Running With The Giants, Week 2 - Pastor Ted Max

The sermon, "Running With The Giants, Week 2," offers powerful guidance on how to navigate seasons when God's promises feel delayed.

Pastor Ted Max focuses on the story of Sarah, Abraham's wife, to illustrate the dangers of impatience and the profound wisdom of trusting God's timing. He begins by acknowledging our natural desire for God to act now, but reminds us that "God's timing is not your timing."

Sarah's story from Genesis highlights the consequences of trying to get ahead of God. Despite God's promise of an heir, Sarah, at 90 years old and barren, grew impatient. She decided to "complicate God's promise with your solution" by having Abraham sleep with her servant Hagar (Genesis 16:1-2).

This "terrible idea" led to "thousands of years of conflict, death, and destruction," demonstrating how our seemingly small decisions can have vast, lasting impact. Initially, Sarah even laughed in disbelief when God reiterated His promise that she would have a son within a year, thinking "God, no, no, no, it doesn't work that way."

Yet, eventually, Sarah's faith matured; Hebrews 11:11 notes that she "received power to conceive... since she considered him faithful who had promised." Ultimately, her life became a testament to God's faithfulness, concluding with her declaration, "Look what God did!" (Genesis 21:6-7).

From Sarah's journey, Pastor Ted draws three key lessons for us today. First, don't try to get ahead of God when He isn't moving fast enough for you. We are warned against substituting our own plans for God's, as our best efforts cannot compare to His perfect will.

Second, when you must wait, focus on what's happening in you, not what's happening to you. Instead of dwelling on external circumstances or complaints, we are encouraged to ask God what He wants to cultivate within us—peace, strength, and reliance—during the waiting period. This reframes patience not as the ability to wait, but as "how we respond to the waiting," emphasizing that "a moment of patience can save you a lifetime of regret."

Finally, we are called to remember that God's plan is always greater than our own. He is the God of the supernatural, capable of doing the "ridiculous" (Genesis 18:14, Isaiah 64:4), and His purposes extend far beyond what we can imagine.

The sermon concludes with a powerful invitation to examine what "counterfeits" we might be allowing into our lives instead of trusting God's promises, urging us to "be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him" (Psalm 37:7), knowing that His faithfulness will ultimately prevail.