divorce, that's really tough. We don't minimize, that's painful, but that's not the end of you. If you fall down, I want you to remember that there's no such thing, you're not a failure. Failure is not a person, it's only an event. The Bible says that a just person falls down, but they what? They get back up. So listen, it's okay to realize that you're in this little space here of a hundred years or whatever it may be. But we don't live by the temporary, we live by the eternal. We set our eyes on Jesus. We focus not what is seen. What is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is what? Eternal. So we don't minimize the now, but we reframe the now against the backdrop of eternity. So don't live just for that little dash. Live that little dash in view of forever. That whatever you do, it has eternal ripple effect. Amen. And the final truth as we wrap the psalm up, it's a very good psalm. I encourage you to read the whole psalm. We didn't have time to cover every verse. But believe that God not only cares about the big picture, but also believe that he cares about the small details of your life. How many of you have ever debated with somebody or in your mind, is it okay to pray for the parking space when there are people dying and going to hell? Is it okay to pray that God will help me to work out this job situation when there's people that have cancer or sickness? Have you ever wrestled with that? If you've ever been in church circles, people debate these issues. Can I bring to you a truth that God cares about the big issues, but he also cares about the small issues? And by the way, God is not limited. Is it possible that God could help the person in the third world country? Is it possible that God could also help the person with cancer? And is it possible at the same time God is big enough, God is strong enough that he can help you with your parking space? Is that possible? It's almost like in our mindset, we're like, well, God's focus is limited. Like if I pray for this, he can't do this. Listen, God can take care of all 8.1 billion people at the same time. That's how big he is, right? And I'm glad I don't have to stress over it because he's in charge and we are not. Look at verse 23. The steps of a good man, and by the way, you could put woman as well, it applies to both genders, are ordered by the Lord, and he delights in his way. So camp out on this verse for a second. The steps. So are steps the big picture, or is that the small details? Small details, right? Did you know that God not only directs your steps, but he delights in your way? I'll say that again. God not only directs, but he delights. Because think about it. Imagine if God was this far-off deity. And yes, he wanted you to get saved and go to heaven, but he didn't care about the day to day. That would be hard, right? It'd be like the the crazy preacher joke about the guy that fell down the steps and he's like, Thank God that's over with, right? It was predetermined, I fell down the steps, it's behind me. And it's like that's kind of a cheesy joke, but the idea is that God not only directs, but he delights. He's a father that delights in you. He's a father that cares about you. The Bible says that even a bird falls down, the father knows about it. The Bible says that God knows the very numbers of hair, hair on your head. Now, some of you, it's easier for him to count than others. Just kidding, right? There's subtraction going on, right, for some of us. God knows it all, right? He knows it all and he cares. Look at the next verse. Okay, what does it look like, Timothy? If I'm delighting in God, if he's direct in my steps. Here's the outcome. Though he fall, how many of you have ever messed up? If you've ever messed up, welcome to humanity. It's not a matter of if you mess up, but it's when you mess up, you get back up. Mess up, get up. Mess up, get up. The Bible says a just person falls how many times? Seven times, but they get up. He shall not be utterly cast down. For the Lord upholds him with his hand. Now I'm glad this is Old Testament and New Testament. I'm not propping up God. I'm not holding up God. He's holding up me. Aren't you glad that he's got the whole world in your hand, his hands? You don't have the world in your hands. Wow, look at the next verse. This is David speaking, and some of you can relate to this. He says, I have been young, but now I'm old. Okay, speaking back in his life. We don't know how old David is. Notice his his commentary on life. Yet I've never seen the righteous forsaken. So if I delight in God, back to verse 4, he's going to take care. I've never seen his descendants begging bread. So it's not just for me, it's also for those after me. Look at the next verse. He is ever merciful and lends, and his descendants are blessed. So here's the idea that God wants to bless you. And sometimes it is with material possessions, not always. But some of you have blessings that you can shower onto others. And notice you're able to lend your descendants after you are blessed. And sometimes when we see that word blessed, we think of just material blessing. But blessing covers a lot of things. It's joy, it's peace, it's having one or two really good friends. That's a blessing, right? So don't think of just prosperity materially when you see that word. Think of God's richest blessing and the holistic of life. So the gospel, what do you where does this point us to Jesus? The gospel is that Jesus gave his life by dying on the cross so that I can not only give my life to Christ, but so also I can delight in him. Now, some of you have given your life to Christ, but you're not delighting in Christ. And some of us act like we've been baptized in lemonade, right? Sour saints. We we like have this frown. And we got to tell our face that the resurrection is true. Jesus rose from the dead. I don't have to walk around like it's a sad Friday. I can walk around like it's resurrection Sunday, right? So you can be encouraged with that. So the big idea, let's throw the Sermon on the Sentence. How do we summarize this into one thought? Make Jesus your greatest delight, and your life will be truly delightful. Now, when I say the word delightful, I don't mean easy. I don't mean your best life now, but I mean that when Jesus is your greatest delight, you have fellowship with the Father. You experience the love of the Savior, you experience the working of the Holy Spirit. No matter what happens to you, God is doing something in you, and that's a delightful life. All right, three action steps. I want us to turn this information into transformation. How do I apply? Remember the shoe illustration. Take your shoes off when you get home. Remember, trust and obey. Alright, first step is this live for a greater purpose in yourself, Christ and His kingdom. So going back to the rope analogy, don't just simply live for the hundred years here. Live for all of this. And what you do in this little period is going to affect all of this. Alright, action step number two. Something that's hard for some of us to do. Learn to wait on God like He truly, that you truly believe He knows what's best. For you. How many of you have heard the saying, the Father knows best? He does. Remember, he not only directs your steps, but he delights in your steps. And finally, this is so important in our social media world. Stop comparing your daily life to someone's highlight reel. In verses 1 and 2, we see David fretting because of the enemy. And he's like, Don't fret. He's telling the others, don't fret. I struggle with that, don't fret. Let me tell you about social media. Can I tell you some truth as a pastor? Most people do not put their most top 10 most disappointing moments of that day. They put their highlight reel, right? They put the picture that actually turns out well. But what you don't know is the kids were screaming before and after that picture. What you don't know is that photo may have been edited by AI. It may not be as good as it looks, right? So here's what you need to know. God is working in your life. Don't compare your life to others in a short-sided manner. But rest in the Lord and wait upon him. And whenever you delight in the Lord, he will what? Give you the desires of your heart. This is the delightful life when Jesus is your greatest delight.

SPEAKER_01 23:17

Thank you for listening to today's edition of Truth for Transformation with Dr. Timothy Brown. We're in a series called Summer in the Psalms. The Psalms is a very interesting book for many reasons. For one, it has many different authors. King David wrote many of the psalms, but also Asaf and the sons of Korah wrote some of them. Solomon wrote a couple of Psalms, and Moses even wrote one. Psalms is a collection of songs gathered together to use in Israel's public worship. It was the hymnal of the time, the original hymnal. There is so much inspiration to be found in this book. We're encouraged to praise God for who he is and what he's done for us. The psalms are an example of how we should thank God for our many blessings. Psalms also show us that we're given permission to bring our grief and pain to God. We get a glimpse into the hearts of God's people and their devotion to God. And when we sing our songs that find their inspiration from the Psalms, we follow in their footsteps. If there's something that has touched your heart from today's message, or if you have a question, please reach out to us. Join us in prayer as we strive to live out God's mission for us. You can find us on social media at Dr. Timothy Brown Ministries, where you can share your thoughts or just say hello. You can learn more about what we do at drtimothybrown.org. That's also where you can contribute financially to our ministry. Your giving fuels the mission. Thanks for joining us on Truth for Transformation.