Listen, he's my name is gray. I get to hang out over at the Hunt Club with with a Byron Malone and dear friend and been a blessing to be over there with him. So this morning what I want to do before we get in I need to read the crowd and all of our campuses. I need you guys to participate to you know, I know I can't see you but you can see me and so an easy participation because I need to know what kind of people I'm working with this morning. Okay.
Now you got to listen very carefully, but for the question because the words matter each word matters and I need you to raise your hands. Okay. So how many of you from? From Thanksgiving day until today already have your Christmas tree up. Okay, good number of you.
All right. All right. Good deal. That doesn't mean anything. I'm not judging you some of your like maybe and then what about what about did anybody have their Christmas tree up before Thanksgiving?
Yeah, you guys are proud. All right. What about what about this? Does anybody not have your Christmas tree up? Yeah, sorry.
That's why you came to the 11 o'clock service. That's that's kind of your vibe in life when I get there. All right, here's the trick trick question. Not even trick question. Here's just I just want to know how many of you had your Christmas tree up prior to Halloween or by Halloween anybody be willing to admit that got a few down here on the front?
I know it's a hunt club we have I was trick or treating with them. We can't even we can't even enjoy the holiday. I'm being facetious Ed and they're talking to you. I got my Christmas tree up like it's Halloween, but I don't know what that means. So let me ask you this.
How many of you how many of you are in your you've started watching the whole apartment movies? Yes. All right, all the man you're lying because here's I get it. That's your heart. I don't know watching that.
This is what happens you walk in and your life is watching it and you go you see the little Hallmark sign you oh my gosh, and and then and then you you pause too long and you kind of walk back and he walked back and forth and then before long you kind of sit down and you already know the plot. We've been watching it for four decades, right? You know the plot somebody's broken hearted. There's just other guy that's got all this money and and in the end, you know, they find the dog they get married, you know, and and they feed the hungry all at the same event. I mean, it's it's every every plot and so I don't know if you need to know this lady in pedal.
It's a gas station. I was having a conversation with her about homework movies. It's kind of what I do and she told me she said I don't know if you know this and there's like, I'm pretty sure I don't but Every Friday they release New Hallmark movies. So men, there's your date night right there built-in you can thank me later. And you know same plot Nothing's Gonna Change but the characters, you know, but but it's it's new.
So, well, listen we are in we're in a new series called the weary and the waiting and I don't know about you but waiting is not typically something that I get excited about. Okay, I don't jump in line the way the idea of waiting for anything even fast food, you know, it kind of gets at me a little bit and and in my brain, I categorize waiting and into two different categories. Okay. The first one is kind of the good waiting if there is such a thing and and I would call it the the waiting with great anticipation. Or great expectations.
So this is this is Christmas like this is waiting for Christmas day to open your gifts. In fact the early church. They they called the time between now Thanksgiving and Christmas Day Advent, which means that we're we're waiting for something or someone to come or to arrive. And and so there's this Christmas is a a waiting season you're waiting to open the gifts, or maybe you're like me. I like to when I when I, you know every now and then you hit home run with a gift and he just can't wait for them to open it and and so I struggle in that waiting, but I can remember and if you're 35 and younger, you probably won't have a clue what I'm talking about, but I can remember as a kid.
When the JCPenney catalog came anybody remember that? Yes, man, those glossy pages. I mean I can still smell it. We are just like smell stuff it's weird. But I mean it reminds me of Christmas is usually into October first, November and then Sears.
Yes Sears doesn't even exist anymore right in these big old fit. I know Amazon sends out like this little bitty catalog Amazon doesn't know. All right, the Sears catalog and the JCPenney catalog many come out. I mean you could you could shop you could buy your drawers. You can buy toys and you can buy tools all in one magazine man.
It was it was incredible and we would go through and circle what we wanted and you know, and then we would wait to see it was it was it was waiting with great anticipation, you know, another example of waiting with great anticipation and expectation is is when you're having a child waiting for a child to be born right now if you if you've done the math on this, but if you're keeping up with it, but three out of our five campuses campus pastors and wives have have little ones this semester, isn't that crazy? I don't know where Craig is but but Craig one of us is on the hook, I think but three out of five but you if you you know, you wait nine months and you're anticipating like man, I can't wait to hold my child. What about this students? Now I know is I'm frustrated that this is how it happens. But I've given up trying I know that you don't have face-to-face conversations with people.
It just it wigs you out to see somebody in the flesh. So you get your phone out and and you text so maybe you're texting, you know, potential potential date and you know, you send that text and you wait and what happens If they get it, they open it up three little dots the Ellipsis comes up and it just stays you know, what's he gonna say? Well, she gonna say the worst is when they they get side tracked they leave their phone open and the dots just stay there. It is just like oh my gosh. She's like having to talk about it.
Like she's getting advice. This is terrible, you know, your brain goes to the terrible places, but you're waiting to receive that or it personally in my life. And this is this is the fact if you ever wondered this God has a sense of humor because when I was approached about teaching this message about about two months ago or about six weeks ago, I was in about months five my wife and I am building a house. Talk about waiting. And anticipation and maybe a little frustration but you're not golly.
When is this thing ever gonna go because it moves really fast like, oh man, I could live here and then it gets really slow and then it moves really fast. Then you start man. I can just do that. We can go ahead and move in. I can install the toilet, you know, you start making deals in your brain and trying to get in quicker, but it's it's waiting with great anticipation, but then Then there's another side of waiting.
And I would say it's waiting with great. Frustration there are thousands of people. Right now in the state of Mississippi thousands of people That are waiting. Frustrated for next year's Egg Bowl you thought I was gonna say something serious. They're Ole Miss fans are just like now.
You gotta wait a whole year. I got to listen to them and and I'm a State fan he'll stated and when I woke up Friday morning feeling so good. Just just pep in my step. But seriously, there's this waiting in our life that is that is full of frustration. And I think about healing.
You know God I need you to heal my body. I need you to heal my mom and you should heal my sister. I need you to I need to bring my hand God. I know you're a miracle worker and we quote the songs that we sing, but it feels like it's just hitting the ceiling. Remember maybe for you.
It's a relationship that you want to be restored and you're trying and you're doing your end of it, but it feels like God isn't doing anything with the other person and so you feel frustrated in your waiting. You want it to be right, or maybe it's something like a job you're in a job right now and it is it is sucking the life out of you. And you're hoping and praying or a financial situation you're hoping and praying and waiting for God to do something or maybe the other side of expecting a child is that you're in a situation? And you and your spouse and you're trying to have a child. And for whatever reason it's not happening.
And you're waiting and you're broken hearted and it feels like it feels like either God is silent. God is absent or this is the worst for me when I think about this and being in that waiting and frustrating stage is that God isn't different and what I mean by that is that God actually does see you he actually does hear you. He just doesn't care. So we wait frustrated. You know, the reality is most of us most of us understand that waiting is a part of life.
We don't enjoy it. You know, it it falls in that column of Life of doing the dishes, you know, washing clothes finding matching Tupperware lives, like if falls into that category stuff that we know is just a reality. We don't enjoy it but we've given up fighting it because we know that we just got to push through it. And we get that but the thing that throws people for a loop the thing that messes people up is that waiting is also a part of our spiritual life. In fact, it is a tool that God uses to mature us and man that that just rubs us the wrong way.
Like why would God use waiting? Why would God do that? And it messes us up with the reality is is that God uses waiting? In your life to mature you much in the same way that he uses pain. And so this morning as we start this series the thing I want to do, I want to go to Luke chapter one and look at a couple their names is Zechariah and Elizabeth and their story and it is a story of waiting and they waited well and they were so faithful and they were in a situation in a situation of waiting that you and I on this side of the resurrection and at this time and place in history that we can not fully understand the frustrating spirit that they might have had during that time and even though they were frustrated they still remained well in this is this is the story before the Christmas story.
All right Luke chapter one. This is before we get to to Mary and Joseph and the Shepherds and the mangers and the wise men this is in the Angels just before all of that. But it is a story that sets us up. For the waiting if you have your Bible has turned to Luke chapter 1. And I'm gonna read a little bit.
I'm going to tell you that but I'll stop and kind of unpack and give you some some context because in this story particularly the context it just really opens up the story and makes it come alive. Luke chapter 1 verse 5. In the time of Harry King of Judea. There was a priest named Zechariah. Who belonged to the Priestly division of a bija his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron.
So let's hit pause what Lucas telling us is that these people they were a part of a Priestly family that their their dads have been priests and the granddads have been priest and and the Great granddads have been priest. And in fact, it's a group of people that the Old Testament calls The Remnant Pastor Jeff talked about it last week that there was always a remnant of people all through the Old Testament that never walked out on God that always believed God's promises and and the fact that these guys are praise lets us know that they are a part of that Remnant that when all the other Israelites had checked out. They're like God, I believe you I believe you I believe you I trust you. Keep reading Both of them were righteous in the sight of God observing all of the Lord's commands and decrees blamelessly. This is what this means.
I don't know. This will ever be said about me that I observe all the Lord's commands blamelessly and I'm righteous and and obedient and maybe it'll be said about you but but not me and but here's what here's what Lucas telling us. He's not telling us that they were perfect. There's Jesus was the only perfect one. What he's telling us is is that if You observe Zechariah and Elizabeth from the distance, if you just kind of, you know, we're looking in the window.
That's a little creepy. But if you were watching them from a distance that you wouldn't know you could tell that they loved yahwe that they followed God. That would make that you go man the way they love people the way they care for people the way they live their lives the way they interact with each other. There's something different about them. The thing that that sustains them is different than what's sustains other people.
The thing that gives them hope is different than what where other people find their hope. There's something different. They believe God they take God at his word. That's what Luke means when he says that they are blameless, but here's what's crazy. They're living this way based off a promise that is 2,000 years old now, not 2,000 years from us, but 2,000 years from them if you jump over to Genesis or jump back to Genesis chapter 12.
There's this promise that God makes to a guy named Abraham and this is the foundation of all of their hope all of their obedience all of their faithfulness. Listen to this Genesis chapter 12 verse 2. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you. I will make your name great. That's true.
Most people know the name of Abraham. They may not know exactly what he did, but they know he's in the Bible maybe even though the song I will make you your name great and you will be a blessing and I will bless those who bless you. And whoever curses you, I will curse if that makes you feel a little weird. God said hey, I got your back. I'm gonna take care of you.
I'm gonna take care of your people and then he makes this statement and this is the promise all the people's on Earth will be blessed through you. That's what Zechariah and Elizabeth. That's what the remnant have been hanging on to. So, here's a little Old Testament history for you. Abraham has a son named Isaac Isaac has a son named Jacob.
Jacob has a bunch of songs. One of them. His name is Joseph Joseph ends up taking his family into Egypt. Ultimately. They end up multiplying his family.
The nation of Israel is is birth while they are in slavery Pharaoh enslaves them. God comes along to a man named Moses and talks to him and burning bush. He says God Moses. I'm gonna use you to rescue my people. He takes the Israelites out of Egypt.
He rescues him. The Israelites want a king. They don't want God to be the king. They want to King like everybody else. And so God gives him King Soul King.
Saul didn't really pan out he end up being a little crazy. But then there's King David and if there was ever a time and Israel's history for for that blessing to come true for to be a blessing to all people to All Nations. It would have been when King David was king of Israel because they mean everything was up into the right for them. Everything was they had the wealth. They had the influence.
They had the power. They had to land everything. They were dominant. It was a peaceful time, but in that time nothing happened. And so people would fall away and they wouldn't believe anymore and then King Solomon came along and they were even wealthier during the reign of King Solomon David's son.
And the same thing there was ever a time for God to deliver on his promise. They they've been waiting on it would have been doing the rain of King Solomon because again, everything is going well. Influence power King Solomon does and from the time of King Solomon to the time of Zechariah the nation of Israel. Changes hands 25 times The Babylonians the syrians the nation ends up splitting there's a northern kingdom and the southern Kingdom and for most Israelites through that time all hope was lost. Like how could we ever how could God ever fulfill such a promise when we got terrible kings and we're divided nation.
And then it's 63 BC when Zechariah was a little boy watching his dad do his Priestly duties. Rome takes the city. Pompeii the Great Roman general marches into the temple marches into the holy of holies where one priest the high priest is allowed one time a year. Looks around touches everything desecrates it and walks out and nothing happens to him. God does.
Nothing I mean come on God if there was ever a time for you to show up and show out and make a scene let everybody knows who's God it would be when this Roman general walks in and desecrates the place that we believe you dwell. And Zechariah would have been a boy then. He probably would have seen his dad come home weeping. Wandering if he should give up. Hope like so many others have that's the Zechariah and Elizabeth.
That's what they're they're history and look what God or look what Luke continues to tell us. In his word in God's word in verse 7. But they were childless. Because Elizabeth was not able to conceive and they were both very old. They had been faithful they had believed when others had walked away.
In scriptures tell us that that God had seemingly abandoned them. They were childless and that in the first century if you were childless, it was always the woman's fault. In fact later on she talks about when they give birth spoiler alert. That God removed her shame. We can't feel the full way of what they feel then and they'd been so faithful to God and God has seemingly.
Forgot about them. The Story Goes On zechariah's chosen to to go into the temple to offer incense. This is kind of like a once in a lifetime opportunity for a priest while he's in there an angel appears to him and that's where we're going to pick up in verse 11 then an angel Lord appeared to him standing at the right side of the altar of incense when Zechariah saw him he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him do not be afraid Zechariah. You're prayer has been heard now.
If you've got your Bibles open, are you got your phone open? You just circle that you need to highlight that. 'Cause that is speaking to the character of God that when you feel like your prayers are hitting the ceiling when you feel like God is absent when you feel like God is in different. You need to know that he hears you this is the character of God in in the book of Exodus when he comes to Moses when God comes to Moses. He says I hear the cries of my people God hears you if you lose sight of that.
Then it's a slippery slope from there. And so he says your prayers have been heard your wife Elizabeth will bear son and you were to call him John. So now this prayer has been answered. They're going to conceive they're going to have a child, but then there's more to this he will be a joy and Delight to you and many we will rejoice because this birth well, he will be great in the side of the Lord. He is never to take wine or fermented a drink and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born born.
He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. So he's saying hey, he's gonna usher in the Messiah the thing you've been waiting on the promise. It's gonna bless all people. It's going to be through Jesus and John is going to be the one that says to stage. And he will go on before the Lord and the spirit and the power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
I says I see you. I see your faithfulness. And look at that Zechariah says Zechariah. Ask the angel. How can I be sure of this?
I'm like come on, dude. Like this is the angel that when you showed up you were startled and his first words to you were chill out. Like don't be afraid like I think whatever he's got going on. He's got it figured out but but he says he says, how could I be sure of this and then listen listen to his reasoning that men listen lean in right now. This is what Zechariah says I am an old man.
That's fair. And my wife he doesn't call her old. What's he say? I'm alive. She's well alone in years.
Yeah, so I love that he's gonna argue he's gonna he's gonna cross the the angel of God Gabriel but he's not gonna cross his wife now. I'm old man why I mean she's got a little more experience in life, you know, she's well alone in years you take note of that the angel said him. I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God and I have been sent to speak to you and tell you this good news and you will be silent and not be able to speak and today this happens because you did not believe my words which will come true and this is where we're gonna settle in. At their appointed time if I'm Zechariah, I'm going hey the time out.
Appointed Like you mean, this is all been planned. You mean God didn't fall asleep at the wheel. You mean God wasn't absent you mean God didn't check out you mean God isn't indifferent. And Angel will be like, yeah. The Apostle Paul in Galatians chapter 4.
He says this about this time in history. He says when the time had fully come when the set time had fully come God sent his son born of a woman. Like it matters like God has a plan Even in our waiting these people had waited their entire lives Generations before them have waited. And God is saying Hey, listen, I am I'm faithful at the right time at the set time. In fact, this is really cool at this particular time in history.
This is why the Gospel spread so quickly because right now they're never been another time like it was when Jesus showed up and the first century Church launched because there was peace because of the Roman Empire 200 years of Peace, not only that because of the Romans there were roads everywhere. They're never been that kind of access to to parts of the world. The parts of that region and there was a Common Language. It was Greek. And so it was it God acted in history for the Gospel to spread and what I'm telling you is is that is that God is working and even when he seems silent and when he seems absent the key word, they're seems and when he seems indifferent he is never idle.
He is always working even and especially in your waiting. He's working in your life. And in your waiting and if we can begin to wrap our brains around that that changes how we wait. Maybe we look maybe we drop the weary in the waiting. And we're just waiting.
So if that's true. If God's not silent absent or indifferent. If he's never odd on if he's working in our waiting. What does that mean for us? It means three things.
First things you can pray You know, I've been doing that and and we're at church. I mean what I expect you to say pray, you're gonna tell me read my Bible next, you know. And you should but that's not what I'm going to tell you next. You can pray and you can ask God, what are you doing? In this season of waiting.
What can you do in me? What are you trying to teach me? What do I need to learn? And so we wait. James a half brother of Jesus He says this he says consider it pure joy my brothers and after that you would expect like consider if you're Joy when you win the lottery when you get a new car when you get that Christmas gift when you get the Lexus with the bow on it.
I've never gotten one of those. He says nice to considered pure joy my brothers when You Face Trials of many kinds. Because you know the testing of your faith produces perseverance and then he makes this statement is so key. He says let it's a choice let you let let perseverance finish his work so they can make you complete and mature lacking nothing. See the worst thing that could happen to you is not that you end up in a season of waiting.
The worst thing that can happen to you is that you end up in a season of waiting and you waste it. Because you're more focused on on the outcome. See the waiting is about who you're becoming not the outcome is not about the outcome. It's about what God is doing in you who you are becoming here's what typically happens when you're in a season of waiting. We do one of three things one.
We either walk out on guys like I'm done. I'm tired of waiting. I'll give up like all those Israelites and in the the thousands of years before they just gave up waiting on God. Thought he lied to him or we walk ahead of God. This is me.
Like all God. Let me help you out man. I got this. Look, I'm gonna work this situation. I'm gonna work this angle.
We're gonna figure this thing out. And I may end up making a mess. Or we walk with God. And we go I go. What are you trying to teach me?
What do I need to learn? I don't want to waste the waiting. The second thing we do is we can trust. We can trust that God is good. God is is for you you realize that there's nothing more God can do to show his love for you.
He has given his full measure of love for you. He is for you. He is not against you his will is not set against you God is powerful. We can trust that he can do anything. Nothing is impossible.
Nothing is too hard. No situation is out of his control. Nothing catches him off guard and this is really important because if God is not both of these we're in a pickle if God is good has good intentions, but is not powerful. He can't make things happen. Then he's just a God with good intentions, man.
I got all kinds of good intentions. But if God is powerful and he's not good then he can be a tyrant. He can do all kinds of stuff. But either he doesn't care or he's against us, but our God is good. And our God is powerful and he's faithful.
If anything a promise from God is as good as done and listen listen. Christmas should scream of God's faithfulness When you see the lights and the trees and all I mean all the secular stuff all others it when you see any of it. It should scream of God's faithfulness. How about this my we build a house this past semester. We just moved in this past week and As we were pulling up to unload my my son and my brother-in-law it snuck off and bought the biggest gaudius inflatable Christmas decoration.
And put it on our front porch not my wife's style and it is a nine and a half foot Yeti. And and it says is it Christmas Yeti and you get it? It's cute. Even that stuff should scream faithfulness of God to us all of it. As you move through this season God is good.
God is powerful. And he is faithful we can trust that. The third thing we can do is we can give. Thanks. You know, if you're in a season of waiting, there's something that's true about you is that there's something you need or there's something that you want now, I'm not even saying like you want a Lamborghini.
It could be a legitimate want. A legitimate need and so there's something that you want. There's something that you need and the concern there is that we get so focused on what we don't have that we forget about what God has already done. And so as we give thanks, it reminds us and it reorients us to the goodness of God to the power of God into the faithfulness of God. Like this is not something that we do because there's Thanksgiving.
This is a lifestyle a lot like we talk about generosity. We live a lifestyle of Thanksgiving because we know that it reminds us that God is good that God is faithful that God is powerful. There's nothing that's impossible for God. Because here's the deal if we don't give thanks and we get so focused on on the outcome and we lose sight of what God has done and we're only focus on what what he hasn't done or what we don't have. We let our circumstances.
In our feelings about those circumstances and feelings aren't bad. They're real God gave them to you, but they're they're not fact. Their feelings We we let those circumstances in those feelings. Cause us to doubt the character and the faithfulness of God so we have to give thanks the Apostle Paul in first Thessalonians 5:18. He says give thanks and everything you sure he says it's getting Ephesians 5.
This is even funnier. He's he's sitting in prison writing this one and he says in all things get things. I would possible the Apostle Paul say that because he knows that as we give thanks. He reorients our minds and our hearts. Reminds us that God is a good.
Powerful and faithful God So this morning? What do you need? To do And your season of waiting do you need to begin praying God? What are you trying to teach me? Do you need to step back?
No, God. Alright. I trust you. I trust you. I love this statement.
I trust you. God knows what I need. I do not God sees the future. I cannot God's perspective is eternal. Mine is not or do you need to enter into a time of Thanksgiving and remember all that God has done for you.
Let me pray. Father God we thank you. That you are good. That you are powerful and that you are faithful. Can we thank you.
Those things are true. Even in our waiting. God speak to. Us and I'll help us to take the best Next Step. In our faith journey in Jesus name.
Amen.