Next week is BMS Sunday. We will be taking an offering for a hospital in Chad, Africa. Next week is Harvest, too. If you have any food to donate to RAFT please bring some or let us know.
Prayers for the People:
Father God, there are so many people to pray for during this time. So many needs, so many requests. This can seem so overwhelming for us as your church. Remind us that you can hear all the prayers we pray, you can see all the needs we see – and those we can’t, and that you are the great provider. Lord, as we face these uncertain times, may you use this time to grow us in our faith and understanding of you. May we rest assured Lord that you know exactly where we are in our lives at every moment. May you use this time to remind us of our mortality and of eternity. Life is short. Remind us that we should live our lives ready to meet you at our appointed time and while we fear the unknown, we have assurance of salvation. We praise you, Lord, for Your goodness, your mercy, and your patient love. We know the COVID-19 outbreak did not surprise you. We know you are sovereign, even over this. Let that truth give us comfort, and may you give us opportunities to share that comfort with others. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Message: What was that one thing?
I ended last week’s sermon by leaving my hearers with a question to consider: ‘what one thing, if you did that thing consistently well, would make a massive difference to your walk with God?’ I wonder how you answered that question…
In my own case the answer, in a general sense, would have to be…to TRUST IN THE LORD. More specifically (I reflected) the consistent exercise of patience in my life would not only greatly enhance my walk of faith but also my sense of well-being. It would certainly make my wife’s life more bearable! Trusting in God and living securely… day-by-day… whatever my personal circumstances or those of them that I love…trusting in His promises…resting, if you like, in the truth that the God (known to us in Jesus Christ) knows all things…is in control of all things…and does all things well…
The more you trust God the more you love Him; the more you love God the more you will obey Him; the more you obey Him the more like Him you become.
Surely that has to be my one thing, my prayer…that God would grant me a deeper faith and a more patient spirit so I can endure (without ruining my central nervous system!) the (heightened) uncertainty of these long days of waiting and, doing what I can do, leave the rest to God and know, in the words of the old hymn, that Blessed Assurance…
Such is the way of the world. Tomorrow is just not soon enough. We would imagine, then, that by knowing that the Lord is king over his creation, patience and waiting would come easily. Unfortunately, however, that’s not always the case. Our human nature can make waiting for God’s perfect timing a difficult thing to do. In fact, in the normal frenzy of our lives, we find it difficult to wait for anything or anyone. We want what we want now. And with new technology, we’re often able to get what we want now. As a result, we are losing our patience and any sense of God’s timing.
My impatience will just make me and everybody around me miserable, but it won’t rush God. He works according to His own plan and timetable: “In due season we shall reap” (Gal 6:9). “Due season” is God’s season, not mine or yours. We’re in a hurry, He isn’t…
Let me ask you another question. What does the Lord God have in common with a good comedian? His timing is perfect. He is never early or late…
Psalm 18: 30 – as for God, his way is perfect; Galatians 4:4 - But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman…
No event in history (including this pandemic) has put so much as a dent in the timing of God’s eternal plan, which He designed before the world began. From before our birth until the moment we take our last earthly breath, our sovereign God is accomplishing His divine purposes in our lifetimes.
Great comfort is found in knowing that, when (while) we wait on the LORD, we receive strength for the journey: “But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” The psalmist reiterates: “Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the LORD!” (Psalm 27:4)
“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.” (Ps 37: 7)
Patience and trust are correlated. The key (the secret) to understanding God’s timing is trust…our ability to wait on the Lord is largely related to how much we trust Him. When we trust in God with all of our heart, not relying on our own, often faulty understanding of circumstances, He will give us direction (Prov 3: 5-6). “The LORD’s unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts Him” (Psalm 32:10).
To fully trust IN God, however, we need to know God and go to God. And the best way to know Him and to find out what he would have us do… is to “sit at his feet” and listen to His Word. Like all who ever had to walk with God we discover him progressively, step-by-step…and the one thing that is necessary is to believe. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one-and-only Son that whoever believes (trusts) in Him shall not perish…but have eternal life!” (John 3: 16)
We learn that God is many things, not least of which He is incredibly patient. How patient he is and gracious to us…with us! That’s such a great challenge because it means that I have to exercise patience with others, just as the Lord has put up (o so patiently!) with me. My mother used to say to me, “Patience is a virtue” – as if by simply knowing that I would become instantly the paragon of patience! Like all of the fruits of the Spirit, patience has to grow.
A girl suffering from severe physical disabilities went to an amusement park which did not cater for her needs…staff ignored her totally and spoke to her able bodied sister instead. The girl was interviewed and spoke articulately through her voice-box about how frustrated and humiliated she felt…all she asked was that people would treat her as they themselves would wish to be treated. I heard the very words of Jesus Himself!
“God is not the God of the quick fix. Neither is he the LORD of the instant. He takes his time growing an oak from an acorn and allows a long winter of isolation to prepare the earth for the warmth of spring. But it is precisely the promise of spring that makes a winter of waiting all the more palatable. Why does God make us wait? Maybe because we’ll only really appreciate how solid the rock is when we have had to go through the mud and the mire…”
Jesus said, “By your endurance you will gain your lives.” (Luke 21: 19) “I waited patiently for the LORD to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry.” (Psalm 40:1)
Be patient…in the face of suffering…until the Lord’s coming – it will be worth the wait!
Prayer: A Prayer that anyone can pray by Thomas Merton. From Thoughts in Solitude  (1958)
“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.” Amen