The benefits of waiting
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2 until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, 3 to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
1 The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2 until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, 3 to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
Acts 1:1-5
Reading some I came across something that struck me Rueben Job
Said, ‘Most of us do not wait well.’ He went on to say, ‘Jesus asked the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they received the promised power to meet all that lay ahead of them as well as an advocate to teach them all that they needed to know.’
He then made a very important observation, ‘It must have been hard to wait. They were under suspicion by the authorities; they wanted to get on with their lives; how did they know that waiting would make any difference? The disciples were obedient to the command of Jesus, though, and their obedience was rewarded with power and a companion.’
10 days have passed since Jesus returned to heaven under the remaining disciple’s overwhelmed and amazed gaze. That’s nearly a week and a half of waiting. It had been 50 days, nearly two months, since the Resurrection had taken place. But they waited in Jerusalem as Jesus had commanded them to do as we read in Acts chapter 1. And because they waited they experienced the power of God in their lives like never before.
What is hard for you to wait on? What tests your patience more than anything else?
Is faith worth waiting on and for? Is forgiveness worth waiting on and for? Is hope worth waiting on and for? Is love worth waiting on and for? Is God worth waiting on and for? I believe that they are!
As impatient as I am at times, God and all that He offers me is worth waiting on and for.
We don’t know how hard it was for those gathered together to wait although Job makes a very salient point that they were under suspicion and that they wanted to get on with their lives. Waiting then is often a pressure cooker experience.
I remember waiting for my wedding ceremony to begin and I expected that it would start promptly at 6 PM because that was the time it said on the invitation. I was told that you wait for all the guests to be seated before you start. I didn’t care! It was their fault they were late! We were going to start at 6 PM! Well, everyone did get seated on time and we began on time. (I have photographic proof that we started at 6 PM!)
I also remember another time of waiting due to a less, very much less, pleasant experience. I was in Iraq waiting to come home to see my two small children. Not knowing if I would ever make it home.
I dreaded the wait getting on and off of the bus. He was bigger and stronger than I was and I did not want to get into a tangle with him. I don’t remember how long this went on, it seemed forever, but it was probably a couple of weeks, but all of that changed one day when he smarted off on the bus to the biggest kid on the bus who got off at our stop and expressed his displeasure.
1. Wait on your Foundation before your reward
(2) One of my favorite Bible verses is
31 But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.
I have see this through out my life. If I get into a hurry to just get it done I don't take time or pay attention to what Im doing . Whether this be a sewer line im installing or be something more serious like a financial matter or a relational matter and I fail to wait on the direction from God i find myself in a very pitiful situation
I think of Abraham whose fear of being killed caused him to not wait for God to help but instead put him and his wife in an embarrassing situation as we read in .
John MacAuthur suggests that Abraham (then called Abram) should have waited on God to provide for them instead of going to Egypt to wait out the famine and getting himself, and his wife, in trouble.
But when I do wait on the Lord and when His timing is right when I receive direction from him the reward is always worth it.
Fear, greed, lust, anger, impatience, you name it, a whole host of things can cause us to lose our place in line forcing us to go to the back. The ‘grass is greener’ myth can also force us to understand why waiting is hard to do.
Let me tell you about the Chinese bamboo tree
But the disciples did what Jesus ask them to do, they waited, and waited, and waited… so that they would be empowered to become witnesses filled with a power and an ability not of their own making. Anthony de Mello has written, (3) ‘The Holy Spirit is given to those who watch and pray and wait patiently, those who have the courage to get away from everything and come to grips with themselves and with God in solitude and silence.’
Like any plant the Chinese bamboo tree needs to be nurtured the right amount of daily water it needs fertile soil plenty of sunshine. The 1st year of daily nurturing daily watering plenty of sunlight there is no visible signs of activity from the tree the second year same thing no signs of grown the third year and the fourth year still nothing, Our patience is tested is our waiting in vein has our efforts been for nothing we wonder if there will ever be any reward. finally the fifth year a miracle we have growth the tree breaks through the soil and when it does this bamboo tree can grow up to 8- feet tall in just 6 weeks Now the question is did the tree for 80 feet in 6 weeks or 80 feet in 5 years.
I believe that the disciples came to grips with themselves and with God in those 10 days of waiting. I also believe that there was a reason for those 10 days of waiting.
It was 5 years, During those 5 years the tree was developing a root system, one that would be strong enough to support the potential outward growth. You see the tree could not develop until its foundation was formed.
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
1 corin
We find the reason as we go deeper into the Biblical background and discover that the Day of Pentecost took place during the Jewish Festival of Harvest. It was one of the three major festivals celebrated in the Jewish faith and it was celebrated in Jerusalem that would swell in population as Jews from other nations came there to celebrate the festival. Verse 5 in confirms this, ‘Godly Jews from many nations were living in Jerusalem at that time.’
This principle is true for you today. maybe you been praying that God may deliver you from this or from that, maybe your waiting on your big break, maybe you are waiting on that perfect person to walk into your life maybe it is right here in this church you have been waiting for 15 years to see the blessings of God rain down from Heaven, Keep waiting for God is growing your foundation so that when you receive His blessing you can grow in new heights never even imagined in your life before.
So God, in His great wisdom, sends the Holy Spirit at a time when a great number of people are present at the place where God the Son told the disciples to remain. (Isn’t God smart?)
Don’t get in a hurry to just get it done be patient do it right wait on the Lord
The results of this strategy are that a large number of people from many nations hear the gospel in their own languages right now! Waiting pays off!
2. Allow yourself to be molded by Christ
How long might it have taken for the gospel to be told if the disciples had been sent to various locations to learn the language first? God jump starts the birth of the church and the Christian faith in one moment of action because key people in His plan, waited…
9 “Woe to him who strives with his Maker!
Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth!
Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’
Or shall your handiwork say, ‘He has no hands’?
This last week our nation grieves the lives of the victims of the mass shootings in el paso and in Dayton waiting must be very difficult right now for those families. Waiting for the investigation to be completed for the remains to be returned for the funeral then planning of the estate. Waiting for the news to change its cycle so that you are not constantly reminded of the loss of their wife their husband their children ect,Waiting for the grief and silence which comes afterward.
Romans
19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” 20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?
When we allow God to work in our life when we allow Him to shape our existence we become the person he intended for the purpose of Glorifying His Kingdom
We allow ourselves AND our Timing to be shaped by God and we shall wait upon the Glory of God and His Riches and Mercy shall be great
3. Have the endurance to not just run the Race but to finish it as to Win
Michal Jordan the greatest NBA player of all time at least in my opinion said this “when I was in high school I was cut from the basketball team, during my career I missed over 9000 shots I lost over 300 games, 26 times I was trusted with game winning shots that i did not make. I failed over and over again. And this is why I succeed. Because just because you fall does not mean you have to stay there. I got up each time learning from my failures so that I could be the best I could be”
24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
conclusion
1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
5 And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. 7 Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?
acts 2:1-
You see if the disciples would have not waited if they would have ran out they would have had to learn the languages and then promote the Gospel. But by waiting on God the Holy Spirit was revealed and in a instant the Gospel was announced in may foreign languages for His greater Glory. When we wait on God and His timing He can change the impossible. don't know what you may be going through but God does.
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Rom 9:1