The Time Test: How to Wait Well and Finish Strong 1

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to the podcast. Today is gonna be the end of our first season here on The Branches podcast. This will be episode 10 that we're recording, and then we're gonna kinda tie that all together and call it season one.

I wanna finish with something that I think will be a big help to you. You know, in our last episode, we talked about when you're waiting upon the Lord. And we talked about how to wait.

And I believe the Lord encouraged us by telling us that it's worth the wait. It's worth waiting on God. It's worth waiting on his timing for his plans and for his promises to come to pass in your life.

Those things are worth waiting for. But today, I wanna talk about when it's time to go, when it's time to move, when it's time to act. And so the title of our teaching today is Let's Go.

Let's Go. And obviously, that's kind of the opposite of what we talked about last week. Last week, we talked about waiting.

Today, we're talking about going, when it's time to go, when it's go time. And you're gonna have both of those during your journey of faith, during your walk with the Lord. You're gonna have both times of waiting and times of acting and times of moving and going.

You can't just sit around and wait your whole life and never go. There's a balance. There's a time and a season for everything.

And we know Ecclesiastes chapter three, verse one through eight tells us that. Verse one says, for everything, there's a season. There's a time for every activity under heaven.

There's a time to be born, and there's a time to die. There's a time to plant, and there's a time to harvest. We talked about seed time and harvest last time.

There's a time for watering and tending, but there's a time to harvest as well. There's a time to kill, and a time to heal. There's a time to tear down, and a time to build up.

There's a time to cry, and there's a time to laugh. There's a time to grieve, and there's a time to dance. There's a time to scatter stones, and there's a time to gather up stones.

There's a time to embrace, and there's a time to turn away. There's a time to search, and there's a time to quit searching. There's a time to keep, and there's a time to throw away.

There's a time to tear, and there's a time to mend. There's a time to be quiet, and there's a time to speak. There's a time to love, and there's a time to hate.

There's a time for war, and there's a time for peace. You see, the seed time and harvest principle applies. I told you last week, that's a spiritual law.

Seed time and harvest and seasons is another spiritual law. There are seasons of life, just like you have spring, summer, fall, and winter. There are spiritual seasons as well.

There's times when you go through different things in life, and I'm sure we've talked about that before, but you've figured that out. Things don't stay the same. Things are constantly changing, and that's why it's so important for us to be led by the Holy Spirit and to take steps of faith and to be led by the Lord.

He's your Great Shepherd, and He's leading you into His promises, into the plans, but sometimes you've got to take some steps. Sometimes you've got to lay down and rest. You just have to trust the Great Shepherd to lead us.

And, you know, last week we talked about the Israelites in Exodus 32. Remember that? We were talking about waiting upon the Lord and how to wait.

I gave you six keys, six things to help you endure the waiting season and be victorious. And I want to bring up this same group of people, the Israelites that we talked about last week in Exodus 32. You know, there was a time that the Lord told them to wait.

Remember when Moses went up on that mountain? He told them, wait on me. He told the Israelites, you wait on me till I come back down the mountain.

So there were times that that group, the Israelites, were told to wait. But there were also times they were told to go. And unfortunately, I told you last week, this group, they always quit during the waiting season or during the go season.

They just couldn't get things together. But there was times the Lord told them to go. And in the Book of Numbers, remember this group?

They got to the border of the Promised Land, and God told them to go take it. That was their moment. This is their time.

Go. Let's go. Let's go get it.

And they refused to do it. They settled there in the wilderness, and it ended up costing them their life. They never did make it to the Promised Land.

They actually went from that moment when they were told to go and take the Promised Land. And when they didn't do that, the Lord actually told them to head back into the wilderness. He said, that's it.

You guys go back out there in the wilderness. You're going to die out here. You'll never make it.

Your children will be the ones who go into the Promised Land. And that's what happened. But this group, you know, there were times, there are seasons, there's moments where both staying and waiting and going will come.

You'll have those moments in your journey with the Lord, and you have to know how to recognize the two and be willing and ready to take action. In my journey of faith, I've had several of these act now, these go moments. And those are not the moments to drag your feet.

You know, Tara and I, we bought a house here in Marshfield, Missouri, a couple years ago, and we were managing a church camp, living completely debt free. We had no bills, and the Lord began to deal with us about buying Tara's forever home here on this earth, her place where she could settle and plant flowers and have her dream home and feel like she had a place that she could stay and her grandkids could come to someday. So we came into agreement in prayer.

Like I said, the Lord began to deal with us to start believing for this home, and so Tara and I, we joined together, and we came together in faith, believing that God was going to show us this home. Within a month or two, we found it, and we knew we needed to act. Now, remember, we're living debt free at a church camp, and in the natural, it just doesn't get any better than that.

But we sensed the Lord leading act now. Well, to do that, obviously, we're going to empty most of our savings. We're going to leave debt freedom.

We're going to move an hour and a half away from where we were living. But we sensed the Lord calling us. Remember, in episode two of the podcast, I talked about a calling.

We knew that calling was coming, and it was time, and it was time to act right now. And so we did. We made an offer on the home, and we ended up getting it.

Well, just a month after, I don't even know if it was a full month. Within a week or two after we were under contract, the interest rates jumped, the housing market prices jumped. Well, if we would have drug our feet and not acted in faith when the Lord gave us that answer to prayer, it could have cost us.

I don't know what this house would cost now. I don't know that we would be able to even buy it now. But you see, there are moments, and those aren't all the time.

That doesn't happen all the time. But there's moments when the Lord's dealing with you to wait on Him and let Him show you more or develop you more. But then there's moments when you're told to act and you're told to go.

When you're supposed to go, we don't want to drag our feet because time is passing, and we don't want to hang around in unbelief and doubt because God-given opportunities can pass you by. And we saw that happen with the Israelites, and we know that happens in our day, too. When God opens a door, when you've got that green light, we talked about how to know if God's leading you to something.

Back in the episode, I think it was three or four, red light, green light. You know, when you've got that green light to go, it's important that you put your foot on the gas and you get after it. We don't want to put our foot on the brake in those moments because time's passing and the opportunity can pass you by.

So what do you do? I'm going to kind of wrap up with this. What do you do if you sense you're supposed to do something, but you're not sure how to move forward?

You know, you sense God's giving you a green light. You sense you need to make a change or you need to take this step, but you're really not sure how to do it. What do you do in those moments?

Well, for the answer, I want to look at the word. Let me flip over here to Matthew 25th chapter, I believe. I want to read you something, and then we'll talk about it quickly, because I believe there's answers here.

In Matthew 25th chapter, listen to this. This is a parable of the three servants. And in verse 14, it says, the kingdom of heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip.

So what this is saying, this is what the kingdom of heaven is like. It's like this. It's like a man who's going on a long trip.

And before he goes, he called together his servants, and he entrusted his money to them while he was gone. He gave five bags of silver to one. He gave two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last, dividing it in proportion to their abilities.

Then he left on his trip. So this guy, he's getting ready to go on a long journey, a long trip. He calls his three servants to them.

One of them, he gives five bags of silver. One of them, he gives three, or I'm sorry, two. And one of them, he gives one bag of silver.

And he gave them these bags of silver according to their ability. So God knows your ability. He knows what you're capable of.

He knows what you can do with what he gives you. So he's not holding you accountable to do something that you don't have the ability to do. So then this guy, he leaves on his trip.

Verse 16, the servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money, and he earned five more. The servant with the two bags of silver, he also went to work, and he earned two more. But the servant who received the one bag of silver, he just dug a hole in the ground, and he hid the master's money.

Now, after a long time, the master didn't come back the next day. It says, after a long time, their master returned from his trip, and he called them to give an account of how they had used his money. The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver, remember that guy that got five?

He came forward with five more bags, so he doubled it up. He said, Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest. I've earned you five more, so now I got ten.

The master was full of praise. He said, well done, my good and faithful servant. You've been faithful in handling the small amount.

You were faithful handling that five, so now I'm going to give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate. We're going to celebrate together, man.

You did a good job. You took that five and you doubled it. The servant who had received the two bags of silver, he came forward and said, Master, you gave me two bags.

Remember me? Remember me, Master? You gave me two bags of silver to invest, and I've earned you two more, and I doubled it up, just like the guy with five.

The master said, well done. Look, he says the exact same thing to the guy with two bags of silver as he did to the guy with five. So you're going to be rewarded according to what the Lord's given you to do, not what he's given me to do.

You know, the Lord's given us different things. He's got different plans and callings for us, and they're according to our ability. Don't compare yourselves to somebody else, because you're going to be held accountable for what he gave you, not for what he gave me.

And so the master says to the guy with two bags of silver, he says, well done, my good and faithful servant. You've been faithful in handling the small amount, so now I'll give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together.

The exact same thing he said to the guy with five, verse 24. Then the servant with the one bag of silver. Remember that guy?

He only got one bag. He came and he said, Master, I knew you were harsh. I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn't plant, you gathered crops you didn't cultivate.

I was afraid. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Basically, he says, I dug a hole and I buried it.

And look, here's that one bag you gave me. I'll just give it back to you. But the master replied, you wicked and lazy servant.

If you knew I harvested crops I didn't plant and gathered crops I didn't cultivate, why didn't you deposit my money in the bank? I mean, do something. At least I could have gotten some interest on it.

Then he ordered, take the money from this servant and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what they have will be taken away.

Now, throw this useless servant into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now remember, at the beginning of this parable, Jesus said, this is what the kingdom of God's like. This is what the kingdom of heaven is like.

We're like these servants. You're like one of these servants. And you've been given, God's got these plans and these promises for you, for your life.

He's entrusted them to you to walk them out. Some of you have different, we all have different abilities, different talents, different gifts, different spiritual gifts, different callings for our life. But ultimately, we're going to be held accountable for how we handle these things.

And I want us to notice quickly the difference between these three servants. Because remember, I said, what do you do? You know, if you feel like God's given you something, he's gifted you, he's called you to do something, but you don't know what to do, what can we do for that?

What's the answer for that? And this is what we're reading in this podcast. This parable, and I want you to see the difference between the ones that were successful and the one who wasn't.

In verse 16, it says, the servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money. He began. That means he started.

He took the five that he had, and he just got after it. He just started doing something. He started taking that money and investing it.

We don't know what he did. He might have bought two pigeons and made a profit, and then bought a pig and two cows. We don't know what he did, but he got started.

He just began the work. The servant with the two bags of silver, same thing. It says in verse 17, the servant with two bags of silver, he also went to work.

He went to work. He just got after it. But then the third servant who did nothing, one, he did nothing.

That's the difference between him and the other two. The other two got after it. They just started.

The other one, he did absolutely nothing. And why didn't he do anything? He said here in verse 25, he said, I was afraid.

I was afraid I would lose your money. Friends, sometimes we're so afraid we're going to mess up. We're so afraid that we're going to do something with these gifts that God's given us, with these callings that He has for our life.

We're so afraid we're going to mess something up that we never do anything. Friends, there is a waiting period at times. There's a maturing process, but there comes a moment when it's time to go.

It's time to get after it. It's time to go to work. It's time to take what God's given you and start doing something.

And it might be messy at first. I mean, this podcast is me taking a step. It's me doing something.

Where is it going to go? I don't have a clue where it's going. And it's been kind of messy.

It's been a learning process. It hasn't been perfect. But you just go.

And it's funny how when you start something, when you begin a work, you begin to invest in the kingdom, new opportunities come, new invitations, new light, new revelation. But if you just set on your hands, if you just bury the gift that God's given you, and you never do anything with it, there's coming a time when the Lord is going to hold you accountable for that. And how I know is because we just read it in the Bible.

That's how I know. He will. Because he said to that last servant, he said, you wicked and lazy servant.

You were lazy with what I gave you. You did absolutely nothing. And so I'll take your reward, and I'll give it to somebody else.

Friends, there comes moments in your life, in your journey of faith. You're taking these steps of faith. You got to just put fear aside and go get started.

Now, it's so important that you're led on what season you're in. These ten podcasts that we put out this first season, man, I think there is some life-changing revelation in these ten podcasts. I'm not saying I did a great job of delivering all of them.

They could have been delivered a lot better, I'm sure. But if you will take the time to go back, and we covered some huge topics here, how to make choices, how to make a decision, how to be led. We talked about the fact that your choices matter.

You choose. So much of your life is based on your choices. And your life is clicking by.

Days are going by, just one after another, one after another. Every day you choose to do nothing is another day gone. We talked about your purpose in episode one.

You have a purpose for... God has a purpose for you. Your purpose is to have a relationship with God and to grow in that relationship.

That's what your purpose is. We talked in episode two. We talked about callings.

You need to know the difference between your purpose and a calling. A calling is when God invites you to do something. And that invitation, it may be a temporary step, it may be short term, it may be long term, but you need to understand the difference between a purpose, your purpose, and your callings.

We talked about vision, how important it is to have vision for your life, but to have it in balance and not to get out of balance. We talked about fundamentals of faith. We talked about how to build on these fundamentals of living a faith life.

We talked about waiting upon the Lord. We talked about the fact Jesus is coming again. He is.

We talked about that. And we talked about waiting. And we established it's worth the wait.

It's worth waiting on God. When He's called you to wait, it's worth waiting. And now we're talking about going.

It's worth going. It's worth taking the risk. When God calls you to go, it's worth stepping out in faith.

So friend, I just encourage you, listen to these 10 podcasts. We're going to try to build some different media stuff around these 10 podcasts. We're just getting started.

We're taking baby steps here and learning and growing as we go. But we're going to get into the, it used to be TikTok. I don't know what X or whatever it is.

I don't even know what all that stuff is. This is where I need my wife's help and her gifting. But we're going to start getting into the social media stuff and trying to get more on these 10 podcasts out there.

But go back and listen to them. Stay plugged in, meditate on these truths, and I promise you they'll help you because they've helped me. If you could see where I started at in 2010, how bad my thinking was, how much anxiety I had, how much fear I had, if you could see what the Lord's done.

And what we've endeavored to do in these first 10 podcasts is just teach you some of the things that the Lord showed us and has shown me and some of the steps that we've taken that helped us walk in victory. Help me come out of the prison of fear and start walking in a life of victory, a life of favor, an increase in the things of God. So I would encourage you to go back and listen to them.

I thank you so much for listening to the podcast this season. I pray that they bless you and that they encourage you and that they help you come up to a higher level, that you can walk in the greater things of God for your life. I'll be praying for you.

Thank you for all your support. Thank you for listening. And I'll talk to you soon.

But until next time, be blessed.

Thanks for listening to the podcast. To find this and other teachings, simply search for The Branches on any of your regular podcast platforms. Thank you.