Pay Now Play Later by Rev. Christie Bature: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Opening Charge: Forgiveness Is Not Optional

If you're going to keep burning, you cannot have unforgiveness. With all your tongue-talking, if you don't forgive you are not going to heaven. There is a heaven and there's a hell and we must keep emphasizing. God is good but he's also the God of justice. If he has said to you this is the way and you don't follow it, you made a choice.

The title of this message is: Labor Now, Enjoy Later.

Labor to forgive now. All the processes that need to be in place, labor to do so, and then you will enjoy later. This is time, discipline, trust, and destiny together.

Spiritual Maturity Through the Lens of Timing

Immaturity demands now. Maturity is willing to wait.

It's not a function of age. Small things can make you an immature person. The definition of maturity is the ability to delay gratification.

A study was done with children at a camp. They were given marshmallows and told: "Don't eat it until we come back. When we return, you'll get three to five instead of one." The children divided immediately. Some ate it straight. Others waited — though some gave up after a while. But some truly waited.

They tracked them over 30 years. The ones who ate their marshmallows immediately: about 90 to 95% of them were divorced. They had developed medical conditions. The other group — those who waited — their divorce rate was around 14%. They did not have diseases. They were high in their careers. The ones that didn't wait were low. They didn't go far.

Maturity is the discipline to choose long-term purpose over short-term pleasure. Trusting God's timing over immediate satisfaction.

Hebrews 5:14 — solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves. If you exercise your senses for good, you become an expert at good. If you exercise your senses for evil, you also become an expert at evil.

The Danger of Immaturity

Maturity understands that not everything is supposed to happen now. This is part of the problem with why we have so many fraudsters. A 20-year-old with a Lamborghini from stolen money — the issue isn't the Lamborghini, it's the method and the timing. Can you pace your desires?

If you were mature, even if someone pointed out a flaw in your character, you would absorb it and say: maybe I need to look at myself. But the immature ones would get angry.

Galatians 6:9 — Let us not grow weary, for at the proper time we will reap. Maturity understands that there is a proper time. Not everything is meant to happen now.

What Are You Laboring Through?

• Some are laboring through waiting seasons.
• Some are laboring through obscurity — doing the same thing yet nobody seems to be seeing them.
• Some are laboring through injustice.
• Some are laboring through delayed answers.
• Some are laboring through personal growth processes — where God has pressed his finger on a particular matter and is saying: "You're not moving from here until I'm done with this." We can feel the pressure but we know he's pulling growth out of us.
• Some are laboring through discipline — spiritual discipline, emotional discipline, relational discipline. God is saying: that anger, you have to learn to tame it down. That sleep you love, it's time to shut down some of those hours. Those too many friends that are distractions — they are too many.

Why Is Delayed Gratification Necessary?

1. It builds character

   The testing of your faith produces perseverance. It is part of our journey. Part of your reality as a believer is the testing of your faith. God wants to produce perseverance in you, patience in you. And the only way to grow patience is to have your faith tested.

2. It protects you from premature exposure

   Proverbs 18:16 — if you arrive too early, you may not survive when you arrive. Have you not seen some ministers just show up on the scene? Boom! Everywhere. And then suddenly you see the person behaving somehow, treating people anyhow, talking to people anyhow. They arrived too early, so they can't sustain it.

3. It deepens dependence on God

   Psalm 27 — wait for the Lord.

4. It produces lasting results

   Luke 16:10 — if you are faithful in little, more will be delivered to you.

Biblical Examples of Godly Waiting

• Joseph — modeled integrity now, influence later.

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• Abraham and Sarah — waited for the promise. Their delay led them to temptation to help God. Waiting will test your belief.
• Moses — went from impulse to patience. Moses tried to deliver Israel too early. Premature action can delay destiny. Because if he had killed that Egyptian in his own strength, his path would not have been the same.
• Jesus — was aware of his purpose early, but waited to begin ministry at 30. Thirty years, the King of kings, Lord of lords, was waiting. Jesus refused shortcuts when the devil came to him in the wilderness. Jesus delayed recognition. Jesus delayed power display. Jesus delayed immediate release. Hebrews 12 — for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross. If you endure now, you will get glory later.
• David — was anointed early. David waited long. David suffered unjustly. David refused shortcuts. In 1 Samuel 24:6, David said it would be unthinkable for him to raise his hand on the Lord's anointed — even when the opportunity was right there. His men said, "Today the Lord has put your enemy in your hands." David took the spear and walked away. The anointing on your life does not give you license to run ahead of God.

In 1 Samuel 26:9-11, David refused again. Saul came into the cave where David was hiding — alone, easy to finish off. David didn't do it. He allowed Saul to go on.

And in 2 Samuel 5:4, David became king. It eventually happened. If the Lord has said it, it will happen. His word is yeah and amen. His word is infallible.

What happened to Saul? Once jealousy and envy entered into Saul, the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul. But the spirit of the Lord was upon David. Waiting will guarantee the presence of God with you.

God can choose you and still make you wait.

The Dangers of Refusing to Wait

• You create situations that will last generations negatively — like the sons of Ishmael.
• You get burnout.
• You lose credibility — you make decisions that look foolish, and people will not trust you anymore. Not because God didn't send you; you went ahead of his time.
• You fall into spirits of compromise.
• You get temporary success — but also long-term regret. Proverbs 20:21 — an inheritance gained hastily will not be blessed.

The Rewards of Waiting

• Fulfillment without regret. Proverbs 10:22 — the blessing of the Lord makes rich and he adds no sorrow.
• Stability — like a house built upon a rock.
• Honor from God. Those who honor me, I will honor. Waiting is worship to God. And God will honor you back.
• Joy. Psalm 126 — those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. This is the only place in scripture where you don't reap what you sow. You sow tears, you reap joy.

The difference between where you are and where God is taking you is often your ability to wait.

You can have it now, or you can wait and have it right. They are two different things.

Labor now so that when it comes, you can enjoy it without regret.