You are listening to It's Preaching Time. This broadcast spotlights Bible teaching and Bible preaching that will feed your soul and stir your heart. May God minister to you spiritually as you listen to It's Preaching Time. Alright, amen. Take your Bibles and with me to Isaiah tonight, chapter number 40. Isaiah chapter number 40. It's been good to be in church on Friday night. And thank you so much for being here and for participating in the service. You know, church isn't a spectator sport. And we all get to take part in what's going on around here. And when God speaks to your heart, you respond. When they sing truth, you say amen. That means I agree with what they just said. When the preacher says something you agree with, you gotta say amen. When you don't agree with it, you got to say amen. Because the more that you amen, the faster I'll get done. I promise you that. Shut up, Cam. Anyway, all that's on the radio, isn't it? It's been good to be here tonight until now. I appreciate the Mountain View Baptist Church being here and the youth choir singing. And Pastor Griffin, thank you for coming. And I'm honored that you'd be here. It's been a place we've called home for the last, what, year and a half or so. And it's been a good place to be. You really can't be there without getting excited about what's going on. And most of them are on drugs and it shows, but we love it. And that was good tonight. I appreciate that. And to have the Lawson family, I think the last time I was in a meeting with them, those boys were short, about the size of this Shelf on the pulpit and they were so cute. And now you're also ugly and big and things. It's just amazing I saw the girl with you and I thought that can't be a loss and she's she's kind of pretty these boys are so ugly But anyhow, thank you for being here tonight. I appreciate that I was really encouraged by the cup of water that suddenly appeared with the spit cover on it Because I knew they're going to sing one more time. And I thought, good night. But I'm glad that was there. And it kept me safe. And I don't want to get COVID or swine flu or anything else. But anyhow, thank you for allowing me to come and be a part, Brother Roge. Thank you for the introduction and allowing me to be a part of the Sherathon. I've been in Baltimore the first half of the week, which is like a foreign country. And that's where I got this haircut, and I was I needed a haircut because you know brother Chism We'll keep our hair short. We don't like to get it long and hanging over our ears or anything so I needed a haircut and so I went to a barbershop there and then I was a minority where I was in Baltimore and I walked in and I don't know if you'd call it a hate crime or a Trump derangements in but they took it out on my haircut So you need to pray for me and it'll grow back one of these days, but I'm still a little bit upset pressing charges but I was there but I've been tuning in to the Sharathon all week and watching the services as much as I can and everyone if you're listening out there and you've been praying about giving you might as well go ahead and just do that and And just give. And I promise you this. You'll go buy a Starbucks coffee. You'll go to Target and buy clothing. And when you do that, really, you're funding the enemy. You might as well give it to the radio work. And thank God for Bible preaching and good singing here. And I like that. There's a lot of stations I'll listen to and have to listen to it for a few minutes, then I have to go somewhere else. I'll listen to a song and get real happy, and then the next song makes me real mad. I just don't want to live that way, because if I swing like that emotionally, then I'm just like all y'all. So I can't do that. So anyway, I like to have a spot where you can just tune in and you can let it run. You don't have to worry about what's going to be said. And I like to be able to hear all the big green every once in a while. and Harold Sightler and some of those old men. When I first got saved, I tuned into a radio station like this one, and I had never heard of these men like Lester Roloff and Alder B. Green and Maze Jackson on the Truck Driver Special. And I began to listen to that as I was driving down the road, and Maze Jackson would come on, and he'd be preaching and hacking and things. I thought, I'll never be able to preach. I can't even do that. How am I going to preach? And I thought, I like this. And then Oliver B. Green would come on. He began preaching. It sounded like he'd been gargling with roofing tacks and acid and things. I thought, good night, man. I've got to get me a man's voice here. I can't preach like that. But I thought, boy, I like this. And then Lister Roloff came on there and he'd be preaching. And he'd be preaching against deodorant and coffee. And I thought, I don't know if I like this or not. But anyhow, I thank God for radio works like this. I'm just excited to be here with you. I'm like the fellow. He said, I'm so excited. I feel like I could jump up and swing from a chandelier. And his buddy said, there ain't no way you could swing from a chandelier. It's 15 feet in the air. He said, I think I could do it. And he said, you can't. And that fellow jumped as hard as he could. He went up to get that chandelier and he missed it. But he caught it on the way back down. That's how excited he was. Alright, Isaiah chapter number 40. And let's look here in verse number 28, and we'll read down to the bottom of the chapter, and then I'll give you my thought for this evening, and we won't be very long. Is all the Brunswick stew gone? Did everybody eat all that? Is there still some left? It's free now, I heard that. Is that correct? It is free now? That's a good deal. Preachers like anything that's free. I appreciate that. All right, we'll get out early and we can go eat soup and die. All right, here we go. Isaiah 40, verse number 28. Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not? Neither is he weary. There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youth shall faint. It's amazing how the young will get tired, but the ancient of days never wears out. Even the youth, the strongest of men, will faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. And they shall walk and not faint. I know that we've all read these verses. Probably we can quote these verses. Some of you have these verses hanging on the walls of your home or embroidered on a pillow, or we know these verses. And we read that and think, well, that's a good promise, and that is a good truth, that if I'll have faith to hold still and wait on God, that God will give me what I need to go forward. Now, it's an easy thing to just read that, but when you plug it into the context of what is going on right now, that would be a hard promise to practice. Because if you put it into the context of where we are here in the life of Judah, Israel has already been taken captive by the Assyrians, and now the Assyrians are threatening Israel. God will take up arms for them and hold the Assyrians back, but then the Babylonians come knocking at their door. All of that is threatening, and in that moment, God says, just hold still and wait on me. It's hard to wait when you're worried. It's hard to wait when you're anxious. Hard to wait when you're troubled. For a little while tonight, I want to talk to you about what takes the work out of waiting. What takes the work out of waiting? And we'll go through the entire chapter of Isaiah 40 and see what the Bible has to tell us. Let's pray. God, I need your power. And God, I pray you'd help your people. God, in this hour, we sure do need to hear from heaven. On a Friday night, people have worked today. I know they're tired. And God, they could have been anywhere else. But here we are tonight. Many listening, who knows where, on the radio as well. And God, everybody has a need. I'm glad you can meet every one of those. God, I pray tonight helps to see the truth in this passage in Jesus name. Amen. I want to ask you the question tonight. Where do you turn when trouble comes? Where do you run to when life gets out of control? What's your first reaction when something takes place that was unexpected? When the load is too heavy, when the problem's too great, when the valley's too deep and the water's too wide. What is the source? What is the place? What is the individual that you run to first? A lot of times, the difference between defeat and victory is not the enemy that we're facing, but where we focus in the battle. I think a lot of folks really could win their battles if they got their eyes off of whatever it is that they are consumed with, and they get their eyes and place them someplace else. It seems like a lot of times when I have a bill that I cannot pay, I immediately like to focus on the bill and the fact I can't pay it. It seems like when somebody comes down with an illness, we like to major on the illness and the fact that we cannot cure it. It seems like when a person that we love goes astray and runs out into the world, we look at the depth of sin they've fallen into, and we understand that we cannot lift them up out of the depths, and then we find ourselves getting discouraged. We look at our country, and that's the problem. We tune in, and all we do is watch the talking heads and listen to the spin, and we see the statistics. And we consume ourselves with things that are beyond us, bigger than us, and out of our control. And because of that, many folks are filled with trouble and anxiety, and their life just seems to have no peace whatsoever. But if ever I believe we could take our eyes and refocus them tonight, it can bring comfort into our life in the midst of that which seems to be uncomfortable. I don't know about you, but I've had seasons like that in my life. They're just flat out uncomfortable. And if you live long enough, you're going to go through something like that. It's just not going to be real fun. It's not going to be real easy. It's not going to be real comfortable. When you come to Isaiah 40, it's amazing to me how God steps on the scene of this text. And the first thing he tells his prophet to preach is comfort. Because if you put it into the proper setting, this is not a time where comfort is coming at wholesale prices like the leftover Brunswick stew. If you go back a few chapters into the text, you'll find what is happening. In this moment, Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, is threatening to overthrow the southern kingdom of Judah. He's already overrun Israel. That's a done deal. And now this army, with all of its ferocity and all of the things that they're doing to other people, are knocking at the door of Jerusalem and it looks like it will surely fall. And on top of that, King Hezekiah has an incurable disease, a boil, a cancer in his body. So here is this king that is about to die. This one who is ushered in revival is now on the threshold of death, and now the enemy is at his doorstep, threatening to overthrow. Now I love what Hezekiah does. Hezekiah doesn't get a cabinet together. He goes straight to his general. He goes to God in prayer. I love that. He turns his face to the wall, and he spreads out the cause before the Lord, and he begins to pray. And God answers his prayer and says, don't you worry about the Assyrians. I'm going to put a hook in their nose and a bridle in their mouth and I'm going to turn them back. And we read this story and find that the angel of the Lord steps on the scene And he takes out 185,000 of the Assyrian army, and he sends them whimpering and running back to where they came from. Isn't that just like God? That if you and I would go to God in prayer, that God will step in and fight the battle for us. Hallelujah! But then we see Hezekiah, he's still dealing with this disease. Isaiah comes and says, set your house in order, because you're gonna die. The preacher says it's over, the physician would have said it's over, but prayer says it's not over. And Hezekiah said it worked the last time, probably going to work this time. Hezekiah turns away from his trouble and turns his face toward his God. And he puts out his petition, spreads it before the Lord. And God said, because you prayed, I'm going to give you a space of grace. And he goes to the dial of Ahab. and he turns it back, what is it, 10 degrees or so, and he lengthens the life of Hezekiah. Can you imagine? Revival in his heart. He's been delivered from his enemy. He's been delivered from his disease. The adversary's been sent packing, and the disease has been cured. I'd say about now, Hezekiah's shouting, hallelujah. I'd say he's saying amen. He's not acting like it's Friday night of a sheriff on. I mean, he's happy about it. I mean, God has given him the victory. God has answered his prayer. God has done what only God can do. I want to challenge you. You better be careful. On the backside of a victory, a lot of times we'll pray and be faithful and promise God things in the battle. And then when God gives us the victory, we'll let our guard down, we'll let our flesh rise up, and we won't be as holy, we won't be as circumspect, and we'll let the enemy in. Well, that's exactly what happens. All of a sudden, this ambassador, this group from Babylon comes. They have these get well cards and Starbucks gift cards. They got flowers. They got little gifts for Hezekiah. And really what they're doing is coming to spy out to see what the king has in his kingdom. Hezekiah is feeling pretty good and friendly, so he lets them in, and he takes them to the treasure house, and he shows them everything that he has. Let me be careful. Young people, be careful who you open your heart to. Amen? Be careful who you let in the secret places. And here these Babylonian messengers are touring around. They get to see all the gold and the silver and the spices and the precious ointments, it says in chapter 39. And there was nothing in the house or domain of Hezekiah that was not revealed to the Babylonians. Let me say this, the Babylonians have never been a friend to the people of God, and they're still not a friend to God's people today. The world has never been kind to those that love God, and the world is not our friend tonight. Isaiah shows up and he says, Hezekiah, heard you had some visitors. He said, what'd y'all do? He said, well, I kind of toured them around the kingdom. He said, what did you show them? He said, everything. He said, you showed them everything? He said, everything that's in the treasury. And Isaiah prophesied and said, that's because one of these days the Babylonians are going to invade. If you thought Assyria was bad, you ain't seen nothing yet. And just like you showed them everything, they're going to take everything and carry it off into Babylon. And if that's not bad enough, They're going to take every one of your sons and turn them into eunuchs, and they're going to serve over there in Babylon. You know what that means? They're going to lose their salary, if you will, and there's going to be no more seed. That would crush the nation of Israel. That means that messianic line has been cut off. That means the promised king is no more. They were supposed to rule, and now they're under the thumb of Babylon. They're about to be cursed with captivity and wrapped in chains, and the whole thing looked hopeless, it looked bad, it looked bleak, and it was uncomfortable. now in the kingdom, I would say the average individual, those Jews, would have been worried. They'd have been biting their fingers to the quick. They would have been anxious and upset because they know soon they're going to be wrapped in chains, thrown in a cell, and captives in a foreign land. They'd waited for the kingdom, and now the kingdom is being taken away from them. And about that Every time God steps in, I love it from Isaiah 1 to Isaiah 39, the book of Isaiah sung in a minor key, but now God switches to the major key. It's been a sad tale of coming judgment, but all of a sudden we turn to a day when the judgment will be passed and the King will come and wrong things will be made right, and I love how it starts. Right here at the outset of the chapter, the first word is comfort. I love that. You say, how are you going to say comfort? We just talked about captivity. How are you going to say comfort? We just talked about invasion. How are you going to talk about comfort? We just talked about being taken to a strange land, but isn't that just like God to always leave the door of hope open and to be able to give grace when the trouble comes and God said, Hey, don't you be discouraged. Don't you be worried. It might get bad, but it won't stay bad. There might be some captivity, but I'll set you free. You might be in a strange land, but I can bring you home again. And he said, comfort my people. And I love what he says in verse two of chapter 40. He said, you tell Jerusalem, her warfare is accomplished. Her iniquity is pardoned. He said, tell them one day they might be fighting now, but they won't be fighting forever. They might have strayed in sin, but I can forgive them of all their iniquity." He said, you go tell my people, if they feel like it's bad, it ain't always going to be that way. He said, I want you to preach to them comfort. And then it's almost like a parenthetical introduction to John the Baptist. When you get to verse three, he said, now tell them about this voice that's coming. In verse number three, he said the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness prepare you the way of the Lord make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Here's what he's saying. You don't have to worry so much about Sennacherib. You don't have to worry about the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, because there's another king on the way. He said one of these days, there'll be a forerunner. And he's gonna come and say, hey, the Lord is on his way. Captivity won't stop the Lord. The chains won't stop the Lord. The foreign land won't stop the Lord. The fall of Hezekiah doesn't stop the Lord. He's been promised to come, and neighbor, he is on the way. And here's what it says. Here's how much comfort God can give. He's going to take care of it all. He said every valley shall be exalted. Every mountain and hill shall be made low. The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. That means He's going to untie the tangles. He's going to untwist the knots. He's going to uplift the low and bring down the high. It means every bit of discouragement and every bad thing, all the trouble you're in today, He will handle it all. He said, well, how do I know this is going to happen? In verse 6 he said, the boy said, cry. He said, what shall I cry? Tell him this, all flesh is grass and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. He's saying man can't withstand and man's promises won't last. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely the people is grass. He's saying people are temporal. Problems are temporal. Pressure is temporal. But listen to verse 8. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the Word of our God shall stay. And forever. He's saying the one who is making you this promise of comfort that will come is not one that lies. He is not one that falls short. He is not one that fails. He's not one with an expiration date. This man is not simply a man. This is the one who created man. This is God Himself who is giving you the promise He will make wrong things right. And at the end of the chapter, he tells us to wait. Now, here I am hearing God say, just wait on me and I'll turn it around. Yes, but it's hard to wait when I have a sick child. Yes, but it's hard to wait when I've lost my job. Yes, but it's hard to wait when there's a prodigal in the home. Yes, but it's hard to wait when the economy is not good. Yes, but it's hard to wait whenever there's a problem in the family. but it's hard to wait when the devil is fighting on every side. And yet God said, if you'll just wait, I can give you what you need. He says at the beginning, the first bookend is comfort and the last bookend is wait. But there's a hang up between comfort and wait for most of us. And that is worry. Oh, my son. So what does care of the worry? Here's what takes care of the worry. Worship takes care of the worry, because if you step into the text, And you begin to read in verse number nine all the way till you get down to what we read at the end. All it does is make a lot of do about God and lift Him up and brag on Him. And here's what the Lord is doing. He's saying, you're so full of anxiety and you're so full of care. I got comfort on this side if you'll get some weight on that side. But you got to get the worry out of the middle and plug in some worship. Because if you'll get your eyes off of the Sennacheribs, and get your eyes off of Nebuchadnezzar, and get your eyes off of the threat, and get your eyes back on me, you'll be willing to wait. And I love what he says in verse number nine. At the end of the verse, here's how he says it. Stay into the cities of Judah. Behold your You say, Brother Cooper, I don't have any peace. I don't have any comfort. I have so much anxiety. I say clear off the spot and lift up your eyes and behold your God tonight. I say our source of comfort is the God who's on the throne. So often we look at what we cannot take care of and then we throw in the towel because we're too small. But if you look at God tonight, you pick your towel up and wave your flag and hold the banner high. And say greater is he that's in me than he that's in this world and little is much when God is in it Behold your God You say the doctor said it's over behold your God you say the counselor says it's done Behold your God you say the world says this behold your God He says look at let's read the text Behold, the Lord God will come with a strong hand and his arm shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him and his work before him. That would be in the Molino kingdom when Christ comes back, we get to ride shotgun. That's going to be a good day. It said in verse 11, he shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom. shall gently lead those that are with young. I love how the writer begins to describe the Lord. He describes His mic with a strong arm, but also His compassion as a shepherd. He said, Behold your God. There ain't nobody like Him in power. There ain't nobody like Him in passion. There's nobody like Him in strength. And there's nobody like Him in love. There's nobody like Him in ability. And there's nobody like Him in affection. He's a general for the battle and a shepherd for the fold. He's the captain of the ship. He's the guide to the darkness. He's our soldier and he is our shepherd. Oh my. But then you get down to verse 12 and he said, just in case you're still worried, let me go on about who he is. In verse 12 he says, Here's your God. Behold Him who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand. He said, I tell you who your God is. Ain't nobody like Him. He's big. That's who He is. He said, our God's the God that takes all the seas and all the rivers and all the ponds and lakes and He can cup them in the hand just like you take a cup of water and pour a bit in your hand. That's what these oceans are to God. You say, I just can't get any peace. Why? Because you're in His hand as well, at the mighty big hand. It goes on to say in the same verse, look what it says, "...and meted out to them with the span." You know what that means? Measured. You know what he does when a man would measure? That is the span between his pinky and his thumb. Oh my, and I said, here's what our God does. He measures out all the galaxies between the span between his pinky and his thumb. You say, how big is that? I don't know. But I know it's 1.8 million light years to the furthest star in our galaxy. And you study it how? One light year is 5.9 million miles. God can take all that is out there and measure it like that. He's a mighty big God He said he Comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains and scales and the hills in a balance He said behold his power I mean to God, he takes the mountains and puts them on a scale. They're like dust of the earth to God. Look at him, there's nobody like him in his ability. There's nobody like him in his action. In verse 13, you have directed the Spirit of the Lord. Herb and his counselor have taught him. He's saying, hey listen, you're worried because you're focused on you. Why don't you focus on God and consider this, has God ever had to have help? Has he ever needed insight? Has he ever needed direction? Does he need some answers to help him get the question right? Has anybody set God down on the couch and said, now let me counsel you for a minute? No! There ain't nobody like him in power, and there's nobody like him in his wisdom. I love that tonight, because sometimes you and I pray for something that doesn't happen. But you can rest in faith knowing this. If it didn't happen, it's because God knows what you and I need. You say, but I thought God loves me. Yeah, He loves you. And God's love runs forever. But God's love does not outrun His wisdom. They're Siamese twins and they run the same length. So God ain't going to give you something you want. If it's going to hurt you, He's going to give you what you need to help you. And you can rest in that tonight that God knows what He's doing. Verse 14, with whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding. He said, Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket. Assyria, Babylon, Iraq, Kamala Harris. Parental advisory on the radio for cussing Kamala Harris, but anyhow. You just take some water, put it in the palm of your hand, let it drip out. That's what Pakistan is to God. That's what North Korea and Dennis Rodman is to God. That's what the Iran is to God. That's what all those nations that hate Israel are to God. That's what your problem is to God. It's like a drop that falls from your hand, a drop in the bucket, it says. They're counted, it says in verse 15. That's the small dust of the balance. Behold, He taken up the isles as a very little thing. I like what it says in Lebanon is not sufficient to burn nor the beast thereof sufficient for a burn offering. You know what he's saying? There ain't enough in this world that's worthy of him. He's more worthy than this world could ever know. He said, boy, you could take every cedar that ever grew in Lebanon, get every unspotted, unblemished animal they have to offer, and it still wouldn't be enough to touch the hem of the garment of how much our God is worth and how worthy he is. He is. In verse 17, all nations before Him are as nothing. They are counted in less than nothing and vanity. Verse 18, it said, to whom then will you liken God? He said, go ahead and bring Him out. Who's liking? All right, go ahead let's bring him out go ahead and bring Buddha out now I ain't like him go ahead and bring Muhammad out now He's not like him. Go ahead and bring mother Teresa out. She's not like him. Go ahead and bring Who got left? Hillary Clinton out and she's not like him. Go ahead and bring Joyce Meyer out not like him. He's got a Don't bring her out. It's not Halloween, but don't bring her out. Bring him out. Ain't nobody like him. And here's how he illustrates this thing. In verse 19, the workmen melted the graven image, saying the gods of Assyria and Babylon are dead. They are false gods. They are made by the hands of men. He said the workmen melted the graven image and the goldsmiths plated it over with gold and cast the silver chains. You know why they need the chains? To keep their God from falling down. Our God doesn't need help. He can stand on his own. Amen. Verse 20 says, He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooses the tree that will not rot, because he's hoping that God will live a little while. He said, I've got to find one that will last. He's seeking unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image that shall not be moved. But I like it. Have you not known? Have you not heard? Hath it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He, our God, that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers, that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in." He said, hey listen, these false idol worshippers They sleep at night after they prayed to a stone They go to bed with peace in their heart after they cried out to a tree and here you got a God Who sits on the throne of this universe? Rests his feet on this world like a footstool. He's administrating and overseeing everything that's going on Can't you trust a God like that? Verse 25, he reiterates it. He said, to whom then will you liken me? He said, by the way, let's just hit it again. God, anybody else? Anybody that can come up here and kind of go toe-to-toe with God tonight? He said, to whom then will you liken me? Or shall I be equal? Sayeth the Holy One, lift up your eyes on high. When I consider the heavens, the works of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him? He said, Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number. He calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power, not one failing. Here's what he's basically saying. God is great. Man is weak. God is eternal. Trouble's temporal. God is powerful. The world is no match. God cares. God is affectionate. God has ability. There's no one like him in acumen or awesomeness or agenda. God is bigger than whatever it is. Adam would say God was bigger than his sin. Noah would say God is bigger than his isolation. Abraham would say God was bigger than paganism. Joseph would say God was bigger than a pit or a prison. David would say God is bigger than a giant. Elijah said God is bigger than a host of false prophets. Oh my! And then let the empty tomb remind you that God is bigger than an old rugged cross. And when I say tonight is this, there ain't nobody like him. If you just step back and behold your God, that'll most make a Baptist shout on Friday night. I'm glad that's who he is tonight. There ain't nobody like him. God may have rivals, but no competition. He might have enemies, but he has no threat. He might have an adversary, but he finds no equal. Sennacherib cannot stand. Nebuchadnezzar cannot stand. The Antichrist will not stand. The grave could not stand. And whatever it is in your life tonight, God is big enough to handle that. Verse 28. We'll get down to the bottom. Has thou not known? Has thou not heard? You have. I mean, we just did. The everlasting God, the Lord. He's like, how many titles do I got to throw at you until you wait? He's everlasting. He's sovereign. He's the creator of the ends of the earth. He fainteth not. Neither is weary. There is no searching of his understanding. He's saying, Our God doesn't faint. He doesn't tire. He doesn't worry. You might be up all night troubled, but he's never had one second of trouble. He's never had to bite his nails. He's never had to nurse an ulcer. He's never paced the halls of eternity wondering how it's all going to work out. He's pretty much settled on the that He's everlasting, that He's Lord, that He's the Creator. And when the best of men fail, God is just getting started. And He's trying to tell us, I want you to be comforted. I want you to find comfort. You say, how can we find comfort? Behold your God. Here's what he does in verse 29. He giveth power to the faint. And to them that have no might, he increaseth strength. Why? Because God delights in our weakness. Because our weakness magnifies His power. When you and I acknowledge our inability, God will pour out on us because God gets glory when it's God. God isn't looking for us to say, well, what a preacher, what a singer. He uses those humble, weak vessels and says, boy, what a God! What a God to use that man. What a God to use that lady. And He said, even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fail. The best that man has to offer is fleeting and finite and will fall. Verse 31, but they that wait upon the Lord... Alright, wait a minute. I asked you to wait 20 minutes ago. And you said, Brother Cooper, I can't wait. You don't know what I'm going through. I'm too worried to wait. Because you had worries sandwiched between your comfort and waiting. So the prophet has taken up this whole chapter because God has said, just tell them about me. Just remind them I'm stronger than any chain. I'm more sovereign and controlled than any earthly king. Remind them who I am. Okay, now ask them to wait again. Would you wait on me? Wait. What's that mean? Those that have faith. Those that just let God do God. And you just do you. A lot of times, we try to do God. And that's why we don't sleep. But if we wait, he said, them who wait upon the Lord shall renew. These people needed something renewed, because they were drained by what they just heard. So he said, you get it back. If you wait, and here's what's going to happen. You'll mount up with wings as eagles. You'll run and not be weary. And you'll walk and not faint. Philip Brooks wrote that hymn, Old Little Town of Bethlehem. And Philip Brooks was talking to a man, and the man could tell he was nervous. Philip Brooks kept pacing back and forth. And he asked Philip Brooks, he said, what is the problem? He said, I am in a hurry, and God is not. I would guarantee if you've got a problem in your life tonight, you're in a hurry to get it right. You're in a hurry to fix it. But Brother Stroud told me that God never gets in a hurry. God doesn't have to because he's always on time. So if you'll learn to wait, which is faith God, faith in God, faith your way through it. The promise is threefold. Rise up with wings, run and walk. And then there's no tiredness or frailty in it. Now you read that and it looks like it looks like it's in descending order. You think about that. Don't you think, if we're looking at progression, it should be walk, run, fly. It's like that preacher who said, God, I want our church to walk. And the old deacon said, Oh God, let her walk. He said, God, I want our church to run. He said, God, let it run. He said, God, I want our church to fly. And the deacon said, Let her fly, God. And he said, God, if it's going to fly, it's going to take a lot of money. That deacon said, God, let her walk. Let her walk. But if we were writing that, wouldn't we just say, Walk, run, fly. This is progress by dissension. Mounting up is excitement, emotion, the honeymoon. Running is a little bit of that, but not to the same level. You know what walking is? Steady. You know what walking is? Walking is less of a dramatic, drastic swing on the faith spectrum. So God is saying, if you'll learn to wait on me, it's going to help you wait on me. If you'll wait on me, it's going to get easier to wait on me. Most Christians want to mount up. They crash. They live from mountain up to mountain up. And they go so high that they go so low. And then some of them run, but the ones who don't have to come to the preacher's office every week, and the ones that don't lay out of church every time they get some kind of little trouble, are those who have just learned to... He met the need last time, he can meet it this time. He knew what he was doing last time, he'll do it this time. I don't know about you. I have trouble waiting. I'm just geared high. I'm hyper and highly caffeinated and happy about it all. I love it. Every time I've gotten ahead of God, it's been bad. I've messed up things. We need to learn to wait. You say, I'm so filled with worry. Yeah, but God promised you comfort. So how do I tie? How do I get rid of the worry and get hold of this comfort? Wait. And worship. What do you do? You worship. Get your eyes off of whatever it is. And put your eyes back on Him. I'm going to close, but I can tell you how many times I hear... I know Christians fail in this because if you talk to people and say, who's got testimony? Usually they talk about their problem and they don't even brag on God. If you look at most people's Facebook who say they're saved, usually they're complaining about something and not bragging on how good God is. If you listen to the average water cooler conversation in the church lobby, it's about how bad this politician is, how the people at the job are like this, or whatever's going on. There's not a lot of talk about God. And we wonder why we don't have comfort. We've got to worship. All right, I'm going to pray. The altar will be open. Maybe you need to come tonight. I don't know what it is in your life that you're just saying, you know what? God spoke to my heart. I need to get my eyes on Him. Boy, there's some things stealing your attention, maybe off of God, taking your eyes off of where they ought to be, putting it on somewhere else. Can I get you to come to the piano, Brother Lawson, the one who plays the piano? Would you come real quick? Maybe you're here tonight and say, Brother Cooper, I needed the message. God knows there's some things in our life right now that we just need to wait on God. Waiting's work, isn't it? But you say, pray for me. I needed the thought. Would you lift up your hand if that's you? Just let me pray with you. Boy, I see your hands all over the building. My hand's raised as well. There's so many things like that. You can put them back down. Let me ask you this as a testimony. Would you not agree with me that God always gets it right, right on time? How many of you agree with that? Say amen. You agree with that? Why don't we come pray tonight? Pray for your family. Pray for your church. Pray for your need. Pray for our country. But let's pray. It's Friday night. Let's pray for the radio at work. There's a lot to pray about. One more thing. If you're here tonight not sure you're saved, if you don't know that heaven's your home, boy, I pray that you get saved tonight. Jesus died and fell on the cross, was buried and rose again the third day. And if you'd ask him to be your Savior, repent of your sin, he'd save you tonight. I want you to come and tell me if you need to be saved. I'll show you from the Bible how to be saved. Lord, I pray that you bless this invitation tonight. Thank you for the privilege to be in church. Help your people, please, in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's stand on our feet, if you would, as the piano plays. If you're in need to come, you come tonight. If you raised your hand a minute ago, why don't you come and just spend some time at the altar tonight? Maybe you've been waiting and waiting and waiting, and it hasn't happened yet, and you've gotten discouraged. Get your eyes back on the Lord tonight. Who is He? The whole text tells us who He is. Boy, nobody like Him. It says, Behold your God! How can you ask me to wait? And something like this. The one you're waiting on is worthy of your faith. He'll come through. Just wait. Just wait. Some are praying. You take your time and pray until you're through. If you need to come tonight, you just come. with a Hobart. Could you sing a verse of this song? Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Maybe we'll just sing a verse or two of this together as these pray. It's a good song to sing. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. And let's sing it out. If you need to come tonight, altar is open. Oh soul, are ye weary and troubled? There's no light in the darkness you see There's a light for a look-out more. I'm going to get out on this chorus. Turn your eyes. Worship. Turn your eyes. Yes. I was thinking a lot of times when we need money, we look to money. When we need healing, we look to healing. When we have problems, we look to the solution. But what if it just looks God? In him we find all that we need the Bible cause these are all in all Everything you need is in that well you drop your bucket down some of the well comes up dry You drop your bucket down and who God is you'll pull something good out of there You have been listening to It's Preaching Time. Tune in at the same time every weekday to hear more good Bible preaching.