Home/Service Notes/When It's Time
in

If you seek God for wisdom, he will give it to you, through tribulation, patience, experience and hope.

Wednesday Evening Service, 9/24/08

Songs

  • Come, Now Is The Time To Worship
  • This Is How We Overcome
  • You're My All In All
  • Shout To The Lord

Study: When It's Time

Bruce Avants

Everything happens in its time, according to God's plan. Sometimes we want to rush things or do them our own way, but God has a plan.

Ecclesiastes 3:1
  1. To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

Every purpose, not just some: God has a season and time for everything. He knows what you are capable of and what you're not capable of. We need to seek God and find out what he has for our lives. Faith isn't faith if you have backup plans. God didn't tell Abraham where he was going; he just told him to pack up his family and go. When David was called to be king, it took forty years for it to come to pass. How long did God plan to leave the children of Israel in the wilderness? When they wouldn't listen, it turned into forty years.

Romans 5:3-6
  1. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
  2. And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
  3. And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
  4. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

It's a process. You have to go through tribulation to get patience, and patience to get hope. You don't automatically receive all that when you go out into the bay and get baptized. Only when God takes us home will we be perfect in every way.

Christ came in due time, when he was supposed to, not when the Jews expected him to. God had a plan.

Romans 8:24-25
  1. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
  2. But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

When you're waiting with anticipation for something that you haven't seen, that's where the hope comes from. We have that hope of salvation that is coming for us, but it's coming in due time. How do we know when it's time?

Proverbs 3:27-30
  1. Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.
  2. Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee.
  3. Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee.
  4. Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm.

Sometimes you know when it's time to do something. It's obvious; there is no question about it. I struggle with this verse; I get road-rage. I've got to control my temper; that's a process I go through.

Galatians 6:9-10
  1. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
  2. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

When should you do this? Whenever you have opportunity. To whom? To everyone you meet. Sometimes you will do good unto visitors, but not to your brother whom you see every day. You need to especially do good to him; he's walking the same path you are.

We know the time is short; if you look around you, the signs are there. We see people all around who need to be ministered to.

Matthew 10:18-20
  1. And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.
  2. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
  3. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.

Sometimes you're not going to get the answer until right before something happens. Sometimes you hear that still, small voice telling you to do something that seems small and insignificant at the time. At work, they moved me to a ship that wasn't even being worked on. I didn't think anything about it, but within a week I met five people who used to come to church here. You never know where God will put you.

Romans 8:26-28
  1. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
  2. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
  3. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Even if you don't know what to pray for, God will help you with that, too. God will put things on your heart; he uses us to minister to people. Even if you've never heard that still small voice, there's an answer for you.

Proverbs 16:3
  1. Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.

Committing your works unto the Lord doesn't mean doing whatever you want and saying "God, this is for you." But if you sincerely do your best for God, God will bless it. If God gives you a talent, he will also lay a burden on your heart to fulfill that talent.

Proverbs 25:8-11
  1. Go not forth hastily to strive, lest thou know not what to do in the end thereof, when thy neighbour hath put thee to shame.
  2. Debate thy cause with thy neighbour himself; and discover not a secret to another:
  3. Lest he that heareth it put thee to shame, and thine infamy turn not away.
  4. A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.

Sometimes it's just a matter of saying the right thing, or not saying the wrong thing. So you've got issues? Don't spread that stuff around; nobody wants to hear it. You go around always talking about things to no profit, then nobody will listen to you, even when you have something important to say.

Proverbs 10:19
  1. In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise.

The Bible says that the hardest thing to contain is the tongue, and the more words you say, the more likely that some of them will be uncool. Sometimes it's better to say nothing at all.

Proverbs 2:10-11
  1. When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;
  2. Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:

When you've got wisdom and knowledge in your heart, discretion and understanding will keep you out of trouble.

Proverbs 4:7-8
  1. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.
  2. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her.

Principal
Choicest, chief, most desirable

If you want wisdom, and you seek God for it, God will teach you.