Okay…so I want you to think about this scene with me for a moment. There they were…120 people. They had all walked with Jesus while He was on the earth. They had seen Him performed miracles, heal people from horrible sicknesses and diseases. They had seen the lame walk, the blind made to see…they had even seen people raised from the dead and demons cast out of folks who were demon possessed. They had even watched as one man was delivered from a LEGION of demons, and they saw those demons enter into pigs and they were driven into the sea and drowned. It was an amazing 3 ½ years…but now, all of that was past, because their Jesus had been crucified, and He had been risen from the grave after 3 days just like He said He would be. It was a fearful time for the Followers of Christ, and they had no idea what to expect next. All they knew was that Jesus had told them to go to Jerusalem and wait for the promise. But what did that even mean? If you will turn with me to Acts 1:4-8, we’ll read the story. It says this:
“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; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 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, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:4-8)
And some of them were even present when He ascended to Heaven on a cloud, and they had seen and heard the angel announce, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11) But now He was gone, and they were left there among many people who were filled with fear, not knowing what would happen now.
So here they were gathered together in this upper room, doing exactly what He had told them to do…they waited and they prayed. But in reality, they had no idea what would happen…they didn’t know what this promise would be like. They were all there by faith…and it was faith that kept them there and enabled them to witness the incredible power of God that exploded into that room on that Pentecostal Day!
Friends, I want to tell you that the Bible records many times when God would give instructions to His people, and they had no idea what it was that He wanted from them. Think about Abraham…he was told to leave his country and his kindred and go to a place that God would show him…and so he wandered around like a vagabond. David was told that he would be king when he was just a young boy, but then he found himself being hunted down like an animal and running for his life. Joseph was told he would be a great leader, but later he found himself locked in a dungeon being punish for a crime that he didn’t commit. And think about Noah…as he worked diligently building an arc, for some believe 120 years…with no sign of rain or any water mass anywhere in sight. Why they didn’t even know what rain was, because it had never happened before the flood. Many people who followed after God didn’t understand what was happening to them, why they were being required to wait in silence, but each one of them found the power of God in their lives and the fulfillment of every promise they had ever received from the Lord.
And so, Jesus’ Disciples waited in the upper room just as He told them to do…and they prayed. So let me ask you…have you ever been required to wait upon the Lord in silence? Has there ever been a time in your Christian life when you didn’t know where to turn or what to do, and all you knew to do was to wait and seek and believe that God had a plan in all this?
Personally, I have experienced waiting on the Lord many times. Sometimes it seems that I spend more time waiting and seeking the Lord than I actually do serving Him. Waiting used to be the most difficult thing for me to do, but over the years, I have learned that I can have great peace while I wait for His direction and for His promises. Let me share with you some of the things that I’ve learned during my times of silence…while I was waiting and seeking the Lord.
- I have learned that God is faithful in all His ways and He will not fail to lead and guide me to do exactly what He wants me to do when His time is right and when I am ready in my heart to move forward.
- I have learned that God has a plan…an agenda if you will…for my life. I could do a lot of things that would be good things, but until God does whatever it is that He needs to do in me to prepare me for the next step in His agenda, I’d simply be wasting my time and energy, and whatever it is I would be doing, it would not be fulfilling God’s plan.
- I have learned not to rush God’s plan. Think about it…for some reason that He does not reveal to us, God waited 25 years before He gave Abraham the son of promise. Could He have done it in one year, 5 years…even 10 years? Of course He could have, but God sets the times and the seasons, and He knew it would take 25 years for Abraham to be ready to have the son that was promised him. And even for the birth of Christ, scripture tells us in Galatians 4:4-5 , “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” (Galatians 4:4-5) So even for Jesus to be born, there was an appointed time. Friends, this I can tell you for certain…NOTHING happens by accident with God…and I can assure you that He has an appointed time for each of us too, but we must learn to wait for God’s time in order to fulfill God’s plan.
- I have learned that God’s plan will NOT fail. As long as I am willing to wait for His time and I am willing to obey His direction, God will do exactly…no to be honest He will do even more than I ever imagined He would do in my life. He has allowed me to do things and go places and meet people that I KNOW…I could not have done except that He ordained them to come to pass.
I have to be honest with you Friends…waiting used to be the most difficult part of my Christian walk. I HATED to wait. I knew what I wanted to do for the Lord and I just wanted to get on with it. But often, God would place me in a position that I couldn’t do anything. I used to feel that if I wasn’t doing something, then I was being unfaithful to God or I wasn’t accomplishing anything…or even worse, maybe I was backsliding. I thought I needed to constantly be moving forward. But the time came when I needed to learn how to totally surrender to the Lord. Don’t get me wrong, I thought I had done that a long time before, but I learned that total surrender entailed a whole lot more than I thought it did. It meant that I needed to stop making plans and stop trying to be in control, and I needed to give my desires up and wait for God’s plan, in God’s time and in God’s way…and then I just needed to be obedient. That was such a hard lesson for me to learn. But Friends, let me tell you, once I finally learned that lesson, I began to experience more peace and more rest in the Lord than I had ever experienced before… and THAT was the REASON for the silence. God wants us to learn to rest in Him…He wants us to have peace even in the midst of chaos and He wants us to know that He’s the One Who’s in control and we don’t need to be concerned about the details. And, while we wait, we can know that God is working out an agenda that’s perfect for us…and when He does…He’ll send all the power and all the provision we need to do exactly what He desires when His time comes.
So the 120 Disciples…they waited and they prayed. They sought the Lord, they joined together in unity…and when the time was right…God sent a mighty rushing wind and baptized each and every one of them with the Power of the Holy Spirit and they all began to speak in tongues as the Spirit gave utterance. What a mighty God we serve! They began to speak the words of God with a boldness they had never experienced before. And even impetuous Peter, when he stood before the crowd to speak that day, it was like some other person stood in his place speaking words of life to the crowds who listened. And scripture records that 3000 souls were added to the church that day. Glory to God!
So…back to my original question…what should we do while we’re waiting for the Lord and it seems like the heavens are silent? The same thing those disciples did…we wait and we pray and we seek the Lord. We fill up on His Word, we spend time with other believers who build us up and encourage us in the things of God. We allow God to take all the time He needs to prepare the circumstances and also to prepare us to fulfill His desire in our lives. Trust me Friends…you won’t miss His plan…guaranteed!
So that’s my message for you tonight. I’d like to ask you if you will, to bow your heads and let me pray with you?
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