Sermon Notes
Saints & Struggles | Sarah
Pastor Matt Sanders
“If we want God’s will, we have to wait for God’s when.” In this message we look at Sarah’s struggle with patience. Like Sarah we need to trust that God’s timing is perfect! Pastor Matt walks us through Sarah’s journey of waiting for God and how we can wait for God. While we wait, we can be worshiping, working, and witnessing. Remember that God is faithful to us, even in our times of struggle.
- To be a Saint is to be in the struggle.
- The struggle is real so we have to expect it.
- If we want God’s will we have to wait for God’s when.
Hebrews 11:8-10 New International Version
8NIVBy faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
Abraham and Sarah had faith in God and waited for them when to receive His will.
Hebrews 11:11-12 New International Version
11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
Both Sarah and Abraham had their doubts in God’s promises yet they still obeyed.
Genesis 17:17 New International Version
17 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?”
Genesis 18:12 New International Version
12 So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?”
It took twenty-five years for God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah to come to fruition.
We struggle with patience. Would we abandon His promise if it took twenty-five years?
Do we abandon our faith if God does not answer us immediately? For most of us, unfortunately, the answer is yes.
Psalms 27:14 New International Version
14 Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
Waiting on the Lord means being faithful, hopeful and certain that God’s Word and His promises will always be fulfilled but always on His time, not ours.
God’s timing is always perfect. He is never early or never late.
For Sarah, the promise of a baby must have been both exciting and as time dragged on excruciating, so much so she became desperate and felt she had to take the matter of waiting for a baby into her own hands.
Genesis 16:1-2 New International Version
1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.
Sarah thought she could build the family God had promised her on her own, so she makes the decision not to wait for God any longer.
She abandons her faith in God with and replaces it with her own will.
The waiting is the hardest part. What do we do while we wait – how do we keep our faith and know that we are on the right path with God?
Worship God.
Pray, sing, talk with our Father. Worship works because it forces us to look up to God.
James 5:7-8 New International Version
7 Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. 8 You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.
The Lord is coming for sure but until that day we must worship, we must pray, we must let the Lord work through us and in doing so strengthen our faith. If you know what God has or is calling you to doing then prepare for your calling.
Work with God.
Fortify yourself with His word. Carry the Lord with you first and foremost with everything you do.
Many times, as we wait for God to answer, He is actually waiting for us to be prepared. Take the classes, take the training, read the book, let God work through you.
Walk with God. Be a witness.
Let your actions be your testimony as to who God is and what He means in your life. Actions speak louder and more truthfully that words.
Hebrews 11:11 New International Version
11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise.
Sarah was able to finally to become pregnant and have a child because she considered God, who had made the promise to her to be faithful. Sarah became witness.
Genesis 21:1-2 New International Version
1 Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.
Even though we cannot control God’s “when” we can control what we do to until His time comes upon us; we can worship, we can worship God, we can work with God and we can walk as a witness to God.
When you wait for God you will always win
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