From His Heart

Speaker 1

What do you do when the work doesn't seem to be working? Here's Pastor Jeff Shreve.

Speaker 2

God is more concerned with timing than he is time. You and I are much more concerned about time than we are timely because we want things. Boom, just like that. Hey, God, I'm claiming this promise and boom, I just, I just want it just like this.

God doesn't do it that way. God does things in the fullness of time. He does them at the right time. Jesus was never late and he was never in a hurry. He was always right on time.

God says, I'm not concerned about your time. I'm concerned about timing.

Speaker 3

He can heal every scar with real truth, real love, real hope from his heart.

Speaker 1

Welcome to From His Heart, where today Pastor Jeff Shreve is going to share important truths to remember when we're being faithful in our Christian life. And yet everything seems to fall apart. The message today is entitled "When the Work Doesn't Seem to be Working."

It's from Pastor Jeff's eight-lesson series, "Faithful and True," introducing the one and only God. It's a study of the book of Exodus that we're in this month. This important series is also our special gift of thanks for your support this month. You can get the series on a USB flash drive, digital download, CDs, or DVDs—your choice.

I'll tell you more about that later, or you can go to fromhisheart.org. Now, though, open your Bible to the fifth chapter of the book of Exodus as Pastor Jeff begins this lesson to help you stay encouraged even when the work doesn't seem to be working.

Speaker 2

Well, all of us know that in the Christian life we can run into situations where, man, we have made a commitment to the Lord and we're all in. And Lord, I'm going to follow you and I'm going to get baptized and I'm going to give and I'm going to do what you say. And we are all in and we're obeying him, and then the bottom seems to drop out. We say, "I don't understand this, God. I'm all in. And now all these things are coming up, and my life is more chaotic than before." What do you do when the work doesn't seem to be working?

Three discoveries from this text. Number one, we go to the Lord in prayer when the work doesn't seem to be working. When you say, "Hey, I'm obeying God and everything is falling apart," and the situation you were in, which was bad, now is so much worse and you don't understand, what do you do? You go to the Lord. The children of Israel, they went to Pharaoh and cried out, but Moses went to the Lord to cry out. It says that he returned to the Lord. Verse 22 states that he returned to the Lord. The practice of Moses' life, as you study his life, reveals that Moses was a man of prayer. When difficulties came his way, he would turn to the Lord.

So we go to the Lord with our broken heart and our questions. Psalm 62, verse 8 says, "Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us." We get completely honest with the Lord. We don't tell him what we think he wants to hear; we tell him what's really going on. We go to the Lord in prayer, and we lay our needs, our questions, and our complaints. We put all of that on the altar.

The second discovery is that we remind ourselves that God has a wonderful plan. God has a wonderful plan. Chapter 6, verse 1 states, "Then the Lord, Yahweh, said to Moses, 'Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. For under compulsion, he shall let them go, and under compulsion, he shall drive them out of his land.'" God doesn't answer his why questions. He just says, "Now you're going to see it. Now it is coming. You're going to see what I'm going to do with Pharaoh."

Here's the thing: God had told Moses at the burning bush what he was going to do. It is well within Yahweh's power to just go after Pharaoh and say, "Thus says the Lord, let my people go. And if you don't, you're toast." Boom, right then he could have been toast. He could have just incinerated him. He could have just been sitting on his throne and turned into a pile of ash right then and there. But that's not the way God did it. God doesn't do it like that. He sets the stage for his glory to be displayed.

Look at chapter five, verses one and two again. "And afterward, Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, let my people go, that they may celebrate a feast to me in the wilderness.'" Now, he's not saying, "Let my people go forever," just that they can celebrate a feast in the wilderness, just so that they can go three days away and sacrifice to the Lord our God. But Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord. And besides, I will not let Israel go." The arrogance and pride dripping off of his statement is just amazing, mind-boggling.

Then what does Pharaoh do? He says, "Hey, I'm going to show you something. I'm going to show you who's in charge here." He decides to make it tougher on the slaves. "I'm taking away the straw. They're not going to be given straw anymore. And it's going to be hard. I'm going to keep the quota where it needs to be." An ancient record said the quota was 2,000 bricks a day. So Pharaoh turned up the heat on God's people. And God, this is all part of the master plan of God. He's setting the stage to showcase his glory.

Would it have shown his glory if God had just incinerated Pharaoh? Yes, but not like what he's going to do. What he's going to do is going to let everybody know that he is God. "Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice? Let me introduce myself to you." So Pharaoh turns up the heat, and God responds with heat.

Have you ever played catch with maybe an older brother as a kid? You're just throwing the ball. You got your mitt, you got your hard ball, you're throwing the ball, and all of a sudden maybe it's your older brother or maybe it's just a friend. They just throw it back a little harder. They put a little heat on it, you know, just to say, "Hey, I'm over here." They throw it to you, and you catch it, and it kind of stings your hand a little bit. You put a little heat on yours and throw it a little harder.

I have two older brothers, so I'm throwing some heat, but I'm giving up five years to my middle brother and nine years to my older brother. So I'm losing that battle. If they want to put on some heat, I can't catch the ball, and I can't compete with the heat. Pharaoh's turning up the heat, and God says, "Oh, you want to play turn up the heat with me? Let me introduce myself to you, Pharaoh. You think you can turn up the heat on my people? I can teach you a lot about what it means to turn up the heat."

And that's what God does: ten plagues that turn up the heat. Every single plague is directed at a god of Egypt because the Lord is showing that he is God and there is no other. Now remember this: when the Lord spoke to Moses at the burning bush, he told him, "You with the elders of Israel will come to the king of Egypt." This is Exodus 3, 18-20. "You will say to him, 'The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. So now please let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. But I know that the king of Egypt will not permit you except under compulsion. So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my miracles, which I shall do in the midst of it. And after that, he will let you go.'"

That's what he told Moses at the burning bush. Moses thinks like we do: when God says he's going to do something, we think he's going to do it right then. But God doesn't work like that. He didn't tell him how he was going to do that in terms of a time frame. He didn't tell him when he was going to do that. He just told him he was going to do that. So when Moses comes to Pharaoh in chapter five and says, "Let my people go," Pharaoh doesn't let his people go. And God doesn't stretch out his hand yet. So Pharaoh's like, "What?" And Moses is like, "What gives?"

Speaker 1

God?

Speaker 2

This doesn't make sense. God. God, you said you were going to deliver and you haven't delivered. And God says, I haven't delivered yet. I didn't tell you I was going to deliver on day one. I just told you I was going to deliver. Now remember this. God is more concerned with timing than he is time. You and I are much more concerned about time than we are timing. Because we want things. Boom, just like that. God. Hey, God, I'm claiming this promise and boom, I just want it just like this. God doesn't do it that way. God doesn't care about what your time frame is. God does things in the fullness of time. He does them at the right time. Jesus was never late and he was never in a hurry. He was always right on time. We have that wonderful name of God, Jehovah, Nick of time. And he comes right in the nick of time. That's not a real name in the Bible, but it's described in the Bible that God shows up in the nick of time, in the fullness of time.

We want things to be on our time. And God says, I'm not concerned about your time. I'm concerned about timing. And so I'm setting this stage to display my glory. And this is all working out to plan. How many times have you gotten all hung up on your time, and you lose sight of God's timing and you want something from the Lord? You're praying about some need and you're asking the Lord for it. And you don't understand why it's not here. And you get so worried and so bothered because it hasn't come yet. And you get so frustrated with God because he doesn't. Lord, you haven't answered this yet, and I don't understand this.

I still remember when my middle daughter Amy was a third grader. She called me one day. I had Thursdays off working at the church, and so I was doing the yard and I had taken the kids to school. And she called and she said, dad, I forgot my lunch. Can you bring me my lunch? I said, yeah, sure, don't worry about it. She called like at 8:30 or something like that. Yeah, don't worry about it. And so I finished the yard and did stuff I needed to do and got showered up. I found out what time her lunch was. Her lunch was at noon. And so I made sure that I got to the school at noon. I'm sitting in the lunchroom, I have her lunch, and I see her march in with her class, and she is mad at me, and she's looking at me and she's like, dad, I said, what? You know, she's like, I called you. I told you I didn't have my lunch. I said, I know. She goes, well, you didn't bring my lunch. I said, Amy, what time is lunch? She said, noon. I said, what time is it? She said, noon. I said, here's your lunch.

Well, you wanted me. Well, I thought you were gonna bring it early so then I would know it was there and then I wouldn't worry about it. I said, you don't need to worry about it. You just know that you called your dad and your dad's gonna take care of you. You didn't need your lunch at 10:30. You needed it at noon. And I'm here with your lunch at noon. Hey, we can get really worried and bothered and bent out of shape when we don't see God doing things on our timetable. And God says, you need to take your timetable and throw it away. You go off my timetable, and I am going to do what I said, but I'm going to do it my way and not your way.

Psalm 27, verses 13 and 14. Two great verses to memorize. David said, I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for the Lord. We go off his timetable, not ours. So we remind ourselves God has a wonderful plan. I may not understand what he's doing, but God knows what he's doing. And so I can trust him. We go to the Lord in prayer. We remind ourselves that God has a wonderful plan. And then thirdly, we remind ourselves that God has a wonderful purpose.

A wonderful purpose. Verse 2 of chapter 6. God spoke further to Moses and said to him, I am the Lord. I am Yahweh. And I appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as God Almighty. But by my name, Lord Yahweh, I did not make myself known to them. Now that's kind of interesting because we have the name Yahweh in the book of Genesis. And so they knew that name. And so it's like, well, Lord, you did use that name to them. And they knew about the Lord God, Yahweh, Elohim. That's used a lot in the Book of Genesis. Well, they knew that name, but God made. Although they knew the name, they didn't know the significance of the name. God revealed himself primarily to them as El Shaddai, God Almighty. Genesis 17. I am El Shaddai. God says to Abraham, El Shaddai is God Almighty. Shaddai means mountains. And God is the powerful God. Powerful like a mountain. But Shaddai in the Hebrew can also mean. This is kind of shocking, but it can also mean breasts. And so some have said, well, God is all powerful. So God is like a mountain, but God is also the breasted one. He cares for his children. He nourishes his children. He provides for his children. He satisfies his children. Both of those are true in the name El Shaddai.

But now God is revealing himself to Moses and to the people as Yahweh. As I am the self-existent one, the God who was and who is and who is to come the Alpha and the Omega. I am everything that you need. I am you fill in the blank. That's who I am. I am who I am. That is my memorial name. That is my covenant name. God says to his people, I want you to know that I am the great I am. I want you to know that I am the great I am. Am I Adonai, Sovereign Lord? Yes. But I'm more than that to you. I am everything that you need. And that is my personal name. That is my covenant name. That is my great terrible name. And you and I can speak that name. And we can get close to God with that name.

And he says in verse four of chapter six, and I will also establish my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they sojourned. And furthermore, I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage. And I have remembered my covenant. Say therefore to the sons of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. Then I will take you for my people, and I will be your God. And you shall know that I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for possession. I am the Lord. I am. I am. The Lord is. I am. That's what that means. So I am. I am.

So Moses spoke thus to the sons of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses on account of their despondency and cruel bondage. They couldn't receive it because they were hurting so badly. Sometimes people who are hurting really badly, they can't receive much. Moses shared it with them, but they didn't receive it. But they would later on. Hey, God wants his people to know that he is the great I am. But not only that. God wants his enemies to know that he is the great I am, so that all the world would know that I am the great I am. That there is one God, and that is me. Because God is going to decimate Egypt. He is going to destroy Egypt. And why does he do it? He says over and over, so that they would know that he is the Lord.

Exodus 7, verses 4 and 5 When Pharaoh does not listen to you, then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring out my hosts, my people, the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by great judgments. The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand on Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst. Exodus 14 For Pharaoh will say of the sons of Israel, they are wandering aimlessly in the land. The wilderness has shut them in. Thus I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will chase after them into the Red Sea. And I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army. And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord. Then the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord. Exodus 14:18 When I am honored through Pharaoh, through his chariots and his horsemen.

What is the purpose that God is orchestrating all this stuff? So that his people would know that he is the Lord? So that the enemies of God would know that he is the Lord. And you read in the book of Joshua, the book of conquest, when they go into Jericho to spy out the land, Rahab the harlot said, we heard about what your God did to Egypt, how he destroyed Egypt in the Red Sea. And we were scared to death of the great. I am. That's the purpose of what God is doing, to make his name known, shine through your life that he is the God who is able. Not on your timetable, but on his timetable. Because everything is about Him.

Do you know that God is the Lord, that God is in charge, that God is everything that you ever need? You know what's interesting about the name Yahweh? Y H? W h. We think it's pronounced Yahweh. When you think about it. The Bible says, Psalm 50, let everything that has breath praise Yahweh. You think about the pronunciation of that. It sounds like breath. The Lord puts His name in the mouths of every person so that we would know that he alone is God. And when a person takes his last breath, believer or unbeliever, he says the name of God, Yahweh, because God is God, the only God.

Listen, I don't know what's going on in life, and I don't know how you're hurting, but the Lord does and he cares. And he's got a plan and he's got a purpose. And remember, truly he is good. Truly his loving kindness is everlasting in Romans 8:28. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. Now, when we have a God that we can trust and we can know who is good, who loves us and works all things together for good, to those of us who love him, we don't have to fear anything. We can just trust Him.

Speaker 1

You've been listening to part two of the lesson called "When the Work Doesn't Seem to Be Working." It's from Pastor Jeff Shreve's series, "Faithful and Introducing the One and Only God."

Now, if you're a supporter of this ministry, we hope that you are genuinely excited to be a part of helping us teach you, your community, and the world about how and why we should be faithful and true as well. Reconciling people to Jesus, together we are proclaiming real truth, real love, and real hope from the loving heart of God to the lost and hurting people throughout the world.

This month, we're hoping that you'll help us with a gift of support as we continually plan to expand the outreach of this broadcast ministry as God supplies through His people. For your gift this month, we'd like to say thank you by sending you Pastor Jeff's eight-message series we're in this month called "Faithful and True, Introducing the One and Only God." It'll help you live a life that is empowered by God, giving you courage to be the ambassador for Christ that He created you to be. And with that gift, you'll also help us share the good news around the world.

Pastor Jeff is a volunteer for this ministry and receives no income from it. All you give goes to help us reach people, teach people, and help them grow in their relationship with Christ. Would you make that gift today by calling 866-40-BIBLE (866-40-24253) or go to fromhisheart.org and request the series "Faithful and True" when you make that gift? It's available on DVDs, CDs, a USB flash drive, or an immediate MP3 download of your choice, and may God bless you.

Well, I'm Larry Nobles. Thank you for joining us today on From His Heart. Be here next time when Pastor Jeff will continue this powerful and encouraging series based on the book of Exodus called "Faithful and True," when we'll again open God's Word and share real truth, real love, and real hope. From His heart.

Speaker 3

There is truth There is truth There is bless There is hope that you always dream love he can heal every scars of real truth, real love, real hope. From his heart.

Speaker 1

From His Heart is the listener-supported broadcast ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve, speaking the truth in love to a lost and hurting world.

Remember, no matter what, God loves you and He has a wonderful plan for your life.

Find out about that when you go to fromisheart.org.