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Waiting On Christmas | Keep Your Eyes on The Horizon

Waiting seasons are hard

You may be waiting on:

• A situation to change
• An answer to prayer
• Results from a medical test
• A season of life to be over
• To be happy again
• To feel good again

Keep your Eyes on the horizon

• Don’t give up
• Don’t give in
• Don’t lose heart
• Don’t lose faith
• Don’t lose courage

I want to remind you that God has not:

• Forgotten you
• Abandoned you
• Is not punishing you

God does not toy with our emotions or our lives, but sometimes (oftentimes) he makes us wait
Let’s talk about a man named Abraham

God had never given up his plan to make right what sin had broken in the garden

Genesis 12

1 The Lord said to Abram: Go from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.

2 I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you, I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

Here’s the problem with that story

• Abraham had no kids
• He and his wife were getting old

But God had given him a promise
They had to wait for 25 years for the birth of their son

• That’s a lot of waiting

Just because there is the distance between the promise of God and the fulfillment by God does not mean that God has changed His mind

The length of the wait indicates the potential of the promise

• Abraham had to wait 25 years
• But God was birthing more than just a son, he was birthing a nation
• This was no ordinary promise
• No ordinary calling
• The Messiah who would rescue the world would come through this promise

Like a good meal

• Things that are worthwhile take time

Maybe you feel that God has promised you:

• That you will have a child
• You will be married
• You will be healed
• You will be forgiven
• You will be restored

But you are still waiting

• starting to wonder if God will ever come through

Sometimes God makes us wait because we are not ready

• May be:
• To immature
• To selfish
• To prideful
• To fearful
• Heading in the wrong direction
• Around the wrong people

Remember when waiting:

Keep your Eyes on the horizon
Hebrews 11

1 Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. 2 For by this our ancestors were approved.

3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.

8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and set out for a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance. He went out, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, (never Got to see the promised land) living in tents as did Isaac and Jacob, coheirs of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

13 These all died in faith, although they had not received the things that were promised. But they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth.

The writer is trying to get us to understand that waiting is part of trusting in God

• That so many that came before us never ever God to see any part of the promise of God
• They all just kept pointing forward in faith, trusting that God would do as he said

We are here today because people of faith were faithful in waiting

Hebrews 11

14 Now those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they were thinking about where they came from, they would have had an opportunity to return. 16 But they now desire a better place—a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

This is what I mean by “Keep you eyes on the Horizon”

• This is not forever
• This world, its pain, its frustration, its a disappointment is only temporary

Keep the faith while you wait

For some of you, despair is knocking on your door

Keep the faith while you wait
Some of you are wanting so badly to change course for something easier

• Keep the faith while you wait

I’m not doubting that your current struggle isn’t difficult

• Not doubting that you have been waiting for a long time
• Not doubting that you feel like you don’t have much to give

Keep your Eyes on the horizon
This is what Christmas is all about

• Waiting
• Waiting on God to do something about it all in the real world
• To give real hope, to give life, to bring back to life those things that have died

Hebrews 11

39 All these were approved through their faith, but they did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us, so that they would not be made perfect without us.

Jesus has come

We not only look BACK but can now look FORWARD

We can trust God because he has already been faithful and true

Emmanuel has come

God with us

John 1

14 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Keep your Eyes on the horizon

• Keep up the faith while you wait
• Keep looking forward to not just what you want, but the reality that this is not all there is

Today, I encourage you…

• Don’t give up
• Don’t give in
• Don’t stop moving
• Don’t look down
• Don’t look to the left or right

Keep your eyes on the horizon of God’s promises in Jesus

Hebrews 12

1…Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer, and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.