Sermon Tone Analysis

Psalms 27: 14 “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!”

“I’m waiting…”

If I had a title for this message, it would be, “I’m waiting…”

A little background about me.

For those of you that don’t know me, I’m Diana, and I am part of a blended family of 5 (8 if you include the animals).

My husband Eric and I just celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary, and we have 3 girls- Ryah, 14 and Kara, 9 are from my first marriage and Eric and I welcomed our daughter Evelyn in August of 2020.

And if there weren’t enough girls in the house we have a female cat, Gizmo.

I did promise Eric a male dog, which we adopted in September of last year, Finn a Great Pyrenees mix, but then a few months later we decided we didn’t like relaxing or sitting down so we adopted another puppy a female (And in my defense Eric picked her out) Pitbull Terrier named Nala.

So, if you weren’t keeping count that’s 6 females to 2 males.

So, you can imagine the phrase, “I’m waiting…” is used on a daily basis in my house.

Something else you may not know about me is that I am not a patient person- waiting is not my strong suite.

As Pastor Joel has shared before, Westbrook Park has applied to be a host church for the 2023 Night to Shine Event through the Tim Tebow Foundation.

I can’t thank the people of this congregation enough for your outpouring of prayers and support.

We waited patiently for a month to hear back regarding our referral and now are waiting again to hear back regarding our official application to host.

So, those prayers coming, God is working and will let us know if it is His plan for us to host this event in His time.

In the 21st century we have been conditioned to receive immediate responses.

We live in a chaotic world where people, and answers are at our fingertips 24/7.

We can google any question and receive a host of information - even more than we were looking for in the first place sometimes in a moments time.

And if that isn’t convenient enough for you, most can simply ask Siri – if you’re not familiar with her she is a voice activated intelligent assistant on Apple devices.

If you are one of those Android users- I don’t even know how to talk to you- just kidding the Android version is called Google Assistant.

Anyways, with Siri you can easily make calls, and even form, and send text messages or search the internet for information among many other things.

Gone are the days of encyclopedias and Library research- no one has time for that we want information, and we want it 10 minutes ago.

My middle daughter Kara is a prime example of this.

If I have the audacity to go somewhere without her, within 5 minutes of leaving the house she will begin repeatedly call me until I answer- and if after calling a dozen or so times she doesn’t get a response the text messages will begin.

Just the other week she was with her dad – she had been gone less than 2 hours and I receive a call from her just to talk because we hadn’t talked in “forever.”

She will call her friends and if they don’t answer her call she will leave a message and then immediately call back.

If she doesn’t get a response after 10 or so calls she gets upset thinking that her friend doesn’t like her anymore.

The concept of calling someone and leaving a message and waiting for someone to call you back is a foreign concept.

This Gen Z generation was born into a fast-paced internet driven world.

Waiting is not only a foreign but non-existent concept for many of them.

But lets be honest, we all have been conditioned over the years to not only want but to expect instant answers and connection.

It is hard for us in this day and age to accept that God knows everything across all time – but when we pray to Him He does not always provide us an answer instantaneously.

Sometimes, even though God knows the answer, He also knows that we are not in a place to hear it.

So we are asked to wait.

One of the hardest things to do is wait on His answer in His time.

In your time of waiting for Gods answer, you can grow impatient, or you can grow in your relationship with Him.

Today, I want to focus on five things to do in your wait to help you find reconciliation instead of restlessness.

Be still and embrace the quiet

First in your wait- be still and embrace the quiet

In my house there is not much stillness or quiet.

I have seen so many posts of parents that escape to the bathroom and close the door to just get a couple minutes of calm only to hear a knock on the door moments later and a child asking what is going on in there.

Although, when I do finally get the quiet house, I’ve been dreaming of I get this sudden sense of panic- what are the kids or dogs doing in all of this silence- because as parents we all know the danger of a quiet still house.

I can also that appreciate that some houses are nothing but stillness and quiet and you’re thinking I can’t take anymore.

This past week Eric and I took a mini vacation down to Louisville, KY. Tuesday evening, we went to dinner at a restaurant downtown.

As we were walking out of the restaurant onto the crowded downtown sidewalk, I almost bumped into a man walking by.

He apologized for being in my way and I simply looked him in the eyes and said, “you’re fine.”

As I began to walk away the man called after me, he yelled, “mam, mam.”

Eric and I both turned around and he said he wanted to thank me for being so kind as to acknowledge his presence.

He began to tell Eric and I that he was homeless and every day, sitting in downtown Louisville he was passed by hundreds of people, but no one would talk to him or even look at him as a person.

With tears beginning to fill in his eyes he thanked us for taking the time to talk with him and treat him like a human being – I will never forget he said, “a person can only take being treated as garbage for so long.”

You see that man has nothing but quiet around him, but I pray that he knows that he is knows he is not alone.

God is with him and will not only talk to him anytime but loves him.

The quiet can become a beautiful place when the creator of the universe is there with you.

“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him…” Psalm 37:7

Today we are so used to the sound of unending noise that the presence of involuntary silence can at times make us very uncomfortable.

I think everyone can relate being in a social setting where there is uncomfortable quiet, and you begin to rack your brain for any piece of small talk to break the silence.

But Psalm 37: 7 tells us, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him…”

Every morning I set my alarm early so I can have some quiet time to be still with God.

Some days I lose myself in my conversation with God- it just flows effortlessly, and I relish in my silent meditation time with Him.

Other days, I find myself rattling off a list of concerns, requests, and complains without waiting to see if God has anything to say in return.

Instead of sitting in the quiet and stillness I allow my mind to wonder and become preoccupied by the daunting to-do list for the day.

God asks us for our time and attention.

In today’s hectic culture time is at a premium.

While the stillness and quiet can be uncomfortable and feel impossible in the beginning, it is necessary to truly connect to God.

Jesus set this example for us.

Mark chapter 1 verse 15 tells us, “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.”

During his time of Earth, Jesus would frequently go to a quite placed to pray to his Father.

-So first, in your wait- be still and embrace the quiet-

Give control to God

Second, in your wait- give control to God

Did you know that there is a national tug-of-war championship?

When I was a kid, this game was simple - put some kids on the end of a long rope with space in the middle and pull until one side was yanked over the midline.

Apparently, Tug-of-War can be a much more strategic game than that.

According to USA Tug-of-War Association handbook (yes that’s a real thing you can ask Siri about it later)- each team consists of 8 pulling members and 1 coach to direct the pullers and 1 trainer that can take care of the team before and after the pulls.

During the game, the coach will direct their team on the best time to “pull’ and when to “hang”.

The coach does this by watching the opposing team and knowing when they are going to pull.

At this time, he will direct his team to hang.

When asked to hang the team members stand in place, drop their center of gravity, plant their feet firmly into the ground, and use their body weight as an anchor to themselves allowing for little movement.

This strategy is used to wear down the opposing team causing resistance against their pulls.

On the other hand, the coach also lets his team know when it is time to pull.

This is the time when the team digs in their feet and power walks backward without submission until they either win or are told to hang.

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

Psalms 32:8

Psalms 32: 8 tells us, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.”

In our life of Tug-of-War, we are the team members with the rope in our hand trying to navigate when to pull and when to hang.

God is our coach, and when we give control to Him, and wait for him to tell us when to pull and when to hang the game of life goes much smoother.

Oh, and let’s not forget about our trainer, Jesus, who is there to take care of us when we don’t listen to our coach God and get hurt (or sin) along the way.

-So, in your wait- give control to God-

Let go of negative thoughts

In your wait- let go of negative thoughts

I tend to be a glass-half-empty kind of person.

Over the years I have come to realize this is not just because I was raised by a police officer and taught to look at things very critically.

But I use it as a defense mechanism, if I believe the worst is going to happen and it does I that’s what I was prepared for.

If the best happens then that’s way better than what I thought.

Win-win right?

After my first marriage ended, I was in a very dark place, with very little faith a happily ever after.

I told my friends I would never get married again.

I made this unreasonable “list” of expectations for a potential future spouse, which before we even started dating Eric told me was unrealistic and that man did not exist.

In my time with God, He worked on my heart and in time, I was able to let go of my negative views of marriage and open my mind to the possibility of being happy again.

When people ask how Eric and I met, it always surprises them to know we have known each other our entire lives- we actually met the nursery of this very church the Sunday after I was born.