Waiting for the Lord is Worth While - Psalm 25:1-15

Waiting for the Lord is Worth While

Passage: Psalm 25:1-15 ESV

Date: 01.05.25 (Sunday)

Time: 1st & 2nd Service

Location: IND Campus

INTRO:

Good Morning and Happy New Year to you all…

For those of you who do not know who I am… I have the honor and privilege of being the youth pastor here at the Grace IND. Campus… Thank you for joining us this morning…

I want to begin this morning by thanking the worship team for preparing our hearts to engage in and with God’s Word… What a joy it is to sing praises to our Lord and savior with you this morning…

I hope you brought a physical copy of your Bible with you this morning… because…

We will be spending the next 10 minutes or so in Psalm Chapter 25:1-15…

In light of reading God’s Word… for those who are willing and physically able, would you please stand as I read God’s Word…

Psalm 25:1–15 (ESV) says…

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

O my God, in you I trust;

let me not be put to shame;

let not my enemies exult over me.

Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame;

they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

Make me to know your ways, O Lord;

teach me your paths.

Lead me in your truth and teach me,

for you are the God of my salvation;

for you I wait all the day long.

Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love,

for they have been from of old.

Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions;

according to your steadfast love remember me,

for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!

Good and upright is the Lord;

therefore he instructs sinners in the way.

He leads the humble in what is right,

and teaches the humble his way.

All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,

for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.

For your name’s sake, O Lord,

pardon my guilt, for it is great.

Who is the man who fears the Lord?

Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.

His soul shall abide in well-being,

and his offspring shall inherit the land.

The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him,

and he makes known to them his covenant.

My eyes are ever toward the Lord,

for he will pluck my feet out of the net.

TRANSITION - PRAYER

Please pray with me… Lord… you deserve praise, honor, and glory… you are the one true God… Lord we thank you for allowing us to gather here this morning to sing praises to your name and to open your Word… Father, would open our eyes and hearts to properly hear and understand your Word… please guide us with your Spirit and enable us to be understand and be transformed by your Word this morning… thank you Lord for your Son Jesus… its in Jesus name that we pray these things… Amen…

YOU MAY BE SEATED…

As I said before, we are in Psalm 25:1-15…

But I want to draw our attention and focus to Psalm 25:4-5…

Psalm 25:4–5 (ESV)

Make me to KNOW your WAYS, O Lord;

TEACH me your PATHS.

LEAD me in your TRUTH and TEACH me,

for YOU are the GOD of my SALVATION;

for YOU I WAIT ALL the DAY LONG.

That word “WAIT” means = “To look forward to the occurence or arrival of”

In other words… Psalm 25:4-5 is saying… You are the God of my salvation… I look forward to when you arrive all the day long…

The older I get… the more I see and begin to understand that Waiting on the Lord is Worth While…

Why?

Because what I wait for reveals what I think has worth…

What I look forward exposes the expectations and desires of my heart…

POINT #1: What you WAIT for reveals what you think has WORTH

STORY - MEETING & MARRYING BROOKE

‌I can remember when I first met my wife - Brooke… …

We met when we were in middle school during Sunday school at Church…

At that time I was in 8th grade… weighing in at a whopping 75 pounds of pure muscle… and approximately 4 feet 8 inches tall… with the Justin Bieber Bowl Swoop Haircut…

And even though Brooke was and still is a couple inches taller than me… I was confident… and in my prime…

But I can remember seeing her and thinking I had never gazed upon someone who was so beautiful… for the first time in my life when I looked at Brooke… girls were no longer gross or weird…

And from the very first day that I met her I wanted to marry her… And I was willing to wait for her because she meant so much to me…

You see Brooke and I dated for 7 years before we got married on April 28th of 2019…

And I will never forget looking forward to… longing for… and seeking after the day we would get married because I loved her…

I love my wife for several reasons… but one reason why I love her so much is because she had seen and experienced me at my worst… She had seen the sin and ugliness that I desperately tried to hide from her and everyone else and she still loved me…

I love my wife because the love she displays to someone like me… points and reminds me of the love that Christ has for me…

And the longer we dated and spent time together the more I fell in with her, who she was, and all that she had done for someone like me…

So I waited, looked forward to, and longed for the day we would be married…

If you were to peal back the layers of my heart… the reason why I waited for Brooke was because I loved her…

Friends… you will wait for the Lord if you Love him…

You will wait for the Lord if you know and realize that he has seen your sin stained state and still says I love…

You will long for the Lord if you love him…

You will long and look forward to the day that Jesus Christ arrives if you love him…

You will be able to resinate with King David in Psalm 25:5 when he says…

“for you I wait all the day long”…

Question: As you look forward to another year… 2025 what is that you are waiting for… what is it that you are longing for? What is it that your heart has placed a value and worth on? What are you waiting for? Is it the Lord?

POINT #2: When we FAIL to remember what the Lord has done in the PAST… We will not WAIT for him to show up in the FUTURE…

I know that 2024 was not an easy or kind year to everyone…

I know that 2024 was not easy on our church family…

Personally, 2024 was a hard year for my wife and I…

1.) My grandfather passed away in September…

2.) And my wife and I experienced a miscarriage just a few days after my grandfathers death…

To say that 2024 was difficult or hard is an understatement… and if I am not careful… I can look at what happened in 2024 and easily forget and fail to remember just how good my God has been…

One thing that I love about Psalm 25 is the fact that it was written by King David… in a time of his life a grate distress and difficulty… in the midst of hardship…

In Psalm 17 David calls out to the Lord and asks that he would hide him in the shadow of the Lords wings… that he would be protected and delivered from his enemies…

David is experiencing a time of persecution… difficulty… and hardship… and in Psalm 25… we see David say… Lord… teach me… Lead me… you are the God of my salvation… and I will wait for you!

You see… David has not forgotten all that God has already done for him… and all that God has yet to do for him…

Friends… I want you to encourage and challenge you to look at this new year as an opportunity to wait for the Lord whom you love… especially in the midst of difficulty… and hurt… to look forward and wait on the Lord… because you know what he has already done for you… and you know that he promised that he would return…

I do not look back on the hardships of 2024 and say… man, is God really Good?

I look back and say… I already know my God is good… he has proven it to me already… for he has sent his Son Jesus to die for a sinner like me… and has promised to come back for me and all who proclaim his Son Jesus as Lord and savior…

‌THAT IS WHAT I AM WAITING ON… …THAT IS WHAT I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO… HOW ABOUT YOU?

Philippians 2:10–11 (ESV)

so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

TRANSITION TO COMMUNION

With this glorious truth in mind of what is to come…

When are going to take time to look back and remember what Christ has done for us through partaking in communion… at this time… I am going to ask the ushers to pass out communion…

If you believe through faith alone that Christ Jesus is your savior, we invite you to partake in communion with us this morning…

If Christ is not your Lord and Savior I would ask that you allow the elements to pass…

I am going to give us time to approach the Lord before I lead us in taking communion together…

Remembering what the LORD has done requires repetition… it has to be repeated…

And not just for a day, week, month, or year… it has to be for a lifetime…

Why?

When we fail to remember what the Lord has done in the past… we will not wait on and for him in the future…

Difficulties in 2024:

Death of my Grandpa

My wife and I experienced a miscarriage

Church wide difficulties:

Cancer

Loss of loved ones

And had our difficulties that we have had to try to work through

But these difficulties ought not hinder our anticipation of the Lord returning… rather… they should expedite and increase or longing and waiting for the return of the LORD!

Waiting for the Lord is Worth While…

My challenge to you this morning is to remember what the Lord has already done… and eagerly wait and long for when he returns…