God's Timeline

Introduction

HONOR/THANK Pastor Toby if he’s in the room

For obeying the vision that God gave you to start a school that would train and send out the next generation of pastors and missionaries to change the world for Christ!

Corn maze yesterday - Alyssa’s map on her phone

The direction of my life has sometimes looked more like a corn maze than a hiking trail.

Bible college - traveling ministry - volunteering/internship at church - China - part-time local church position - met Heather - moved to Seattle (disappointed) - NSC - RSM

If you look at my life history, a high school guidance counselor would be shaking their head.

Most of the time, I’ve sought to be led by the Spirit instead of taking the steps that I thought were best.

And it doesn’t make sense to a lot of people, and in the moment, His direction doesn’t always make sense to me, but when I look back at what God did when I trusted Him, it’s incredible what He has done.

I’m 37 now, and as I look back, I’ve seen God’s sovereign hand upon each step in my journey,

preparing me for each next step,

building my trust in Him,

shaping my character,

and equipping me for ministry.

He knew my future, and His way has been so much better than my way.

Serving Jesus with your life does not yield much in the way of certainty and security, but it’s so much better to live an adventure with the Lord than to choose my own path for my life.

If we don’t trust in God’s timing, we will make a mess of our lives when we take shortcuts to get what we want.

If we don’t trust in God’s timing, we get distracted from what He wants us to be doing with our lives RIGHT NOW.

If we don’t trust in God’s timing, we will miss out on many of the good things that He has planned for us.

The next 5 years for most of you will be filled with many decisions about what direction to take with your life.

What does God want me to do next?

Should I date this person?

Do I do Year 3?

Do I raise support and go to the mission field?

Do I take this ministry opportunity away from my family and friends, or not?

These decisions do have a significant impact on our lives, and it can be very stressful. And that stress can cause us to want to control the direction of our life

I’m here to tell you this morning that

CENTRAL THEME: God’s timeline for our lives is more extraordinary than any plan that we could ever dream up.

God’s timeline is best!

His plan and His timing are perfect, but we have our own plans, and our own perspective on when God should act. We need to trust God and let go of our own timeline for our lives.

Pastor Steve: “God is always two weeks late, and right on time!”

We think He’s taking too long in the moment, but looking back we can see that His timing was perfect.

It makes me think of when Jesus heard that His friend Lazarus had become deathly ill. Lazarus’ sisters sent word to Jesus, but He chose to wait two more days to leave to see Lazarus. When He arrived, Lazarus had died already.

Martha questioned why He was late, but also had a measure of trust in Him.

John 11:20–22 ESV

So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”

Mary also said the same thing

John 11:32 ESV

Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

Some of the friends who were at Lazarus’ house were also questioning Jesus’ timing.

John 11:37 ESV

But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”

And that’s how we feel sometimes. God, if you would have acted sooner, this wouldn’t have happened. God, why didn’t you do anything about this? Don’t you care?

But in reality, Jesus was about to do something that they never expected. He raised Lazarus from the dead! This was His plan all along, but they had NO IDEA. Jesus had something even MORE extraordinary in mind than healing Lazarus.

Jesus knew the big picture, but the people living through it thought that He must not be good if He’s not doing anything.

Have you ever felt that way?

God, you really dropped the ball there. I thought you had good plans for me! We question His plan right up until it becomes clear how perfect His plan was all along.

His plan is always better!

Isaiah 55:8–9 ESV

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

God’s timeline is even better than anything we could come up with. He has greater things in mind than we can anticipate, and we need to let go and trust Him.

I want to explore a passage about a time when Jesus had a more extraordinary plan for his 12 disciples than their plan and their timeline.

Acts 1:4–8 ESV

And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Disciples still wanted political salvation for their nation.

Jesus wanted to give them supernatural power to transform all nations.

They wanted certainty and predictability, and Jesus said to wait for the promise of the Father.

But they had to put their own hopes aside and wait for Him to act.

God’s timeline for our lives is more extraordinary than any plan that we could ever dream up.

3 Reasons Why God’s Timing is Better Than Ours:

God knows the perfect moment when we will be ready to receive the extraordinary gifts that He wants to give us.

Jesus wanted His disciples to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, but they had NO IDEA how good this gift would be and how it would empower them to transform the world.

Christmas lists

My kids are constantly asking for things that they want, so we keep a running list for birthdays and Christmas, because if we gave them every single toy they wanted, we would spoil them (and go broke).

Ava has been wanting her own phone for nearly 5 years! Guess what? She doesn’t need no stinkin phone at 9 years old!

But she has no concept of how to use a device in moderation.

She doesn’t understand how screen time affects her brain at this young age.

She doesn’t notice how screen time makes her want more and more and more screen time.

She doesn’t notice how it affects her mood.

She doesn’t have a healthy concern about the dangers of the internet.

It’s gonna be a while before she has her own phone...

Because I see the bigger picture of her development, I save certain gifts for certain times when I feel that she is ready for them.

And I think God does the same with us.

He knows the perfect moment to give us just the right gift.

Romans 8:28 ESV

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

God is working for our good, according to His purpose. We have to trust that He is a good Father to us.

That may not be what you want to do in the moment. It may not look like what you expect, but His goal is to work in your life for your good.

Do you trust Him to guide you to the next step in your life at just the right time?

Or are you trying to force them to happen right now, like a kid who sneaks downstairs and opens all their presents before Christmas?

Can you wait for the Holy Spirit to move, or are you going to rush God’s plan?

We only make a mess of our lives when we take a shortcut to God’s extraordinary gifts instead of trusting His timing.

Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, and Ishmael

Abraham and Sarah thought God needed their help in order to fulfill His promise, His plan.

Sometimes we become bitter at God for not acting according to our timeline, but we have no idea that God is actually blessing us by making us wait.

Joseph stayed in an Egyptian prison for a very long time. He was forced to stay in prison, but he chose to trust God’s plan even in prison.

And God had this perfect moment prepared for him to go from prisoner to second in command of the Egyptian empire in a moment.

Application

So when you feel like you’re ready for the next step, but nothing is changing, remind your soul to trust in God’s providence. Wait on Him.

And whether you don’t know what’s next, you have a plan in mind, or you are living out your plan, make extra sure that you are taking time to listen to the Holy Spirit.

God’s blessings to us come at just the right time and in just the way. And the reason He has perfect timing is that

God knows everything that we don’t know about the course of our lives.

STORY - Youth Min opportunity in Rochester

Because I said no:

I got connected at my church and volunteered like crazy.

I got to know Pastor Toby and some crazy people who were going to China to share the gospel, and I eventually joined them and led some young men to Jesus in China.

Because I had invested myself in the church, I was offered a part-time job at the church when I got back, which soon became full-time.

And through leading a young adult group at that church, I met my wife!

All because of one decision to trust that God knew my future, even when it seemed like an obvious next step in ministry.

I’m so thankful that I took the time to listen to the Spirit and obey Him.

Jesus knew what the future held for his disciples. He knew every step, but he only told them about the very next step.

They were to wait in Jerusalem to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus knew that step was critical to equip them for a lifetime of being His witnesses who take the good news across the world.

However, the disciples were not really interested in what Jesus was telling them about their next step. They wanted more.

They wanted to know about their own hopes for the future. The Jews had hoped that the Messiah would kick out the Romans and re-establish the Israelite kingdom.

They had given up on that when Jesus was crucified, but now, he had been resurrected, and they were getting excited about it again.

Jesus tells them “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.”

God doesn’t intend to tell us everything about our future or the future of humanity, but if we are listening to the Spirit, He will lead us to our next step.

He wants us take that next step, but to entrust Him with the rest of our future.

RMNP - Driving into the fog up the Old Trail Ridge Road.

Uncertainty about the future can create a desire to control the course of our life, because we really only trust ourselves.

The Lord is patiently asking us if we will surrender our fears about the future to Him and let Him lead us.

So if you find yourself doing this often, spend some time in prayer and ask God to show you the next step that He has for you.

And then trust Him as you drive into the fog.

Have you ever read the book of Esther?

Esther gets chosen to be the new queen of Persia in a beauty pageant. But soon after she becomes queen, one of the officers of the king creates a plan to kill all the Jews in Persia.

Esther’s cousin Mordecai who raised her comes to warn her and ask her to go before the king. But to enter the king’s presence without being invited was punishable by death.

Esther 4:13–16 ESV

Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.”

When she was young, Esther probably didn’t even have the faintest idea that she would become the queen of Persia.

And in this moment, Esther didn’t know whether she would be killed or save her people.

But God knew.

And looking back, we can see that God did in fact place her there for such a time as this. She was His plan to save the Jewish people.

God knows your future. He knows what will happen in the next 5 seconds, and He knows what your life will look like in 50 years.

You can trust Him to make the decisions about the direction of your life, because He knows everything that you don’t know about your future.

God knows what is best in light of eternity.

In light of eternity, it was far better that the disciples be baptized in the Holy Spirit than for Israel to have its own kingdom again.

It was far better for them to receive power to be witnesses for Jesus and see billions of people’s eternal destinies changed.

God is usually much better than us at directing our lives to make an impact on someone else’s eternity.

You see, God cares so deeply about saving people that he has put you in their lives to point them to Him, maybe even to guide them to salvation.

God wants everyone to come to faith in Him. And He acts in our world with that as His motive.

Sometimes I wonder about God’s timing when I think about why Christ hasn’t returned yet. It’s been two thousand years...what’s taking so long?

The early Christians actually expected Jesus to return very early on, and were wondering why He hadn’t returned yet too. Peter addresses this concern in one of his letters.

2 Peter 3:8–9 ESV

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

So the reason Christ hasn’t returned is that He doesn’t want anyone to die without Him, but for every single one to repent and be saved and spend eternity with Him.

And His heart for everyone to repent affects how He guides my life and your life as well.

Sometimes He might guide us into a situation that we don’t want to be in, because He wants to use us to share the gospel with someone, or at least demonstrate God’s love to them by our actions.

The direction of your life is not all about you.

The disciples were focused on themselves and their nation, but God had something bigger in mind.

He wanted to fill them with the Holy Spirit to equip them to bring the gospel to the whole world. And they did!

You and I and 3 billion other Christians would not be here today without that next step that Jesus had for them to take, but they didn’t realize that they needed it. They had other hopes for the future that they were distracted by.

And maybe your next step that God is calling you to take will transform someone else’s eternity.

Conclusion

As a Christian and for many of you as a future pastor or missionary, Jesus says “It is not for you to know” about the whole story of your life, but the Holy Spirit will give you your next step.

So the big question today is: how do we trust God’s timing even when it seems like He isn’t doing anything? How do we lean into his extraordinary plan that is more than we could have ever imagine?

It’s really simple and yet so profound… we have to know him.

I’m telling you today that He has been trustworthy as He has guided my life.

But you can’t develop trust in Him if you don’t know him intimately.

Application

If you don’t have any big decisions to make, spend as much time with Him as possible and be faithful in the place that He has you right now.

Be patient about your future, God is preparing it for you even when you feel like nothing is happening.

When you do have big decisions to make:

Don’t base your decision on money. God will provide for whatever He asks you to do.

Don’t base your decision on what your friends are doing.

Take time to listen for the voice of the Spirit to receive His guidance.

Take the next step that He has asked you to take instead of following what makes sense to you. Act on what He’s speaking to you, even if it’s a small step.

Trust Him with your future.

God has a “for such a time as this” moment waiting for you.

Trust in His timing!

Response

Outline from NSC

Intro

Introduce Ourselves

Cards/Bibles

Series recap

Story / Question

Why is this important?

If we don’t trust in God’s timing, we will make a mess of our lives when we try to take a shortcut to get what we want.

If we don’t trust in God’s timing, we get distracted from what He wants us to be doing with our lives RIGHT NOW.

Central Theme

God’s timeline for our lives is more extraordinary than any plan that we could ever dream up.

Pastor Steve: “God is always two weeks late, and right on time!”

John 11:37 But some said, “This man healed a blind man. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?”

Christ did not act when these people expected Him to. They thought that He must not be good if He did not act in time.

In reality, Christ was even better than they expected, because He came to raise Lazarus from the dead.

Sometimes we doubt that God is good when He doesn’t heal, but He is even better than we expect, because when He returns He will give every believer a resurrection body that will never get sick or die.

Isaiah 55:8-9?

Main text: Acts 1:4-8 NIV

3 Reasons Why God’s Timing is Better Than Ours:

God knows the perfect moment when we will be ready to receive the extraordinary gifts that He wants to give us.

Jesus wanted His disciples to be filled with the Holy Spirit

Giving children age appropriate gifts

Can you imagine if God gave you all of the blessings He will in your lifetime on the first day of salvation? What would you do with them? Would you be prepared to use them effectively?

Josh - Heather shaking presents

Daphne - opening all the presents before Christmas as a kid.

Just like snooping ruins gift giving at Christmas, God has good gifts for us, but He wants to bless us at the perfect moment.

Glory to glory

We only make a mess of ourselves r lives when we take a shortcut to God’s extraordinary gifts instead of trusting His timing.

Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, and Ishmael

Sometimes we become bitter at God for not acting according to our timeline, but we have no idea that God is actually blessing us by making us wait.

The life of Joseph

Application

Wait on God.

Listen to the Spirit.

God knows everything that we don’t know about the course of our lives.

God’s plan involves steps, we don't just leap to the end. It's those steps that prepare us for the end. REWORD SUBPOINT

When we surrender to God’s authority and timing we receive revelation from the Holy Spirit and our view of our circumstance is transformed. (1:7)

Authority- extraordinary, we have the almighty God of the universe directing our steps.

Esther 4:13-16

Application

Let go of your future plans and trust God

Take the next small step that God is calling you to do.

Take action when it’s clear that the time is right.

God knows what is best in light of eternity.

The disciples wanted to know when Israel would regain their former political power, but Jesus doesn’t give them anything except their next step to wait ten days for the Spirit so they are equipped to be His witnesses.

2 Peter 3:8-9 The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise…

God sees the big picture, while we are only focused on our part of the story.

We need to listen to Him and let go of control to begin to understand His timing.

Listening to the Holy Spirit keeps equips us to show people Jesus.

His plan for us is that we would show people Jesus

His plan is for us to share the gospel.

His plan is for us to set an example by living a holy life.

His plan is for us to love everyone that we encounter.

Conclusion

Review

Restatement

Application

Prayer

Transition to offering

Not In A Hurry (Will Reagan)