What are You Waiting For
Notes
Transcript
ME
ME
Well Good morning everyone, my name is Ryley and I am the Youth Pastor here at the church. Whether you are in person or online I am so glad that you are joining us this morning.
I don’t know about you but to me this summer seemed to just fly by, you see I always look forward to summer, the wather, the fishing (I like Ice fishing too, but I perfer to be warm), and most of all the sports. You see, I am a Huge baseball fan, there is just somehitng about the sport that pulls me in. It’s the fact that in one swing of a bat the game can change.
This past week I was reading a book about he history of the New York Yankees, the most pwerful and influential sports franchise to exist. And I was making my way through he book, I came across the story of Lawrene Berra, better known as “Yogi” Berra. The famed Yankess catcher who only had an eith grade education.
This is Yogi
He would go on to play 18 seasons with the yankees, was the most valauble player three times, He alsohad a weird way with words, he developed his own Yogi-Ism’s,s statements that would cath you so off gaird you had no chaoice but to listen. He woudl tell people:
*“You can observe a lot just by watching.”
*“Pair up in threes.”
*“A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.”
and my favourite,
*“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”
Apart from the weird sayings, Yogi could hit the ball, in his career He hit over 350 home runs.
Hector Lopez, yogi berra’s teamte once said “He had the fastest bat I ever saw,” . “He could hit a ball late, that was already past him, and take it out of the park. The pitchers were afraid of him because he’d hit anything, so they didn’t know what to throw. Yogi had them psyched out and he wasn’t even trying to psych them out.”
Yogi would hit everything that came his way, he never waited for a perfect pitch. IN fact,
*on teammate said I sawYogi hit them on the bounce; I’ve seen him leave his feet to hit them.
You see, when itn was Yogi’s turn to come up to the plate, make a difference in the game, he never eaited for th perfect pitch. To him every opprtunity, ws the perfct opprtunity. He didn’t sit there and wait, hoping that a better pitch would come his way, no wouls maeke adjustments to his grip, move in the batters box and swijng for the fences.
When it came for Yogi to step up and majke differnce in the game, he never wanted to miss an opprunity
WE
WE
Frineds, when it come to you and I, in thr game that we cal life, do we swing on every opprtunity given
*In the New living transliation of Ecclesiastes 11:4 it says “Farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant.
If they watch every cloud, they never harvest.
IN the cornerstone comemntray, it says this:
Job, Ecclesiastes & Song of Songs Commentary
Farmers who try to control their circumstances will never get anywhere. Perfect weather never comes; as a result, they do not get a harvest. The implicit message is not to let our inability to control circumstances paralyze our actions. The farmer who does this may very well starve to death.
Frieeds, If you and I are sitting around waiting for the perfect moment to do something, all we are going to be doing is sitting and waiting.
GOD
GOD
IN Luke 8:40-48 we read a story of a woman who was tired of siitting and waiting. Luke records the evenet by saying
The New International Version Chapter 8
40 Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him. 41 Then a man named Jairus, a synagogue leader, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house 42 because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying.
As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. 43 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. 44 She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.
45 “Who touched me?” Jesus asked.
When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”
46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”
47 Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. 48 Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”
I love this story for three reasons, number one the fact that Jesus wasn’t inconveinenced by the woman.
Number two, the faith that the woman had.
and Number three, the attiduted of Peter.
Here you have Jesus walking on his way to go heal a twelve year old girl. He’s on a mission, there is a massive crowd gatherde and pressing up agsint Him, and this woman, with an ounce of hope left shuffeld her way trhough crowd, pushkng through the swarm of people, seeing the Hem of his garment she jumps forwards and grabs the tassel that hung off the bottm of his clothes and instatly she was healed.
I love the deciple responses to Jesus’s question of who touched him.Could you imaguine their confused facesd when he asked that? I ncould imaine Peter looking at Jesus anf going, this is my paraphrase verion by the way, ” Jesus, we are in a crowd of people, eveyrbody is touching you.
You see, back in thi day, just to give you sone context,
The Gospel of Luke Not Lost in the Crowd (Luke 8:43–8)
All devout Jews wore robes with fringes on them (Numbers 15:37–41; Deuteronomy 22:12). The fringes ended in four tassels of white thread with a blue thread woven through them. They were to remind a Jew every time he dressed that he was a man of God and committed to the keeping of God’s laws
But that’s not where I want to focus today, you see as Willima Barclay points out:
The shame of the woman was that ceremonially she was unclean (Leviticus 15:19–33). Her issue of blood had cut her off from life. That was why she did not come openly to Jesus but crept up in the crowd; and that was why at first she was so embarrassed when Jesus asked who touched him.
BUt he thing is, She didn’t wait for the perfect moment to go up and get healing, she didnt wait until the crowds dissapated and she could compse herself.
Imagine the wrestling wihting her sprit as she saw Jesus in the crowd. her shame screaming at her that He will reject her, her fear pushing her back saying that He would ehver heal a person like her, her guilt pulling her back at the thought that she mihgt inconvience this man.
But frineds, isn’t powefurl what a little whipser of hope can do. Throughout the thunder of the crowd, this woman holds on the little hope that she has left and reaches out, like a baseball player who swings withe verying he has whithin himelf and then it connects. Hee grabs onto the tassel and immediatly she is healed. A home run in my books.
Instant relief, more a moment until the same man she was so desprete to see, she is ow trying to hide from.
The New International Version Chapter 8
Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.
The New International Version Chapter 8
Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. 48 Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”
The thing I love about this interaction is that the moment that Jesus was face to face with the woman, there seemed to be nobody there but the two of them. It happened in the middle of a massive crowd, but the crowd seemed to dissapear and Jesus spoke to that woman as if she was the only person in the world. To the world she was a poor, unimportant sufferer, with a trouble that made her unclean, and yet to that one unimportant person Jesus gave all of himself
Almost everybody would have regarded the woman in the crowd as totally unimportant. Yet, for Jesus she was someone in need, and therefore he, as it were, withdrew from the crowd and gave himself to her.
As willima Barclay writes, ‘God loves each one of us as if there was only one of us to love.’
To Jesus a person had none of these labels. He or she was simply a human soul in need. Love, sees people for who that can become it never thinks of people in terms of human importances.
Friends, perfect moments are only found after the fact. You can’t create them, but you can be a part of them.
We can’t sit around and wait for the pitch, just as the woman could not sit around and wait. She knew that if she just went up to Jesus something woudl happen. Adn I love that Jesus never pushede her away or said “Wait until i get this done and then I’ll be with you”No, He stopped took time to look her inthe eye and tell her how uch she is loved.
Oh friends, God is never inconveinved by us. Maybe for you tpoday, you are waiting for the perfetct ro restore your relaionship wiht God, trying to get all you ducks in a row before you come back to God. Can I tell you when teh perfect moemnt for that is? It’s the meoment youdnecide to do it,
Maybe you are waiting fro the perfct mmeomt to tell your coworkeers, neighiboyrs, frineindsm about Jesus. Can I tell you something, you can’t hit a ball just by watching it, you actually have to swing. What I mean by that is this.
Lie the woman who decided agsint all odds to push past fear and make difffernce, you and I must do the same thing. We got to swing at every oppoirtunity that God gives us.
amd I want to tell you a personl story of when this happend to me
YOU
YOU
When I was in my early teen years I worked at Sports store in loydminter , my hometown. It was an awesome place to work, great communinty, amazing hours, and whenit wasn’t busy in th sptre we could mess aorunf with sprts equipemt. We used to baseball games in the middle day in th sotre, it was incredible. But anyways, one day I was working with my manger and two co-workers who ere simialr to my age, like two years older. And we were talking about religion, now here’s the thing, when I resigned to go to colkege this manager tolda me that I was the first and last chritain they would ever hire LOL. And this si teh reason why,
So as I was saying, we were talking about religion and they asked me what kind of chrstian I was, ‘hopefully a good one I thought” and I said “oh I’m pentecostal” Now, mind you I didn’t really know alot about the diffences between differnt dominations at teh time. SO they asked me what Pentecosal meant and my response was, “’we’re the crazy ones, we’re the one wherre sometimes people tlak in differnt languages, people get healed, sometimes people fall over because God’s spirit is so strong .”
Now if thatvisn’t the best decsription of pentencotal ism from a fifteen year old, I dont know what is.
my manger looked at me and laighed, and said “So people just fall over?” I said “yep”
Now I’m feeling pretty good about my increible desiption of what a pentecostal church is all about but that was short lived. You see, as I am riding my confidence high, I hear a question that stops me in my tracks.
My amnger says to me, “well show us then,”
“i’m sorry, what” I replied.
“Show us, God’s spirit kncocing people over there ar three of us here, go ahead”
Frineds, to say my little heart was beating would be an understatemnt. TO try buy myself some time I sayid, ‘Now?”
“Yep, let’s see if your God shows up. There’s no time like the present”
Friends,I’m not kidding, I almost peed myself I was so nervous. In my head, I’m lk e”What if God doesn’t dhow ? God you beter show up if, and thats a strong if, I do this”
And then all of a sudden this gentle peace took over my heart and nerves, calmed me down and whsipered to my sould ‘I’m wiht you, go ahead”
So while mind ws still porcessing fear, my mouth decides to say “okay sure, let’s do this”
SO I get one of the coworkers to stand this like, the other one stands behind him and i tell the guy who’s going to cath, I say “Okay, when He falls all you got to do is catch and gently lower him to the ground”
I got to my coworker and I say, okay “I am going to put my hand on your back, and im going ot hover my heand over your chest, this hand own’t touch”
I ahve no idea what I’m doing, I am just goin from what I saw in church rihgt.
Anyways, I begrin praying, and I go “Der, God, thank you for I said his name” and before I can ever say the next thing my left hand starts to feel a bit heavier and this guy drops.
I honesl;ty thought he died. So i nudged him wiht my foot, andHe looked at me with comeplte shock and says “you psued me,” I said nope, didnt even touh you
FINISH STORY
WE
WE
Friends, was that a perfect moment? In my mind absilutey not. I wasn’t ready, I wasn’t preapred, I had no idea what I was doing but God did. God provided te opportunity and He called me to swing for the fences. Because I decided to swing, those co-workers got to experince the moving of the Holy PSorit, got to experince the power and awe of God.
Could He have done it in a differnt way, absolutely. Bu the things is, he Didin’t. He called me to swing.
And the thing is, He’ calling you too. To get out of your cofmot zone, stop waiting for tteh perfect moemnt to go after what God has called to do.
Here’s the thing, when God calls us to do something it’s usually not the perfect moemnt for us anyways. We’re too busy with our plans, too busy with iur fear, our uilt, oyr scehdules. Yet, to God it’s his perfect timing and He has called you up to bat for it.
See frineds, when you and I walk i the condifnce that God is always with us and that He never causes to to fail, we don’t have ti be afraid of a issed opprtunity.
Friends, do you knwo what happends if teh church
Swing at every opportunity, hit them on the bounce, get off of your feet to hit them, you knever know, it might just go over the fence.
Becasue, as Yogi berra once said, “It aint over ‘til it’s over”
Andy PRAY FOR COMMUNION