9.22.24 - When God Seems Slow (Kenny Camacho)
SCRIPTURE: Acts 1:6-11, James 5:7-9, Galatians 6:7-10, & 2 Peter 3:8-12
YOU CAN ALSO READ KENNY’S MANUSCRIPT FOR THIS WEEK HERE!
REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
This message is all about waiting. Have you ever waited on something really important before? Are you waiting on something now? What is that experience like? What questions and struggles are an inescapable part of it?
The first Christians were impatient at first as they waited on Jesus’s return. So the early Church’s leaders, like James, wrote letters to remind them that good things are growing while we wait. What did those leaders mean? What “good things” might be growing as you wait?
After the Church spread throughout Judea, Samaria, and the eastern Roman empire, their impatience emerged again! So, the apostle Paul wrote to them about “becoming weary in doing good.” Have you ever felt this weariness? Where did it come from? What reminders about God’s heart and God’s purposes in the world might help relieve that weariness?
By the end of the Church’s second full decade, impatience about Jesus’s return was starting to become doubt. In this context, the disciple Peter tells the Church to remember that God wants everyone to know Him (2 Peter 3:8-12). How does this reframe “waiting” for the first Christians? How might it encourage you?
Kenny said that the key to Christian patience is remembering that it’s not all about you. When we hold faith in God’s promises and trust Him to finish the Story when He’s ready, we can be free to participate in it without anxiety or impatience. How can you embrace this message in your life? How can you embrace it in your week?