Worth The Wait

Intro: Stefanie 3-5 min Toddler Challenge

What a wonderful picture of anticipation of something wonderful. When I look at these kids and I see how hard it was for them to keep from…eating their treat...I can’t help but think about the church right now.

There has been a lot of talk about the church reopening...people including myself have really missed being with a group of people that are like minded and are worshipping together. The good thing is that That will happen next week for people that are ready and comfortable with that.

However I am not expecting for things to be normal. I am not talking about the guidelines for gathering together again here…I am not talking about the getting back into the habit of church. I am talking about the presence of the spirit in our gathering. I am expecting an outpouring of the Holy Spirit because during this time of waiting I know there have been many people praying.

Seeking desperately for the Holy Spirit to bring revival and awakening to His Church. Moving her from a people who gather because it is the thing to do to a people that gather to bask in His presence together and celebrate God’s promise of ressurection to all those who have embraced a call of discipleship.

Going back to reopening language here I am not using the term reopening because I do not think that Church was ever closed. Just because we have been kept from meeting in the flesh does not mean that we were not praying and drawing closer to the father during this time. We have been meeting…and worshipping and furthering the Gospel.

While having a location is important the Church has always been people that are of one mind or one accord engaged in mission.

The disciples in this passage had been listening to Jesus teach from the time of His resurrection until now…They were trying to figure out their mission…They were not trying to figure out where they met…when they were going to meet…they were trying to figure out their mission.

Acts: 1:6-14

Acts 1:6–14 NLT

6 So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?” 7 He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9 After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. 10 As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!” 12 Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, a distance of half a mile. 13 When they arrived, they went to the upstairs room of the house where they were staying. Here are the names of those who were present: Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James (son of Alphaeus), Simon (the zealot), and Judas (son of James). 14 They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus.

They were asking....

When will we see your power for real?

They still didn’t get it. They were saying in essence we want to be a part of the new world order…let us in on your real plan. We know you are the Messiah and we know that you defeated death but now it’s time to show your power by decimating the current world system and make Israel the superpower that our people have been expecting to be...even though they may have had a bad understanding of how Jesus was going to change the world they were still excited to be a part of making things right.

Jesus answers the disciples by really not answering…instead of giving them a time and date and a plan of attack...Jesus says no body knows and it does not matter....He tells them that what really matters is that they receive Power for the mission to make disciples when the Holy Spirit makes Himself known.

When He makes himself known then they will be able witnesses to the entire world about Me....then He ascended into heaven and a stunned and confused group of people watched as the answer to their prayers disappeared into the sky.

The disciples had a choice to make…instant gratification, give up, or wait for the Power from on high to to get clarity on the mission and accomplish the mission.

As Hard as it was they chose to wait and pray even though they wanted to do the opposite. As we will talk about next week their obedience lead to the miraculous birth of the Church that is still changing our lives and the world today.

Just like the toddler challenge Stefanie shared about the little kids having to wait to eat their favorite treat…They knew if they just waited for their parent to come back they would get a treat but the waiting was agonizing and invigorating.

It was written all over their faces…they were not just waiting…they were anticipating…looking forward to tasting something that was going to be so good that it was worth the wait.

Waiting and Praying on the Holy Spirit is about anticipation of the miraculous…Not a hail Mary Pass at the last second.

Waiting and Praying Leads to Power And a fruitful Witness.

Regardless of you opinion on how people and governments have dealt with this time of shut downs and upheaval this has been a perfect time to practice waiting and praying with anticipation.

All of us have opinions and ideas about how God wants to work in our lives and in the midst of this world. But what if like the disciples we have only a partial picture of what God is really up to because we have not gone to the upper room whatever that is for us?

I am convinced as I stated earlier today and in several of the messages during isolation that God is up to something! God wants you and I to take an active part in it. In order for us to find that part we must take this time to Actively wait and Pray for Holy Spirit to fill us with his presence.

When we go to our upper room and wait on the Lord He will reward our obedience and patience with more than we could possible imagine. He is not going to reward us with going back to normal He is going to reward with an ability to bring the gospel to the world with Power from on high....He is going to give us a powerful testimony that not only brings salvation to us but has the ability to be and make disciples of the world.

I may seem like a broken record but the truth is that your life will not become what it was meant to be until God is allowed form you into His disciple from the inside out.

Let’s commit to Wait and Pray together in anticipation of the Supernatural.

Unite in Prayer with your family this week every day reading Acts Chapter 2 and praying together for a Holy Spirit Moment in your home and in your family?

Pray the God give you and your family a burden for someone you know who is in need of a relationship with Jesus.

Pray that God would come during your family prayer time in an Acts 2 kind of way.

Unite in Prayer with your Church as well pray for the Holy Spirit to manifest himself in our service in a miraculous way next week Both online and in person.

Pray for a Spirit of one accord

Pray that The Holy Spirit manifest Himself in our meeting next week in an Acts Chapter 2 kind of way.

Pray for ways to Mission

Pray for a desire for Vision

As we take this action step of praying this week lets do so with anticipation of His glory…Let’s not be satisfied with meeting in person…lets look forward to meeting with God both online and in person next week.

Prayer is the language of the Christian community. In prayer the nature of the community becomes visible because in prayer we direct ourselves to the One who forms the community. We do not pray to each other, but together we pray to God, who calls us and makes us into a new people. —Henry Nouwen--

Communion

Heavenly father please come to us as we partake of your Broken Body and Shed Blood. Fill us with your presence and allow us to seek your future for our lives and the life of our Church and the life of our world.

Prepare us to see you next week as we return to in person worship.