Message Recap: Delayed-Part 2

This weekend's question when we face a "delay": What am I supposed to do in the meantime?"

Psalm 25:1-9

• We must decide who is going to be "God" over our delay.
  
  
  
  • The first issue we must resolve is who we are going to trust (Psalm 25:1-2)
  
  
  • God gives us 2 incentives to trust Him (Psalm 25:3-4)
    
    
    
    • A promise to claim that those who wait on Him will not be disgraced
    
    
    • A warning to heed that short cutting God will prove costly
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Before we quit believing on God, we often quit waiting on God.
  
  
  
  


• Once we decide to trust God over our delay, we can seek to know Him better. Knowing Him is transforming.
  
  
  
  • God begins to work on our character, transforming us to Christ.
  
  
  • If all God wanted was a "happy ending", we'd all be in heaven now.
  
  
  • The process of waiting is the point of waiting.
    
    
    
    • What do we become while we wait.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• Character transformation leads to course/path determination.
  
  
  
  • God speaks to us through our character that can recognize Him, His ways, and His will.
  
  
  • We can walk down a path with clarity, confidence, and courage.
  
  
  
  


• 4 Paths that we see through trusting God and letting Him transform our character in a delay:
  
  
  
  • When in the meantime, you need to grow. (2 Chronicles 34:1-4)
    
    
    
    • Josiah chose to grow into his position as King.
    
    
    • Growth means maturing, developing convictions, making pre-decisions, forming a theology, and going to deep with God.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • When in the meantime, you need to stay. (Genesis 16:1-4)
    
    
    
    • Abram & Sarai should have "stayed" and not taken matters into their own hands.
    
    
    • Staying means enduring with patience, not quitting, not running, and not falling for the "grass is greener" syndrome.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • When in the meantime, you need to go. (Joshua 10:7-10)
    
    
    
    • Joshua marched all night to receive the God-promised victory.
    
    
    • Go means we fight, we take responsibility, we march in God's direction, we do all we can while trusting God to do what He can.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • When you've messed up in the meantime, do the right thing right now. (John 19:38-40)
    
    
    
    • Nicodemus had been wrong all his life.
    
    
    • But after Jesus' death, Nicodemus got it right while the disciples ran in fear. He did the right thing.
    
    
    • His act of courage gave us irrefutable evidence of the death and resurrection.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

Ultimately, what we do as we wait in trust on God is we give evidence like Nicodemus that the God we follow is alive!