Waiting On The Lord

I'm going to be sharing this morning about waiting. What do you do while you're waiting? We Americans are very impatient people. When you pray, when you ask God for something, there normally is a period of time that transpires from the time you ask for it until you hear from God, and that period of time is called "a time of waiting."  It's waiting on God.

Turn to Acts 1, and we're going to look at the disciples of Christ as they wait, but I first want to give you an introduction about waiting. I want to get some things out of your mind and put some truth in your mind. Waiting on God is not delay. It has nothing to do with delay. God is not holding back the answer to what you need. God has an appointed time and an appointed day for the answer to come, so there is not a delay from the time you pray until the answer comes.

A lot of people have the idea that, when you're waiting on God, it is the absence of movement. That is not true. Waiting on God is not becoming a monk and walking around all day with your hands folded. That is not waiting on God. Write this down. Waiting on God is a time for preparation. We are preparing for the answer. Maybe you're waiting on some member of your family to be saved. Maybe you're waiting on a healing to come. Maybe you're waiting on a breakthrough, a deliverance, a promotion. Maybe you're waiting on some type of gift of the spirit. I don't know what you're waiting on but, while you're waiting, it's a time for preparation.

In Lamentations 3:25, it says, "The Lord is good to those who wait for Him." He is not only good when the answer comes and you shout, but He is good during the time of waiting. It's preparation time. 

Look at Acts 1:4. Christ has already died, was buried, three days later He was resurrected, and now has been with His disciples for 40 days. He appeared to 500 at one time in 1 Corinthians 15. Five hundred people saw His resurrected body, and the last words Christ said to the church was not "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel." Those were not His last words. His last words are found in Acts 1:4. He is getting ready to ascend back to Heaven, and He speaks to His disciples.

"And being assembled together with them." How many, we do not know, "and He commanded them." He didn't suggest. He gave them a commandment. He gave them orders. "He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem." As a matter of fact, in Luke 24:49, He says, "Tarry in the city of Jerusalem." They were not to go to Nazareth, or Capernaum, or Bethlehem. He said, "Go to Jerusalem and wait for the Promise of the Father." That means God the Father had made a promise. "Which you have heard from Me." Verse 5: "For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized."

Now, John didn't sprinkle. If you have been sprinkled, that's your business, but John did not sprinkle. He submerged them. You have to get hold of this fact, because John's baptism was giving us the vision of what the baptism of the Holy Spirit would be, and God's spirit does not sprinkle you. He saturates you. When you are baptized, you are wet. "For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."

How many is "many days?" It could be two. It could be three. "Many days" could be years. He said, "From this point, there is going to be a period of waiting, and then the manifestation will come." The answer will come. Verse 6: "Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him." This amazes me. They changed the subject. They asked, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom?"

The key for the Second Coming is to be ready, and the only way we're going to be ready is to be saved, washed in the blood, and then empowered by His Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is all we have. If you read the Bible and don't have the Holy Spirit to teach you, you won't know what the Bible means. He gifts us with spirits that give us the ability to fulfill our divine destinies.

Let me tell you something. A lot of people are in buildings called churches where nothing is going on because, without God's spirit, nothing is going to happen. I'm thankful you're in, but let me tell you something. I don't want to go to a church where there isn't a stir. I want to go where there is a stir. I want to go where something is going on. I want to go to a church where, if I'm sick, somebody will pray for me, and believe. If I'm in trouble, I want to go to a church where somebody, instead of kicking me and pushing me down, will lift me up.

In Verse 6,He is talking about the Holy Spirit, but they want Him to give them signs about when is this going to happen, and when is that going to happen. I believe it is going to happen, but I believe we need to be ready, and the word "Maranatha" means "the Lord is coming soon."  "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"

Verse 7: "And He said to them, 'It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.'" Verse 8: "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria [in Germany, in Canada]." Last Sunday morning, we had people watching by Internet from Canada, Poland, from all over the world. Jesus says, "When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you are going to have power to witness."

I have to clear something up. If you're waiting upon God, you should be waiting upon God for a purpose, a reason. These disciples were waiting upon God for the purpose of receiving a promise. If you don't have a promise about what you're waiting on from God, you're wasting your time. They had a sure word from God, for the promise is from the Father, and the promise, in this case, is the Holy Spirit.

These disciples realized they were not going to make it on their own. They have been with Christ for 3 ½ years in ministry, but look at Peter. What does he do when the hour comes? He denies he knows Christ. I believe they were saved, because in Luke it says, "You are to rejoice because your names are written down in the Lamb's Book of Life," and you can't have your name written there unless you, first of all, have been saved. So, I believe they're saved, but I believe they realized they had to have more. They had to have a power source.

You can have the hottest and fastest car in the world, but if you don't have any gas in the tank you're not going to get anywhere.  So, their purpose for waiting upon God was to receive. Why are you waiting on God? Well, we're just twiddling our thumbs, and any old thing God wants to give me I sure want to get. You're not going to get anything.

Church people all the time say to me, Brother Wright, pray for me. What do you want me to pray for you about? Well, whatever the Lord wants to give me. I'll take anything He wants to give me. Now doesn't that sound spiritual? That's not spiritual. There is not a Scripture in the Bible that backs that up. Tell a lost person, now, if the Lord wants to save you, He will save you. No, you have to do something! A lost person doesn't get saved sitting in a church pew saying, well, if He wants to save me, He will save me. You have to do something.

You have to confess your sins. In order to get saved, you have to invite Christ into your life. You know that! If the Lord wants to baptize me in the Holy Ghost, He can baptize me sitting here in my Lazy Boy. You have to have a purpose. There has to be a reason why you wait upon God, and no matter what it is, it always has to relate to receiving a promise from God. If you're sick, His promise is, "By His stripes." Can I get a witness? "By His stripes I am healed." That's the promise. That's the promise to receive something from God. You're never going to go after anything from God unless you're in need. The only ones that are going to go after anything from God are those who are in need, those that are dealing with something they can't handle, and those that are in need of a breakthrough.

What did the disciples do once they were commanded to wait? Verses 12-13 tell me that they began to position themselves to receive the promise. Did you hear what He said? He said, "Go to Jerusalem." Now, when Jesus left and ascended into Heaven, He sent two angels down; but the two angels weren't down there to scoop them up and take them into the city of Jerusalem and deposit them in the upper room. No, no. The angels were sent from God to the Mount of Olives to tell these boys to "Get going!" They weren't to tarry on the Mount of Olives.

See, there isn't just any old place for the man or woman waiting on God. Do you hear me? You can't be in just any old place or around just anybody in order to get your breakthrough, your answer, your supply. You can't be just anywhere. Can you imagine where this church would be if we asked for everybody's opinion on every decision we make? Do you know how we arrived at 2910 Kanawha Terrace? We had about 100 people meeting in a warehouse above a machine shop in Dunbar, and we didn't get together and vote on whether we should go to 2910 Kanawha Terrace.  We had a word from God!

They had to position themselves. They had to get to the upper room themselves. They had to come off the Mount of Olives, down into the Valley of Kidron, walk up that steep hill, go through the gates of the city of Jerusalem, walk down the streets and alleys. Then they had to get to where the upper room was. They had to climb up those steps and go into that room. You had better get to the place in your life where you position yourself for what you have been waiting on. Everybody wants something from God, but hardly anybody will position themselves in the place.

When I was just saved as a teenager, I was sitting in Sunday School class, and there were adults in there and they were discussing healing. I remember a man said, "You will never find me going to Oral Roberts and having him lay hands on me." Oh when he said that, as a young Christian I thought, but what if God tells you to go and let Oral Roberts lay hands on you? I have no doubt why we don't receive what we're waiting on. It's because we don't position ourselves. I can see that stirs some of you up, and I'm glad. This is a good fishing hole right now. You have your opinions about all kinds of men and women of God, and you need to be careful. The one you dislike the most may be the one God tells you to go and get under their ministry, go and let them lay hands on you.

Listen, the promise did not come down the block. It did not come outside the gates. It came to one house, one place, and that one place was the upper room, and guess what? One hundred and twenty people showed up in that upper room; yet, 500 saw Him at one time? Where were the 380? Well, they have Little League games today, cheerleading practice. Well, you can't expect me to take my children out of?

Let me tell you what a fanatic Preacher named James Roy Wright, Jr., used to do. I had two boys that played T-ball, Minor League, Little League. I coached them in T-ball and I coached them in Minor League, but they wouldn't let me coach in the Little League. My teams were winning too much, but I told the coach that no matter what the schedule was, every Wednesday night you have a game, my boys will play until a certain time, and then they are going to church. It didn't matter to the coach when they were little and couldn't, but when they became 12 years old, I noticed something. I checked the schedule. He didn't have any Wednesday night games.

Let me tell you something. If you parents would rise up and tell these coaches that your daughter or son will be there until a certain time, and when that certain time comes they are going to church. Some say, well, you shouldn't do that. Well, maybe they're on a field playing, but God is getting ready to do something for them in a classroom. You have to position yourself for your breakthrough. You need to be at the right place, and you had better be around the right people.

I believe there are hundreds of people that should be here [in church] that aren't here, and I know why. What would you do today if everybody in this room by mid-afternoon were talking about you saying that you're drunk? Have you never read Acts 2nd Chapter? When the promise of the Holy Spirit hit the 120 in the upper room, the people on the streets said, "All of them are drunk," and Peter had to get up and say, "There is no one drunk here. It's only 3 o'clock in the afternoon."

I'm sure many people need to be at a certain place, but they won't get there, because they are so fearful about what someone is going to say. If you're desperate, you won't let the devil or demons stop you from getting there. What were they doing that caused people to say they were drunk? You will back off if you think your answer will cause people to say something about you.

When we were meeting in a warehouse in Dunbar, no one was saying anything. They didn't even know we were there, but when we showed up at 2910 Kanawha Terrace. We built our first building and didn't put any windows in it, because we had a gravel parking lot. Hello? Gravels can be picked up by snotty-nosed little boys and used as guided missiles, and guess what people said? They don't have any windows in that church, because they are killing cats and dogs in there and laying them on the altar. That crazy man is handling snakes in there.

So when we built this sanctuary and put in those beautiful windows, guess what they said? Do you see all those windows that are up high? Do you know what they are? I have no idea. Those are gun portals. You would have to be the size of Goliath to get up there. I have pastored here now for 30+ years, and I have never heard more people talk about a church than they do about this church.

If you believe God for something and begin to ask and pray and position yourself in the right place, it's going to happen; but tell your neighbor, THEY ARE GOING TO TALK ABOUT YOU. They talked about these guys. We want it, but it might cost us something. Are you going to hang around the 120? Are you going to risk your reputation? If it means 3,000 are going to get saved in one service, mark me down.

Pastor Jamie had a meeting this week with a group of men who are going to hold a service for us. The leader of the group is a precious man, and he is the leader in one of over 200 Baptist churches in a denomination in West Virginia. How many did they baptize last year? A little over 200. How many churches in that denomination did not baptize one person last year? One hundred churches did not baptize one convert. You can call me drunk, but if at the end of the service 3,000 people get saved, call me happy.

They had no PA system, no Internet, no TV, no radio, no brochures, no handouts. The meeting wasn't even announced and 3,000 got saved. They positioned themselves while they were waiting. In Verse 14, it was obvious they prayed. They prayed. What should a church do but pray? Do you think a church can operate on a two-minute pastoral prayer from the pulpit? Do you really think the church is going to be able to do the work of God, the business of God, with a pastoral prayer on Sunday morning that lasts only about 2 ½ minutes? Do you think that is going to keep the machinery oiled? It's not going to happen. They not only prayed, but they were persistent in their prayers.

The first day wasn't too bad. They knew that "many" meant more than one. It says they were there "many days," so they are consistently praying, persistent in prayer. Then on the third day, they're still praying and praising God. I don't believe they left the upper room. I believe they stayed right there. Verse 14 said they "continued in prayer." They were persistent in their prayers. They persevered when the fourth day hit. How many people quit before the answer comes? The fifth day, sixth day they're probably wondering how long they're going to be there. Surely "many days" is not more than six days.

See, these are not Pentecostals waiting for certain things to happen. They didn't know what was going to happen. All they knew was they were going to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. They knew nothing more than that. They weren't expecting signs and wonders. They were just in there consistently praying and persevering in prayer, and I'll guarantee you someone in the crowd was encouraging them not to quit.

They are now in the seventh day. Do you realize that while they were in there [for 10 days], they went through the Sabbath Day? When the Sabbath Day hit Jerusalem, the city was shut down. Everything shuts down today in Jerusalem. On the Sabbath Day, waiters [servants] in restaurants do not serve tables on the Sabbath Day in Jerusalem. They figured surely something will happen on the Sabbath Day, but the Sabbath Day comes and goes. The eighth day shows up. I don't know about you, but I'm getting tired. Ninth day--don't quit, don't stop, persevere. They had patience.

People come to the altar and say, Brother Wright, would you lay hands on me that God would give me patience? I wouldn't touch you with a 10-foot pole, because the Lord may misunderstand that, while I'm praying for you, He may put me in the same boat. So while you're praying for patience, I'll step back and watch. You don't receive patience by having some Pastor or Evangelist or Apostle lay hands on you and praying for you. You don't receive patience by someone pouring a gallon of oil on top of your head. No, no, no. You receive patience when you go through some persecution and tribulation.

Church, they had patience. They have been in that one room for nine days. Can you imagine 120 people in one room for nine days? I love you, but I don't want to be in the same room with you for nine days. Are you with me? Can you imagine putting all of us together in this room for 10 days? I can't get you to come for a one-hour prayer meeting. How big do you think that room was? Do you think they had indoor plumbing? Hello?  Persistent, persevering, and patient praying.

I think, as each day dawned, they became more desperate. They had been waiting on God for nine days. Some of you have waited on God for years for your answer. Look at the last two verses of that chapter. What are they doing while they are waiting on God? They positioned themselves for their answer. They got where God told them to go. They prayed, and they prayed with persistence. They prayed with patience. They persevered day after day.

Now in Verses 25-26, you will see one of the keys to waiting upon God. You need to get hold of what they were doing while waiting on God. They weren't just sitting around twiddling their thumbs. It wasn't a time of delay. It was a time of preparation. They sensed in their spirits that something was getting ready to happen, and, if something is getting ready to happen, we need to start placing people in the proper positions.

Judas had left the camp. He committed suicide. He couldn't live with himself. Peter denied Christ, yet repented and was reinstated; but Judas sold Christ out and killed himself. So while they are waiting on God, and we don't know what day it was, but it looks to me like it was near the end of their waiting. They began to place people in their proper authority because they knew if they didn't have people in the proper authority they will have gaps.

America is disintegrating before our very eyes, and it's because we don't respect authority. I hear these news people blasting our President. The President is a man. He is a human being, and he makes his choices by what he senses he should do, but my Bible says for me to "pray for those in authority [over me]." Do you know that when the President walks in a room what we're taught to do? Stand up, because you're submitting yourself to authority. He's called the most powerful man in the world. He has at his resources some of the most devastating weapons that have ever been created, but we have a nation that will not honor authority.

Now, let's look at the home. Fifty percent or more American homes have no power or authority in the home. The Bible says that the man, the husband, is the authority in the home. I didn't say dictator. I didn't say tyrant. "The husband should love his wife the way Christ loved the church and gave His life for it." There is no authority in the home. Now, let's go to the church. Pastors are not the authority in most churches. In 6-8 months, they get rid of the Pastor. If every 6 months you get rid of the Pastor, the problem may not be in the pulpit. It may be in the pews!

Can you imagine a corporation, every six months or so, getting rid of the CEO? That corporation would fold. Why are 3,500 churches in America closing up shop every year? They have no authority. We've won't put people in authority, but we give them responsibility. I have pastored churches where I had lots of responsibility but no authority. Responsibility ran me ragged, but I had no authority.

They put in an unknown man. I never have seen him mentioned in the four Gospels. Where did he come from? Do you see his name in Verse 26? Who is he? When there is no authority in place, don't expect a revival to hit, because it will be nothing but a mess. So they are putting people in places of authority while they are waiting on God, because they expected something to happen.

Now let's go into Chapter 2. There was a day in God's timetable for the manifestation of the promise. If you are waiting on God, there is a day that no one can stop from happening if you're praying and being patient and persevering and being persistent in your walk with Christ.  "And on the Day of Pentecost," and slip down to Verse 2. "And suddenly." I believe they were waiting on the promise, doing what they had been doing for 10 days. "And suddenly there came a sound from heaven." You couldn't feel it. You couldn't see it, but you could hear it. The wind of God filled the entire room. Do you think that started some excitement?

Then suddenly a pillar of fire came through the ceiling, and it divided like a tongue. When it got so far down, it separated, and it was on all 120 of them. That would light the fire of a Presbyterian. Suddenly their day had arrived and the manifestation, the answer, came and they all were filled with the Holy Spirit. Wow!

When your day comes, your waiting will be over. Some of you are so close to what you've been waiting on God for, that the closer you get, the enemy wants you to give up. He doesn't know when that day is coming, but he senses a stir in the supernatural. A stir is going on. The Bible says the whole earth is beginning to groan. It's not by accident that things are going on. The Bible says in Genesis that "As long as this earth is in existence, there will be seasons and sowing and reaping." Read the Book.

I do believe things are going on in the earth, because I believe there are things going on in the physical and things going on in the spiritual. Brothers and Sisters, I believe this is not the hour to quit. This is not the hour to give up. This is not the time to lay your Bible on the shelf and have it collect dust. This is the time to get in the Promise Book and get a promise for what you need, pray to God, wait on that promise, and every day you wait on God remind Him what the promise says.

We're not here doubting. I have a sure word from God. Jesus Christ told me to be here, and if I get here and get the promise, I'll be filled with the Holy Ghost. The promises of God are "Yes" and "Amen," and I'm waiting on God in a positive frame of mind. I have a word from God. It may take 10 days, 10 years, but I'm standing on the word. You have to have a sure word, and they were positive about it. On the Day of Pentecost, their day of waiting was over.

Look at Habakkuk 2:3. "For the vision is yet for an appointed time, and it hastens to the end (fulfillment); it will not deceive or disappoint." Glory to God. "Though it tarries." Though it has been a long time, today you feel like keeping on. "Though it tarries, wait for it." What is the "it?" It's what you're waiting for, "because it will surely come. It will not come late." It won't come early either. Can anybody testify? It will not come late, but it will come on its appointed day. How many of you in this building have a promise of what you're waiting for? Maybe it's your children. Acts 16:31. Maybe your companion is lost. Acts 16:31.

This church is not your source. No church is your source. No Preacher is your source. Your source is Jesus! He works through churches. He works through ministers, but HE is the source. I prophesy to you and I declare that your waiting will soon be over.