Obedience - Wait on the Lord

At first he hesitated because similar to the story of Jonah in the Bible, God was calling him to an enemy tribe. After much prayer, he was obedient to God's call and in 1988 he began his work to evangelize the Masai . It was a difficult work at first, but God began to open doors.

Now many years later, God is certainly rewarded his obedience for producing an amazing God size amount of fruit in advancing the kingdom in the Masai tribe as well as several other tribes in Kenya, including the Kayla region , the [inaudible] , and the polka tribes. Since 1988 God has used pastor Paul to plant 200 or 302 churches. Only 54 of those churches have buildings. The rest of those churches meet out in the Bush under a large tree, which is what they use for their church.

Also about those 54 church buildings. I'm excited to announce it. Over 19 years of mission trips, 38 of those have been built by central church and mission teams. Praise the Lord

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I was able to spend several days with pastor Paul and Kenya when I was there this summer, and one thing that struck me, one thing that stood out to me above everything else is that after God has used all this man to do all of these things, he surely has an amazingly humble spirit and gives God all the glory as a ministry. Aim is to reach the unreached people and tribes in Kenya, Uganda and beyond. And through his obedience and humility, it is very clear that has

We have that little song that says it's an old song, wonderful song, trust and obey for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus just to trust and obey and we are so thankful that we can trust and will be . I'm so thankful and I want to tell you something. I stand here as a living testimony because somebody way back in 1970s obeyed God's voice. And then number two, he trusted God. He left United States, came to Kenya as a missionary and guess what?

I received [inaudible] as my personal savior through his life and through his testimony and guess who that was? Jonathan and Katherine or foods, they're wonderful and dear people in my my life and in my family's life and in our ministry. You never know when you trust and obey how God is going to use you. Sometimes we try to and puzzle everything and try to figure out and understand how are these things gonna work out.

You know, how is it gonna be, but tell you what God has no call me and you too and the veil , all these things, but just trust and obey him and move on and then he will [inaudible] and reveal all the Paso and he would do such a wonderful and mighty things that you have never thought about or you have never even thought about doing them. I just want to bring you greetings from my family and my coworkers in Kenya and we are so thankful to central.

Thank you so much for praying for us, for supporting us, for sending teams every year to us to come and and walk alongside with us and encourage. We have seen God's hand and we are so proud of you and we celebrate central church and we thank God for each one of you this morning. I'm just going to share on two words. Obey and wait. It's not easy sometimes. This is easy to obey like you know as far as you have little kids and you tell them , you know, Hey, you need to obey.

You know, you give them the instructions, they listen, but the hard part is what they might obey. Say , Hey, what be you mom and dad? But the hard part is waiting and the two two words obey and weight goes together. Let's start into our Bibles in the book of Psalms, the book of Psalms chapter 27 and verse 14 and the Bible says, wait for the Lord, be strong and take hat and wait for the Lord McHugh . He has repeated this one word.

Wait twice in this verse and there must be a reason for that and I want to say these are big God and leave all the consequences to him. He knows how to a hundred you don't need to worry about it. Then what happens? Wait upon God for his timing. When we obey God, we have to wait upon him upon his time. You know what? If you don't, if we do not obey God, God will never and will not use us. When we obey God, God will use us.

There are some requirements for being God that goes together with waiting upon God's timing. Let's look at six of some of those requirements. Number one, faith or trust. Psalms 37 verse five says, trust in God, obeying and trusting God and waiting for his timing. Mind you this, when we step out of God's all, we go ahead of him and we step out of his way. We get ourselves in trouble is always good to wait. You know, obey and say, God, here I am. I'm obeying you . I'm waiting.

The question is, am I willing to obey and wait upon God? It takes faith and trust to obey God. Then he goes into another word where he take hot patients. B patients. God's time is not only good, but it's perfect. When we wait upon God and wait for his time or his timing, it is perfect. Why? Because he got himself, knows all the details of our in our lives and Avaya lives and God has the best interest in all the details of our lives . Not only one single detail, not only in my life, in your life.

Do you know that God has every single detail of central church and tell you what, he knows the best way on how to handle it and he doesn't need our help. He needs our pigeons. Last year I went to India and I had figured out how I'm going to work it out. I went to the Indian embassy in Arabia to get my visa and the guy there was a very nice, friendly gentleman. He said, you need to get a tourism visa visitors visa because if you say that you've learned to preach, you will never get a visa.

And I said, okay. And I try and as much as I could to figure out how I'm going to handle things, I uh , and unloaded the Bible on my phone in case at the customs they might say, no, won't net you not let you go through, you know, in with your Bible. I had the Bible in my suitcase and I went to the, to the customs officer and the guy is going to think he was going through my papers and looking and he said, Oh, he looked at my passport and he said, Oh, you are a pastor in Kenya.

And I said, yes sir . And I'm wondering what is the next thing that he's going to say? Let me tell you, God did the miracle light of the sip moment. His phone rang and I think it was a very important phone call. So he picked up the phone and he looked at it and he received the phone call. He took all my papers and my passport and drops them to the next counter to the other guy that was a, an a , an immigration officer. And he went into the corner and he's speaking in on his phone.

And guess what? This other officer took my , um , uh, passport. He never looked at it. He just stomped and he said, enjoy your visit. I had tried to figure, you know, for days had tried to figure out how am I going to handle this? And God was saying, you know, it's not you to handle that. It's me to handle that. And at the exact time in God's timing, God handed that and I had no property. You know, how many times do we try try it . 200 things. Our own way for getting to obey and trust.

So we have to have faith and we have to have patients take hat because God knows and has all the details of our lives. And number three, Psalms 37 says , be strong. This is Sam's 27 verse 14 be strong. Take courage. Remember Joshua chapter one was nine when God told Joshua my servant, be courageous, be strong, and I'll be with you. And the guy had to try to obey and trust God for that. It takes courage to wait upon God. It takes courage to say no. It takes cottage to say yes.

Listening to God is so important today. Not many people are willing to wait. It's easy to listen, but to wait is another thing. We all need it now we are in the society. Whether you're in the States or whether you're in Africa, that I don't need to wait. I just need it now. I don't know how many times you know you are friends is always good to listen and to have some advice and listen to your friends. You know, they're a big help and they can give you good advice.

But how many times something is happening in your life or in your business or you want to buy something and you wanted it now and you are thinking, I have to wait. And you are friends comes around and say, Hey, why do you wait? Why don't you do it now? Why do you wait until Christmas time or January or next year? Why do you wait? You have all the money, you have everything. And we say, okay, I can go. But it's always good to wait.

I remember my son came over home for holidays in , uh , April this year from , uh, here , a little break from university. And one day he was going with me to , uh , to the villages and as we, as we were walking outside the door, I said, rod, I wonder what is your plan with us today? When we were in the Vern and we were driving, going to the vintage, my son Dale asked me, you know, that, you know, I've had you, and even today you repeated the same thing.

You know, as you, as we were walking , uh, outside the door and you said, God, what is your plan with me today? And said to him, son, you know, it's always good to be on God's plan every single moment. And I said, simply because I don't want to go ahead of him. I don't want to step ahead of him. I just want to go and walk this behind him being OB-GYNs and waiting upon his timing. Our newest tribe that we are eating is the court.

And we hate to wait for two years before we went there, we had planned, we had done everything. We had gone halfway to go to the tribe. We spend the night and then in the morning, guess what happened? We had on the news that there were some , uh , killings and filings and you know, the previous night, people trying to come for cattle registering and then we had to back off. We never went and we had to wait for , for two more years. And God in a very miraculous way, open the door.

And God is working now. But let me tell you this, it takes a beacons and it takes waiting. So it's very important, especially now, right where we are in a society where, you know, everybody's , like, if it's not , it's either now or never. But God's timing is the best. We all need.

You know, as I said, we need things to happen now, but obeying and waiting for the Lord is a difficult thing when I did something now, and you'll agree with me that it's not easy when you know, we need it now and we have to do it now. And then number four, I wish we had time and we could, you know, go into this , the details of this, you know, we have determination, we have to have determination. It says take hut.

We have to have determination, especially when you have pressure from people to do something. You know why not now? And I want to tell you this, be very careful. I have learned so many lessons, you know in my life when people tells you and tells me, you know what, if I were you, how many I've heard about that or of us. If I want you, this is the way I would handle this problem. Maybe your business, maybe you want to buy a house, maybe you want to do something and [inaudible] why do you wait?

You have money, you have all that it takes and it's good to have friends and listen to their advice and pray about them. But the factory means that when God created us with different, maybe it worked for you, but it cannot work for me. You know, God has some, you know, has a special way for me, has a special way for for the other person and how he handles things. And sometimes maybe the way he walked it for me, it will not work for you.

So it's good to wait for the Lord and said , well , here I am. I want to be a Baigent and I want to wait upon your timing when you have pressure from people to do something. That's why I say be very careful. Wait upon God, when we don't obey God and wait upon him and his timing, we step out of his. Well, you remember, you remember the children of Israel.

In fact, in the book of first Samuel chapter eight was four to seven and also downwards the elders of Israel and the people of Israel that is fast. Samuel chapter eight four to seven they came over to Samora and they said, [inaudible] , we need to have a King so that we can be like other nations that are surrounding us and some will grieved. And he prayed and God told him, some will do as the people are asking for, they have not rejected you. They have rejected me.

They never knew the things that the King would demand from them and they had it and it was an easy for the children of Israel because they stepped out of God's will. How many times have VI and you, how many times have we stepped out of God's will and no waiting upon God's timing? We need to be careful of that because we will get always, if we do that, we will get ourselves in trouble. Number five. I wish we had more time.

We could go into details, you know, but you know I'm very sure that God is going to speak through us through his word strength. God is the source of all our strength. What do I mean? No making a move or making a decision until God says it is the right time. God is the source of our strength and you might ask us , we might ask ourselves, how do I know when is the right time to make a move or when is the right time to do this or to do that?

Matthew chapter seven verse seven Matthew chapter seven verse seven the Bible says what? Ask and they shall be given to you. Knock and the door shall be opened to you . Let say this, sometimes we have too much in a hurry and we put ourselves into a mess. Children of Israel elders came over. We need a King to be like other nations and some or was saddened by that and God says, you know, hold on. They're not rejecting you. They're rejecting me .

How many times have I and you rejected, rejected God's time and timing and rejected obeying him? And we have put ourselves in trouble. God's time. Listen to this is not only good, but it is perfect. It may appear to be a little bit late. Things are not moving the way we want it to be. Lord, you know, I have waited for five months. I've waited for one year, but it talks about how we are Bay and weighed upon him. We need to wait upon God. We need to talk to God. Is this the best thing?

Do I do I need to do this? And let me tell you this, sometimes it is discouraging, but God has it all. And he knows because he has all the best interests in our desires and you know , in our plans and he wants you to wait. Just wait a little bit. You know the Holy spirit. Well , this is one of the things that I've experienced into my life.

When the Holy spirit speaks at the beginning, he speaks with a little, you know, with a loud voice and then the more you keep drafting from God's [inaudible] or Bay from obeying God and waiting upon him, he speaks with a little voice, a little voice, little voice, obey, obey, obey. And we need to do that. There was a missionary back in Kenya in one of the , or one of the tribes at the coast and the sub God faithful for 18 years, no converts and God said , it's time to move out.

You have been so faithful for 18 years. Move out three days after they had retired and left and came back to the States. You guys , what? The church was born waiting , fade free and obeying God for 18 years. And then the last one is endurance. We have to endure. Hold on to Jesus. Paul said to team within the book of a second team with the chapter two verse three and also verse 12 a that be strong, endure hardship. We need to hold to Jesus.

It might seem I see with you know, obeying God and waiting upon him is not bearing fruit as we want it in our own timing. But the question is, am I willing to obey God and wait for his timing and work and working in his will and schedule? Sometimes we , we, we come around and ask God, why not? Now it's like, God, why not now? And the answer is because I God loves you and I don't want to put you in the, I don't want you to put yourself in trouble. And so you have to wait.

God knows what we need and when are we waiting to obey and wait upon God's timing. God loves us and desires to meet the needs of our lives. He promises to answer our prayers when we obey him, but not always listen to this, not always according to my timing or methods, there's is a different between my timing and God and God's timing. There's a different between my own method and God's method and God, timing and method are the best. He knows our lives from beginning to the end and so he knows.

Listen to this exactly where you are at this moment, but you know what puts us in ? Why we put ourselves into a mess. It is a willingness to obey and waiting upon his timing that gets us into into trouble and brings confusion and we end up missing God's very best blessings in our lives. Abandon God. So important. Trusting God. So important. Waiting for birds , timing. Well, this might be a little bit difficult to you. You've , you've never trusted Christ.

It might be foreign to you, but I pray that we will be people that are willing to obey and wait upon God's timing. It seems too , it might seem to be a little bit too late, but let me tell you this, it is never too late for God. It is always the perfect time for that . Waiting is a process and it might simply be a little bit hard, but let's wait until God's timing is right and then guess what? We get God's very best in our lives. I pray God's blessings.

We've got to take care of you, protect you, and keep you, and may the Lord help us to be faithful. You billions and waiting upon God. I have a lot of video and pictures that takes , um, [inaudible] , uh , uh, about two minutes. And uh, but our ministry and the music behind is so Haley music that says obey and trust and wait upon God. God bless you and thank you for having me. I love you and we'll pray for you. God bless you. Thank you .

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they bought it . [inaudible] [inaudible] yay.

We're going to have people in the back that , uh, would love to pray with you and help you , uh , find Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior for the very first time. And so if you're the 21, extend that , uh , offer of invitation. But we also want to speak to those of you that are here, that most of you are already believers. You've already taken that first step of salvation.

And I think the question this morning is very clear is that, you know, if as you look at your life asking yourself the question, okay, how is am I being obedient right now in my life? How is God using my life right now? Am I being obedient to where he can use me and do all that he wants me to do? You guys have heard the story of , uh , of God using a man's obedience and a great in mighty way.

And I think the other question becomes, even if I'm not fully being obedient now, if I were to commit fully to Christ and be fully obedient to Christ, how could God use my life for his kingdom, for his glory? It's not about us. It's not about how God can use us for our own glory, but it's about how can God use us when we are truly, fully obedient for his glory. And then when you think about corporately as the church, how can God use our church if we are fully as a church, obedient to God?

What could God do for his kingdom through our church? And so this morning, as we go into this time, I want to encourage you to just wrestle with those questions and ask God, what is he saying to you this morning in obedience? So let's pray together as we go into a time of invitation. Dear God, we thank you so much for just the message that you brought to us this morning through pastor, all very simple message of obedience, God that we all cross this room this morning.

Lord, there are those of us in here that have never received you as our Lord and savior. We've never come to the point in our life where we truly surrendered our lives and obedience to you. I pray that today would be the day of salvation for those in this room.

Lord, we know that there are others here this morning, many of us who have made that commitment Lordon and as we look at our life, we're currently, I pray that you would convict our hearts in the areas that we are not being completely obedient to you, Lord, where we are not completely sold out and surrender to you, Lord, that you would show us those things, convict us, Lord, and there would be a repentance and a change in a turning in those areas, God and then Lord, as we think about what you

want to use us to do moving forward, Lord, that that we would see that you can do all things in obedience, Lord, just as you've used pastor Paul in his life to reach so many people for Christ, Lord , that you want to use us in those same ways, Lord, not because of anything of in us Lord, but because of you through us God.

And so I pray that we would dream about that, Lord, that we would think about that not the things of this world, but about how you can use us for your kingdom and that our lives would be centered around that. Lauren saw all across this room, Lord, that you would convict hearts and lives, that you would help us to just be obedient to you and whatever that is wearing , whatever you're calling us to do, then we would move in obedience and we just ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen.