The Timing of Jesus

Well, take your Bible this morning, turn with me to John chapter 7. John chapter 7. We will be in verses 1 through 13 this morning. John chapter 7. I went back last night in some of my study time and I looked back at when we started, John 6. We started on February the 28th. Now, obviously we had an interruption or two, but we took quite a bit of time to walk through John chapter 6. But we are transitioning into a new chapter and a new portion of Jesus' ministry. But quickly, I want you to see just how important John chapter 6 was and is to our understanding of who God wants us to be. How it really equips us to do kingdom work.

There are some very fundamental truths, vital truths concerning how people react to Jesus and Jesus' methods in evangelism. Most evangelistic mistakes or really evangelistic heresies could be corrected by a proper understanding of just John chapter 6. We can deal with people who profess Christ properly through understanding John 6. And we can evangelize our friends and our neighbors and people in our communities and even people in our church by understanding John chapter 6. It's really, really loaded from beginning to end. I don't know if I was saying this to my wife or brother Keith, but you know me. I don't preach evangelistic meetings.

I'm usually a homebody. I stay right here and preach and teach and minister with you. But I was saying that you could preach an evangelistic meeting just out of John chapter 6 alone. Not only would it bring people to Christ if the Spirit moves, but it would also equip people and help people in their own personal evangelism and relating to people properly. But now we're going into John chapter 7. And we're going to see a transition in the ministry of Jesus. In chapter 7 and in chapter 8, we will see that the Jews become a lot more active in their rejection of Jesus as a result of what Jesus did in chapter 1 all the way to chapter 6.

They really begin to show their pure hatred of Jesus. As a matter of fact, if you fast forward at the end of chapter 8, you will see that they even try to stone Jesus, but they had no success. So what do we see? The Jews, they begin to really show their true colors and their hatred of Jesus. And we will see more and more of their opposition as we take our time through John chapter 7 and John chapter 8. Now, this morning's message introduces to us some new characters and a new celebration in Jewish life. Here in these verses, we will meet Jesus' brothers and sisters. We will meet Jesus' siblings.

And we will transition into what is called the Feast of the Booths, or your translations might say the Feast of the Tabernacles. Now, this feast really comes into play as we move on past John chapter verses 1 through 13. But they will come into play. This will come into play as we continue in the verses. Now, the title of the message is very simple. It is the timing of Jesus. It is the timing of Jesus. We're going to look at three main truths out of these verses. We're going to look at the background. I almost called it the context. It's background, it's context. Because we are in a new background and there is a new context.

Of course, some of John chapter 6 is part of that context. But we're transitioning. Then we're going to look at the world's timing. That is the world's timing for Jesus. And then we're going to look at the Lord's timing. The Lord's timing. You see how that's broken down? The background verses 1 and 2. The world's timing verses 3 through 9. And the Lord's timing verses 10 through 13. Let's take our Bibles. Let's read together and look at these verses. "And after these things, Jesus was walking in Galilee, for he was unwilling to walk in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him.

Now the feast of the Jews, the feast of the booths, was at hand. His brothers therefore said to him, 'Depart from here and go into Judea, that your disciples also may behold your works, which you were doing. For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly.' If you do these things, show yourself to the world. For not even his brothers were believing in him." That's verse 5. Verse 6. "Jesus therefore said to them, 'My time is not yet at hand, but your time is always opportune. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil. Go up to the feast yourselves.

I do not go up to the feast because my time has not yet fully come.' And having said these things to them, he stayed in Galilee. But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he himself also went up not publicly, but as it were, in secret. The Jews therefore were seeking him at the feast and were saying, 'Where is he?' And there was much grumbling among the multitudes of the people concerning him. Some were saying, 'He is a good man.' Others were saying, 'No.' On the contrary, he leads the multitude astray. Yet no one was speaking openly of him for fear of the Jews." Now, I hope you're taking notes. Trust that you do.

I encourage you to study during the week and just digest all that the Lord gives us each time we meet. So let's look at main truth number one. Let's look at the background or the context. The background or the context. Some is obvious and some is not. But notice the verses. And after these things, Jesus was walking in Galilee. That's where he had been previously in the north. "For he was unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill him." Now, the Feast of the Jews, the Feast of the Booths was at hand. Now, here in verse 1, right away, we see this language after these things.

This speaks of all that took place in John chapter 6. That's a natural transition. Now, interestingly, if you study the other gospels in light of what we're looking at in John, and you look at the timeline here, there was about six months between John 6 and John 7. Let me show you. In chapter 6 verse 4, it says that those events took place around the Passover, which was in April. While in chapter 7, these events, this Feast of the Tabernacles, it was in October. So what do we see? There is a portion of time between John 6 and John 7. Now, why do I mention these things? Let me show you. First, there is time with the disciples.

There is time with the disciples. Go back to the text. Now, after these things, Jesus, now notice, was walking in Galilee. All of the translations that we have say the same thing. And I want you to notice that. That's something that you will overlook. He was walking in Galilee. If we study these other gospels, we will see that Jesus did much during this six-month period. Let me give you some verses. Matthew 16 starting in verse 13. Matthew 17 starting in verse 19. Matthew 18 starting in verse 1 all the way down to verse 35. Those verses tell us that he spent much time teaching his disciples. You see?

So during this time, he was with his disciples in Galilee, walking in Galilee, and he was teaching his disciples. If you go back and study those verses, you will see that he was teaching them of his impending rejection. He was preparing them. He was teaching them about the crucifixion and the resurrection. And he also during this time establishes Peter, James, and John as that inner circle. I don't know if you realize it, but Peter, James, and John had a unique relationship with Jesus. So you must see that there was time with the disciples. I ran across something that MacArthur said just talking about this time.

It was very good insight as to this time Jesus had with his disciples. He points out that Jesus spent just two days with the crowds while he spent six months with the disciples. I like that. So what we see is Jesus is building his disciples. He's not just building a crowd. Jesus was forming a band that would take the gospel to the world. The text goes on to say that the Jews in Judea were wanting to kill him. Some have thought that he was hiding out. He was staying away from him because of this. And we will see that in this time he had a purpose and he was building the disciples. He was pouring in to the disciples.

So there's that time that we might not see with the disciples. Second, notice the time of the Feast of the Feast of the Tabernacles, the Feast of the Booths. We saw that in verse two. The Feast of the Booths was also called the Feast of the Tabernacles. The King James uses the word tabernacles. I will give you just a quick description or explanation of what this is. This was a celebration which lasted eight days in the lives of the Jews. Began at the end of September and it went on into October. And it was a special festival, a high mark on their calendar. On the eighth day, it was a special day there at the end of the festival.

Now during this celebration, the Jews would build these little shelters out of branches as their forefathers had done when they came out of Egyptian slavery. See, if you go back and you look at the Old Testament, their forefathers when they wandered in the wilderness, they would build these little shelters and they were booths. They were tabernacles. And this is a celebration of remembering Leviticus 23 starting in verse 33. And also in chapter 42, Nehemiah chapter 8 right around verse 18, all teach us about them building these booths, these tabernacles and them remembering.

Those who journeyed to Jerusalem, they would build their shelters outside of the city. And those who lived in the city, they would build their shelters on the rooftops. There were many sacrifices that were offered on this occasion. We see this out of Numbers 29 starting in verse 12, Deuteronomy 16 starting in verse 14. This was a great time of joy in their lives, in their worship. One thing that's interesting to note is the Jewish historian Josephus. He was a first century Jewish historian, very accurate in his historical accounts. He notes that this feast was one of the most popular of the three major feasts on the Jewish calendar.

So we see this very popular feast of the tabernacles or feast of the booths that was taking place here. So here we have a large gathering of Jews there in Jerusalem, possibly the largest crowd of the year. And the Jews were becoming more and more hostile towards Jesus. Verse 1 goes on and says they wanted to kill him. That's obvious and we will see that as we continue. Now we will see a little later in the message the significance of this crowd and the significance of this celebration. But I want us to see that Jesus stays in the north. He stays a distance away with the disciples there in Galilee.

He was teaching them and he was molding them and he was pouring in to them. Now what does this mean for you, for me? How can we apply this to us? I think we need to see the great need. Now listen for time in being taught. There is no substitute people. It just takes time. We all must be taught and there must be no substitute allowed in our lives and in the life of the church. We must have time being taught corporately and individually. And see it's verses like this that enable me and help me and encourage me and then equip me to see that we must verse by verse, chapter by chapter, sometimes subject by subject go into the word of God.

We must come on Sunday mornings. We must come on Sunday nights. We must come each time we can unless we are providentially hindered because you and I need it far more than we know. Jesus knew what these disciples needed and he knew what was best. See that can just be overlooked. This must be looked at in light of the synoptic gospels, the others. After these things, Jesus was walking in Galilee. He was with those disciples. Now I want you to notice something, a contrast. If Jesus would have performed ministry the American way, he would have spent more time with the crowd.

He would have wanted another big event because he would have been judged successful by the crowd, right? He would have desired and planned and orchestrated another big event. That's the American way because what could have happened was he could have had a bigger crowd and a bigger crowd. And if he would have been a good American, what he would have done is written a book and had some conferences and he would have become more popular. Now I'm not against books and conferences. I'm just using that language to show you the difference. The American way would have said stay with the crowd.

As a matter of fact, some of us have had these erroneous ideas before. Some of us have been duped by thinking that large crowds mean that God is working. There can be a large crowd and God might not even be in it. But Jesus, he spent time with those disciples. Before we leave this, I want to ask you a question. How was your time in Galilee? How is your time in Galilee? See, you must be with Jesus as a born again Christian. Listen, those of us who were redeemed, we must be with Jesus.

And you know, in our culture, we have the wonderful privilege of having many different books, good books, lots of different sermons, lots of different spiritual resources. When I went to India, I realized there were people who did not have spiritual resources. Praise the Lord, they had a copy of God's Word. But in that, even resources can listen, clutter up our time in Galilee. See, there's no substitute. There's no substitute for you and your Bible and God. And that's it. What did they have? It was the disciples and Jesus in Galilee and they were at his feet. You and I must be careful to discipline our lives.

Now listen to spend time with Jesus. He desires it. This is very important. And this is, listen, part of God forming us into the people that he wants us to be. Because if we're not careful and all we do is spend time with what other people say and what other people write, we will become, listen, clones. That's not what God desires. So this is the background. This great event on the Jewish calendar. And Jesus is staying back because he's spending some time. And this was after everything that had gone on in chapter six. Let's move on. Notice truth number two, the world's timing. The world's timing. Verse three on down to verse nine.

His brothers therefore said to him, depart from here and go into Judea. That's down to the south. That your disciples also may behold your works, which you are doing. That's recognizing the miracles. Verse four for no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If you do these things, show yourselves to the world. For not even his brothers were believing in him. Verse five tells us, Jesus therefore said to them, my time is not yet at hand, but your time is always opportune. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify of it. It's that its deeds are evil. Go up to the feast yourselves.

I do not go up to this feast because my time has not yet come. And having said these things to them, he stayed in Galilee. Now what we see here is the world's timing for Jesus. Now I've already said it earlier, but these verses introduce new characters, the brothers, the siblings of Jesus. Some of you might be surprised that Jesus had siblings. Mark chapter six, verse three. They were questioning about Jesus. They said, is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James? And it goes on the list as brothers. What do we see? These were the siblings of Jesus. These were actual biological siblings of Jesus.

But if you know your Bible, you will know that these were half brothers and half sisters because their father was Joseph while Jesus' father was God the father. Because he was conceived of the Holy Spirit. Now I don't know if you realize it, but Catholic theology and tradition teach that Jesus had no siblings and that Mary stayed a virgin all of her days. Now that is erroneous. And that is part of their deification of Mary. That's another subject for another day. But the issue here is not the debate over Jesus' siblings, but how they related to Jesus and tried to impact his ministry. So I want you to see three things out of these verses.

First, they called for a more public role for Jesus. We see this in verse three through four. They called for a more public role of Jesus. Now here in these verses, we see that they were pushing Jesus to go into Judea and become more public. There is a key word here in verse four. Go back to the verse, verse four. "For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly." There's that key word, that key word out of verse four. The English standard in the King James read openly. This word means to have a bold public stance.

So we see his brothers are pushing him to step out into the public, out into the most public festival on the calendar. They wanted a very public Jesus, possibly performing more big miracles like before. They wanted recognition. Notice they said, "Do these things for your disciples," in verse three. And do these things for the world, they said in verse four. And the word works here refers to those miracles. Now I'll ask you a question that we can't really answer. What was their motivation? We really don't know.

But clearly they're saying, "Step out, come to the public, come out into this largest event on the calendar, and do these things that you've been doing for these so-called disciples." And see, they were calling for a more public role for Jesus. Second notice, they were not yet believers. We've read that more than once, verse five. "For not even his brothers were believing in him." What is this telling us? They were not converted. Now we know that they were converted. Acts chapter one, verse 14 says that his brothers did believe in Christ. That verse reads that all these...

Acts chapter one, verse 14 reads, "All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and his brothers." It seems that they came to faith in Christ after the resurrection. Galatians chapter one, starting in verse 18 and following. We see that Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, goes to Jerusalem to bring his ministry before those who were the pillars in the church there in Jerusalem.

And in that verse, verse 19, it reads, Paul says, "But I saw none of the other disciples except James the Lord's brother." So James the Lord's brother became one of the central figures in the church there in Jerusalem. But in verse five, they weren't converted. They were still unconverted. Third, notice they were corrected by Jesus. Starting from verse six all the way down to verse nine. What does he say? "My time is not yet at hand, but your time is always the opportune time." There's that correction. This is a response by Jesus to his brothers. They were pushing him. They were pushing him to be very public, take a public stance.

But he had a response. Now, I'm going to break down this response. There's four things real quickly. Notice he differentiates between his time and their time. "Your time is always an opportunity, an opportune time, the right time." But that's not my time. Notice he states that they were of the world. He states that they were of the world in verse seven. Notice he tells them to go up to the feast in verse eight. And then notice he stated that his time had not yet come. "Go up," verse eight, "to the feast yourselves. I do not go up to this feast because my time has not fully come." What we see is he's speaking of his time.

They were corrected by Jesus. And we see Jesus simply stays with his disciples and he refuses to be pushed into a public ministry to meet their needs or fulfill their expectations of who they thought Jesus should be. Maybe they wanted more miracles. Verse three, the end of verse three and the end of verse four seem to indicate that they wanted more miracles. Maybe they wanted more miracles so they could judge for themselves even more. It is clear that they did not have in mind God's timing, God's timing for Jesus. Now for you from me, what can we learn? I think we must see the importance of Jesus timing compared to man's timing.

Listen, we always want things on our timetable. We want things quick and we want things easy, especially in our American fast food microwave world that we live in. We don't want to wait for anything. And maybe we are much like his siblings and that we want to test Jesus. Maybe we don't know it. We want Jesus to do things on our timetable so that we can see and even test if he is real in our lives. We may want him to demonstrate himself to us, even maybe for our own pleasure and our own benefit. Maybe we want that lost loved one to come to Christ so it will benefit us. But we must see that our timetable is not always like Jesus timetable.

We also need to see that Jesus siblings, listen, they saw it all wrong because they were lost. Listen, they could not see things God's way. Sometimes those of us who were redeemed, we struggle to see things God's way. And we just need a little correction and we need a little growing. And we need a little time and teaching, but they never could see it God's way because they were unconverted. And I'm going to tell you, you will never see the works of God in your life, God's way, unless you are converted and it takes maturity. It takes growth. We see this in the lives of the disciples. They need growing. They needed changing.

They needed positive and negative edification we learned about. But what are we seeing God's timing as it relates to the world's timing? And all the disciples, all these, excuse me, all the siblings of Jesus were doing was pushing on him the world's timing. Then number three, notice the Lord's timing. The Lord's timing starting in verse 10 to verse 13. But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he himself also went up, but not publicly. The Jews therefore in verse 11, they were at the feast and they were looking for him. Verse 12. And there were multitudes grumbling among themselves concerning him. Some were saying he's good.

Others were saying, no, he leads the multitudes astray. And then verse 13, yet no one was speaking openly for fear of the Jews. Here we see that Jesus' ways are not the ways of man. His siblings wanted Jesus to come down out of Galilee into Judea for all to see. They wanted to see more miracles and more works for the crowds. They seem to want Jesus to create another great following again. I wondered if maybe they were at a distance or even there in John chapter six. Perhaps they had seen what had taken place several months ago. Maybe they were there. Maybe they were at a distance.

We do not know, but we do know that they wanted Jesus to make himself known. But we see the Lord's timing. Three things out of these verses. First, Jesus did go to the feast. What does it say? When his disciples had gone, then he himself went, but not publicly. Notice that Jesus did go, but in a completely different fashion than had been requested of him. First, he did not want to go with his siblings. And second, he did not want to go with the public, for the public and in public. He knew that the Jews were seeking to kill him. And he knew that his time of death was not at hand. Really, he just slipped in. He slipped in.

Later in verse 14, we see that Jesus arrived in the middle of the feast. One of the resources that I use points out that when Jesus was going up in the middle of the feast, he was able to slip in because all of the roads would have been deserted. All of the people would have been there at the feast. So he was able to easily slip in on through some area on down south into Judea. So Jesus did go to the feast. He slipped into the feast privately. Second, there was much debate among the people. We see that in verses 11 through 12.

Now, the phrase, the Jews in verse 11, it does not refer to the common Jew, but to the leaders who were seeking to kill him. You need to see that. The Jews, therefore, were seeking him at the feast and they were seeking him. They were looking for him. And this phrase, the Jews, it speaks of, listen, the leaders who sought to kill him. Now, there is a different word that's used for the people. We see that in verse 12. The New American says multitude. The English standard, the King James reads people. And we see the people, they were debating. In verse 12, they were arguing among themselves as to who Jesus was.

In verse 12, we see that similar word, that word grumbling, which speaks of their debating, their arguing. And notice what is going on here among the Jews as a whole. The leadership were seeking the killing and the people were arguing about who he was. Notice at the end of verse 12, it shows us that they were arguing from opposite sides. Look at the verse. Some were saying he was a good man. Others were saying no. On the contrary, he leads the multitudes astray. So they were arguing about who he was. So there was a great debate. And in the middle of that debate, the leaders wanted to kill him.

Verse 3, or excuse me, third, third, there was much fear among the people. Look at verse 13. Yet no one was speaking openly of him for fear of the Jews. Really, this just shows the quagmire of a hotbed of a situation. The people dare not speak openly of Jesus one way or the other. If they were for him, they dare not mention this in this volatile situation. If they were against him, they dare not mention this in this volatile situation. There was much fear among the people. And here we see that the Lord Jesus, listen, he performed his duties according to God's timetable and according to God's purposes. His time was not yet at hand.

He goes up to the feast, but not the way the brothers wanted. We also see how volatile the situation truly is. Much debate among the people and much violence in the heart of the leaders. Now, what can we apply to our lives here out of these verses, verses 10 through 13? We must see that there has been and always will be much debate about who Jesus was and what he came to do. Oh, there's not debate among God's people. We know who Jesus is. We know what Jesus came to do. Listen, we're learning from the word and we're receiving. He is deity, God in the flesh, the only true Messiah for the world. We know who he is and what he's come to do.

But yet among the lost world and among the people of the world, there has been and always will be much debate about Jesus. And let me tell you, if we venture into the world and we present Jesus as deity, they will react towards us the way they, the crowd reacted towards Jesus. Don't expect everybody to love you and embrace you when you present Christ, because listen, the leadership hated Jesus. And listen, the world will hate us too if we proclaim him accurately. And listen, we can't argue with the people and we can't prove to the people who Jesus is. It must be revealed. And there are two ways in which God reveals himself to mankind.

First, through our own life. Listen, you must be a Christian in the world before you can ever open up your mouth. And let me tell you something. If you live a hypocritical life, please do not open up your mouth and witness. All you will do is hinder the work of the gospel. I've seen it. I've witnessed it. I've been there before on job sites and people will begin to open up their mouth. And I would think, please do not open up your mouth. And if you are a hypocrite and you live a contradictory lifestyle, do not open up your mouth. But listen for us who are born again, who love the Lord, the people of the world must see our life first.

So first, they must see it through us. And then second, it must be a work of the spirit. When we open up our mouths to tell people about Christ, it doesn't matter if it's on our job site. It doesn't matter if it's in our workplace or in our home and in our neighborhood or with our family members, those who are without Christ, it must take a work of God the Father to draw them to Christ. We learn in John six and sometimes the vehicle is our own lips in our own life. Praise God, he can use us, but we must see. Listen, how the world reacts, Jesus timing was not at hand yet. It was not his time to die, but we see how they reacted to him.

Now, as we begin to conclude, I think there are several truths here that we need to take into our own lives and pray over us. One of the reasons why I encourage you to take notes, because you need to go over and go over them and study them and also pray over them. But I think there's some truths that we need to pray over for our own lives. One in particular, first is time with Jesus in Galilee. You might say, "Pastor, that's really not the main truth of the message." It might not be the main truth of the text, but it's there and you can't argue with it. We need to evaluate our time with Jesus. Now, I'm using that word Galilee figuratively.

Galilee was the wilderness. It was off the beaten path. And Jesus was spending time purposefully with those disciples. And you and I need to be people who spend time with God. Just us, prayer and fasting, devoting that time that we need to devote to him, just us and the word, no man's voice over our shoulder with Jesus in Galilee. That needs to be our personal habit. It needs to be a hallmark of our life and then of our walk. And let me tell you, if that goes on in your life and my life, that will form us into the people that God wants us to be.

Second would be that people are going to debate and argue and misunderstand Jesus and even hate Jesus. What does that mean for us? Listen, we just need to realize the world's not going to love us. The world hated Jesus. And if you and I could get along with the world, it means that something's wrong with our Christianity. Now, I'm not saying we go out and we'd be rude for Jesus. We just have this big club for Jesus and we just beat people up. I'm not saying that. No, that has never been the type of Christianity that I preached or lived in front of you.

But when we speak of the truths of the word of God, and we are true Bible Christians, listen, the world will not accept us. The world will hate us in many instances. So get ready. And listen, I think the most important thing that we need to see is his timing. That's the main point of this message. The main point of these verses, his brothers, his siblings, they were saying, "Come, Jesus, come on down to Judea. This is the wonderful feast of the Tabernacles and do the things you've been doing for your disciples to see." They wanted a public Jesus. Jesus says, "No, that's not my time." And as a matter of fact, you don't even know my purposes.

We must realize, people, that God works in our lives and in the world according to his time. We might have to pray for years for certain things before we see them. And if that's the case, that is according to his time. See, we want to take our needs and our burdens and we want to pop them into the microwave of prayer and we want to wait a few moments and have the thing ding and God gives us what we want. It doesn't always work that way. We might have to work and we might have to labor and we might have to pray and we might have to fast.

And we might have to wait on God and even at times say, "God, where in the world are you?" Maybe even year after year before we see God do certain things that we're praying for. Now, we don't always have to wait, but we must understand that his ways are different than our ways and his timing is a lot of times different from our timing. And we must see that Jesus operated on God's timetable. I'll tell you a story and then we'll close. This comes out of my own life and it's something that God has taught me about this timing in my own life and I might have to live this again in the future.

Many of you know I spent 10 years full-time ministry, 10 years of unbroken ministry on church staff and I enjoyed that and was in the middle of God's will. And I'm thankful for that. But there came a point in time when God seemingly took me out of ministry for a period of time. I never really saw myself as being out of ministry. I had friends that saw that. I'll never forget one friend one day on the phone in a real tentative fashion.

He said, "Do you ever think you will go back in the ministry?" And I kind of said, "I don't think that I'm out." I didn't see myself as being out of the ministry, but I wasn't serving a church and I was in secular employment and I was just in this, I call it a holding pattern. Y'all know what a holding pattern is? I've never been caught in one in an airplane. Sometimes that airplane would just circle for hours for the right time to land. I was in a holding pattern, five years, almost. And you know, no matter what I did, my wife can attest to this, brother Keith can attest to this.

No matter what I did, I could not get myself out of that holding pattern. I had to pray and wait on the Lord and let him teach me. And listen, let him mold me and work in me, change me, rebuke me, edify me, you name it, all of it. There was an allotted period of time for me and I was not coming out of that holding pattern until God said so. That is the sovereign hand of God in the life of a believer. Don't we see that in the life of Job? Things didn't get better until God said, son, it's gonna get better. We see that in the life of Hannah. Remember, she was barren and wanted a child. She begins to pray for a child.

Then she begins to pray for a son. And then she says, but God, if you give me a son, I'll give him to you. That's when the time was over and God said, I've got you right where I want you because I needed a boy. Samuel. We must see, listen, God's timetable. That's hard sometimes for us to see. But yet when God works in our lives, where we have to wait on him and persevere in him and we have to demonstrate patience and even have joy in circumstances that we do not like, that's when God forms us and molds us and that's when God works in us.

Listen, and that's when God matures us and then that prepares us, listen, for the next time, because the next time is coming. So what do we see? God's timing. Now, when we look at the life of Jesus, and when we look at things according to God's timing, what do we have on the backside? We don't have a more public Jesus. We don't necessarily have more miracles. We have the blessed crucifixion, substitutionary death. And what I want to say to you is when we wait on God to work in his time, you know what we get on the other side? Him. We get God. And you know what God had on the other side from me? This work that he is unfolding here for us.

All that time God was preparing me for here and I'm thankful for that now, even though at the time that waiting was difficult. And that's part of what I'm going to share out of those messages on Sunday night as we move away from churches. The revelation. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for letting us come here today with friends, brothers and sisters. Lord, we look around and these walls can talk to us.