well welcome everybody good morning I don't know about you but one of the most challenging things in life is to wait anybody ever experienced that I can remember being a teenager and thinking dude I cannot wait to drive my life is going to be so much easier and then I had to pay car insurance I don't know if anybody else experienced this there would be times this is pre- cell phone and a lot of us in the room probably don't even remember what that's like but after basketball practice I'd have to call my mom collect
and talk as fast as I could hey Mom Mike's done come pick me up boom and hang up the phone so I didn't have to pay anybody else remember that waiting can be so so so difficult it can cause us to believe the wrong things about a lot of different people and especially about God I asked permission to share this story one of my good friends growing up grew up uh out on a farm and this is back in the 80s again and and in their family they only had one car and so the dad
would go to work and the mom would be home with all the children and you know moms can we just be honest there are just times you just want everybody to be quiet can I get an amen and so the mom sent all the children back to the room and said hey guys if you'll just sleep I'm going to give you a present when you when you wake up but those kids couldn't they couldn't wait you know like how how are you going to tell a child to wait and you know that their mom is
wrapping a present just down the hallway I mean that's like the most diff like what are you doing it's like putting milk and cookies in front of of me and say Mike don't eat him right now okay so anyway the oldest boy in this family happened to sneak out two different times and finally the mom was like look the next time you sneak out the gift is going to your to your other siblings that little boy couldn't wait and so he snuck out peaked around the corner and Mom's have radar okay and she knew she
said that gift is going to your other siblings and he walked back to his room so disappointed heart broken and frustrated and I've talked with this gentleman several times and he said Mike that caused me to believe that God was just like my parent in that moment that if I messed up too many times in the waiting I wouldn't receive what God had promised me and maybe some of us in this room have that wrong misconception about who God is and and you know it's one thing to sit around and wait for a ride like
I'm I'm waiting for my parent to show up to come and get me from practice it's a whole other thing to wait on God's promises to wait on God developing our character so we can step into our calling and it's so hard friends when we are praying for the healing of a loved one and we're waiting it's so hard when we're in a life uh where where we're in a season of singleness and we're praying God when are you going to bring the right one and you don't ever see that person it's really difficult when
we're in a marriage and we're waiting for our spouse house to begin to engage on the same level with us so that we can have a healthy and fulfilled marriage it's really hard to live in the waiting see sometimes God's promises take months they take years sometimes even decades to fulfill and maybe you're just like me I've cried out to God and said what's taking so long don't you care about my struggles can't you see my heartache maybe you've never said those words but I have and here's what I've learned God is able more than
able to handle our frustrations our disappointments and our anxious thoughts whatever is on your heart bring it to him and in his presence you will find peace even in the waiting see what I've come to understand as I have been in God's presence is that his ways are higher than my ways right his thoughts are higher than my thoughts and if I take a step back and look at history I can see that God has been moving pieces together to accomplish his purposes in ways that I can't even understand see God operates in a timeline
that far outlasts our lifetime what seems slow to us is actually God God moving at an incredible Pace if we were to see it from the view of heaven so have you ever taken time to look back at your own life here's what I've began to understand God is so kind in preparing us when we don't receive that thing in the moment we thought we should see I've watched my wife Kristen wait 17 years to become a counselor she told me the other day Mike if I had become a counselor at 23 I would have
burned out by now but God knew what I needed God's gracious in the waiting Abraham and Sarah received a promise at 75 that they were going to have their son Isaac but they didn't receive him until they were a hundred years old see friends often times we find ourselves judging Our Lives by other people's successes instead of growing right where we're planted we want to have this microwave life but God operates in a crockpot can I get an amen see not every tree blooms at the same time but every tree blooms at the right time
if we trust in God's timing we'll never be disappointed and so today in order to encourage us I I'm going to take us on our journey backwards so that we can see what God's doing in the here and now see Jesus's birth is one of the most pivotal moments in history and before just a few years ago we divided time by the arrival of Christ The Gospel of Matthew uh Records Joseph's reaction when he finds out that Mary his fiance is pregnant without them doing what it takes to make a baby thought that would be
funny all right so listen to Matthew 1: 20- 23 but after he had considered this an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said Joseph son of David do not be afraid take Mary as your wife because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit she will give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet the Virgin will conceive and give birth to
a son and they will call him Emmanuel which means god with us I mean can you imagine being Joseph in that moment he had no idea what he was signing up for and then he had an encounter with God who said Joseph be patient in the waiting but see the story of Jesus didn't unfold when Joseph heard about it it it was unfolding for thousands of years the promise of the Messiah the savior of the world was hinted at in the very beginning Genesis 3: 14 and 15 after Adam and Eve sin I want you
to hear what God spoke cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals you will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life and I will put enmity between you and the woman and between you your Offspring and hers and he will crush your head and you will strike as heel friends the reference he will crush your head is the first reference to the coming of the Messiah it's the first foreshadowing of Jesus's arrival it's the first idea that sin and death will be destroyed from the very
beginning God had a plan to restore Humanity to a right relationship with him amen and if we laid out the timeline from Adam to Jesus it would be nearly 4,000 years between the time that promise was given and the time Jesus fulfilled it think about what happened Empires Rose and fell Generations were born and died and all the while God was aligning history to prepare the world for the arrival of Jesus so maybe you're asking the same question that I asked this week so what is God doing in the waiting what is God God doing
in the waiting see the Old Testament is filled with references to the coming Messiah I had an opportunity this last week to share with somebody they asked me Pastor Mike does the Old Testament even have any relevance and I said have you read the book of Isaiah have you read the book of Jeremiah have you spent time understanding that all of the Old Testament points to the Fulfillment the New Testament gives us the arrival of the Messiah but here's what the book of Isaiah says in 7:14 therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign
the Virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and you will call him Emmanuel see Isaiah spoke those words to the people of Judah during a time of Crisis Pastor Brandon talked about it a couple weeks ago with King ahaz being consumed on all sides by other opposed armies 700 years before the arrival of Jesus Isaiah speaks a promise some of us think waiting for retirement takes a long time think about waiting 700 years for the promised Messiah yet God's promise isn't limited by our time in the waiting God is working in the waiting
God was shaping history history he was teaching people to stand firm in their faith and he was preparing the world for the arrival of his son Isaiah gives two other pieces of wisdom to King ahaz and and he gives those to us today I believe number one Isaiah 7:4 it says be careful keep calm and don't be afraid friends when you're overwhelmed when you're fearful when you're anxious when you're up in the middle of the night worried would you remember this be careful keep calm and don't be afraid because the god of Heaven is with
you in the waiting Isaiah 7:9 if you do not stand firm in your faith you will not stand at all what is God doing in the waiting he's teaching us to trust him he's shaping our character he's preparing us for our calling the calling that he's given to you he's equipping you with the weapon of spiritual warfare so that you can stand firm waiting isn't wasted when God is involved amen so I want you to consider that the prophet Malachi was the last prophet to speak in the Old Testament and then there was a 400e
gap until we receive the gospels 400 years of Silence where God's voice was not speaking through a prophet there was no miraculous signs there was no human speaking on behalf of God and from our perspective it probably seemed like God didn't care it seemed like nothing was happening but here's what was happening what was going on in the Unseen God was working he was setting the stage for the greatest moment in human history the arrival of Jesus do you know what I want you to hear right now in the season of waiting remember this while
you're waiting God is working his plans are always worth it so what took place in that 400 years what actually happened in order for the arrival of Jesus well here's five things Alexander the Great conquered the known world for the first time ever there was peace Alexander defeated the Greeks but instead of War his empire built roads for the first time ever people could travel the whole world without fear of robbers because Alexander the Great conquered the whole world a universal language was established everyone could speak and read Greek for the first time in history
since the Tower of Babel all of humanity could communicate the Old Testament was translated into this common language Greek the Old Testament translation into Greek is called the and our waiting God is working and then the last thing that's so interesting and we we wrestled about this word I'm going to teach you a big theological word right now everybody ready okay you don't sound ready but get ready okay it's called the diaspora and it was the moment that all of the Jews were dispersed throughout all of the world they were no longer in the promised
land and do you know what they took with them everywhere they went they took with them the promise of the arrival of the Messiah and all throughout the known world people began to hear maybe for the first time that there would be a king who would come in the line of David and he would restore all things he would make every Valley High and every Mountain low that's what was happening in the waiting what's God doing in the waiting all these events that seemed completely unconnected and unrelated was God's way of preparing the world for
the very moment that Jesus would step onto the scene his timing is always perfect Paul Echoes this truth in Galatians chapter 4: 4 and 5 but when the time when the set time had fully come God sent his son born of a woman under the law to redeem those under the law that we might receive adoption to sunship God moves at just the right time not a moment too early and never too late and friends the same is true in your life when it feel feels like God is silent when you cry out in the
middle of the night and it feels like nothing is happening God's working behind the scenes he's arranging everything for his purposes he's aligning the circumstances he's shaping our hearts and he's preparing the world around us for what he's about to do waiting is never wasted in God's hands his timing is always perfect see the same God who orchestrated these history these events throughout history for the arrival of his son is working in your life and in my life today and even if if it feels like he's silent I got to tell you he's moving he's
always working in the ways that we can't see he's preparing the perfect moment when he will bring his promises to pass see how do I know this because I've experienced it 15 years ago the dream of True North Church began I remember the day I read a passage of scripture where Jesus sent out 70 pairs of disciples and he said go out and spread the gospel and say the kingdom of God is coming near and for the first time ever I got the idea that maybe just maybe we aren't supposed to do life alone we
aren't supposed to do ministry alone we aren't supposed to try to lead a church on our own and I sat down with Stephen and we began to discuss what God might be doing in the midst of our friendship 15 years ago the only person that I knew that is on our staff right now is Stephen and Stephanie and Kristen and I's lives have been radically enriched because we found community and we found friends who were go willing to go on the journey I I didn't know Brandon 15 years ago I met him 12 years ago
pretty close I didn't know Miss Jenny I didn't know Emily or Kayla or Matt or Hunter I didn't know Catherine I didn't know Mark I didn't know JC but God was working in the waiting do you know that this building building wasn't available in 2021 when we planted this church there was another church meeting here but God was working and the waiting to bring about his promises so that TR nor Church could have a home and it has been such a blessing it has been incredible to see what God has done we've grown from 700
people to over 1,400 people just by being here and having a consistent place to meet two years ago we would have told you that you were crazy C to think that we would buy the Pepsi building because it was too small but do you know what was happening 20 plus years ago God built a call center with 22-ft ceilings that ultimately would become a church God is working in the waiting that was an amen moment maybe you're not with me this morning I don't know friends if you would have told me 20 years ago that
I would live in Fargo North Dakota that we would play right 20 years ago I had dreams of being in San Diego right like I had no idea what God was doing but he was working in the waiting see here's what I know the time is now and often times we feel like we're waiting on God but there's another truth that all of us must confront maybe God's waiting on you maybe God's waiting on you at just the right time Jesus sent his son to redeem us at just the right time Jesus made a way
for our sins to be given and forgiven and for death to be settled at just the right time he's calling you and I right here right now to stop running and to start standing in faith and for some of us today today is the time today is the day for you and I to say yes to the plans of Jesus you've been waiting for the perfect moment for the perfect song To Be Sung for the weather to be exactly aligned for for your heart to be totally happy but here's what I want you to know
while you're waiting God is working and I believe today he's calling you to stop running and to start standing in faith you don't have to clean up everything you don't have to get everything perfect God's waiting to meet you when you begin to practice Trust God's inviting you to stand in faith today I've been praying about this all week but I believe that there is somebody in this room or watching online that is going to make a lifechanging decision today see what if this Christmas we stopped searching for peace and we actually had it we
actually received real peace because we allowed the god of Heaven to step into our story to bring healing to our heart our mind and soul see here's what I know there's different types of peace that every one of us is going to find ourselves pursuing some of us in this room or somebody watching online you are burdened and you are heavy and you are weary and you're just wondering when is it going to stop when are the hits going to stop coming when is life going to turn in my direction when is the hand that
I was dealt going to improve and God's saying would you come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest some of us in the room today are chasing our life's purpose we're pursuing a certain bank account number or a certain status in business or or a certain standing in our community and we're just running headlong after that but you and I don't have peace when we're pursuing it if we're pursuing it apart from God would you just simply come to God today and allow him to be in charge of the timing
would you simply slow down and give God your burden see God is in charge of whatever is stealing your peace today God is in charge of whatever is stealing your peace today you're in a storm God speaks to the storm you're in a season of famine God brings Mana you're in a season of wondering God tells you to turn north There's Hope ahead wherever you find yourself today God is ready to meet you and to give you real and Lasting peace and some of us try to find peace in our job we try to find
peace in our marriage we try to find peace in our kids and friends all of those are the things that we need to pursue but here's what I know until you allow God to wrap his loving arms around you and tell you that you are safe in his grasp we make Idols out of the things that are supposed to be blessings to us well while you're waiting God is working so what if this Christmas you sto striving and you started to hit your stride what if you finally said God I'm going to keep Pace with
your vision and I'm going to stop running out ahead see Jesus came to Earth to free us from the bondage of Earthly success and the belief that our Val value is in what we achieve he came to take the shackles off friends and to give us real peace would you start living from the perspective of heaven so today I'm wondering have you finally reached the crossroad have you finally run all the way down to the place where you're like I can no longer make this happen on my own I can no longer find peace in
the bottom of a bottle can no longer find peace in in this thing or that thing I can no longer find peace in pursuing the things that I thought were going to bring me joy today is the day for you to receive the Peace of Heaven amen and I believe that God is here I believe that he's been working all week he's been working all year he's been working for thousands and thousands and thousands of years to align this moment on this day in this place for somebody in this room to find the hope and
healing of heaven and to actually stop searching for peace and to really find it and so we're going to sing a song called run to the father and we're going to have prayer Partners down here and normally we don't make you get out of your seats because we're good North dakotans and we don't want to make your hands sweaty but today is a day that we're going to actually come down front and I can't wait to see the first person who step STS out and says today I want peace today I want peace today I
want peace so we're going to have prayer Partners down here and we're going to sing so I'm going to invite you to stand and I'm going to pray for you just going to give you a moment to to do work with Jesus and then at the end of the song I'm going to come back up and and if you feel God moving in your heart and you want to walk down here while we're singing we can pray right now can I get an amen because the god of Heaven who loves you who deeply knows you
from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet is here to meet with you right now Jesus we give you everything you are the author of all peace Father today could we stop searching and could we be found in you father would you release even right now the fear the anxiety the worry would you begin to speak to our hearts would you undo all misconceptions about your love you are a good father who loves to give good gifts and you're waiting right here right now for us to turn to you in your
name we pray amen let's sing
