Abounding Grace

Pastor Ed Taylor: Waiting for God to act? Help is right around the corner on Abounding Grace. I have the privilege today to declare to you that God is at work in your waiting. He's at work while you're waiting on him. And there are things that we can do and choices we can make that will make us more usable in the time of waiting and not less. What a promise, but how hard it can be to wait on the Lord.

Larry: Someone has observed patience is something you admire in the driver behind you and scorn in the one ahead. All kidding aside, many of us struggle with waiting, and that includes waiting on God. Maybe you've been waiting for him to fulfill a promise or to answer a prayer or bring reconciliation.

Today on Abounding Grace, we'll learn how to wait on the Lord. And we'll find some wonderful help for this in Genesis chapter 17 and Acts chapter 1. That's where we meet up with Pastor Ed Taylor right now.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Take your Bibles open then to Genesis chapter 17 and Acts chapter 1. We're going to pick up in Acts where we left off, but we're going to start in Genesis 17 in a Bible study that I've entitled, "How Do I Wait on the Lord?" Because that is a position that we are in from time to time. I mean, I think if we share anything in common across the board is that every true believer is waiting on God for something.

Waiting on God for him to fulfill a promise, waiting on God for him to reconcile family, waiting on God for a call to come through or test results, or waiting on God to bring reconciliation and strength and hope, waiting on God for a word. I mean, you can list out the many different things that you're waiting on God for. But the question is, how do I wait on God? How do I wait on the Lord?

It's become a Christian cliché, I know, but it's not. Waiting on the Lord is a beautiful gift from God to take that position, to take that posture of trusting in God while I'm waiting for this situation to resolve, while I'm waiting for that word to come. It's such a beneficial thing. You can jot it down in Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 29. Listen to this promise. It's so beautiful.

He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might, he increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But listen, 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.

Waiting on the Lord is so beneficial. It gives strength. It gives this freedom. It gives to us this endurance to run and not be weary and even walk in the smaller things and not faint. I have the privilege today to declare to you that God is at work in your waiting. He's at work while you're waiting on him. And there are things that we can do and choices we can make that will make us more usable in the time of waiting and not less.

What a promise, but how hard it can be to wait on the Lord, to wait for his word to come to pass. We often fall into the trap that Abraham and Sarah did. Remember the story? God gave them a tremendous promise that they would have a son, a promised son. A nation would come out of him. The only thing was they were very old in age.

Their bodies were done and had gone long past that season of childbearing. The insides, the equipment wasn't working. It's not going to happen in the physical realm. And so they took the promise of God. They received the promise of God, but then they tried to match it with their own abilities. Instead of waiting on God, Sarah comes up with this idea.

Hey, there's a cultural thing that happens. If I can't conceive for you and God said I'm going to have a kid and I can't do it, culturally it was acceptable for the servant of the house, the handmaiden, to produce a seed, to produce a child. So here it is, Abraham. Take Hagar, our servant, and you can go into her and she can have the child, and that child will be the promise.

What happened? Hagar did give birth to a young boy named Ishmael. And here in chapter 17, notice with me in verse 17, Abraham does what often we do. We don't want to be quick to judge this couple because they represent us in so many ways. Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart, "Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is 90 years old, bear a child?"

And Abraham said to God, "Oh, that Ishmael might live before you." He says, "God, accept what we have done. It's impossible. There's no need to wait for your promise. It's impossible. Look at me. Look at my wife. What you have said just can't happen. So we've made it happen for you. Just accept Ishmael. This can be the promise. We don't have to wait."

So tired of waiting and incredibly impatient, they conceive a child of their own doing. And that's our human nature. Our human nature is to not believe God, to not trust his promise, to not wait for him, and then to jump in and fix it ourselves and take care of it. And we say, "Here you go, God. We've done it for you." If you haven't already, you need to memorize this verse: Proverbs chapter 3 verses 5 and 6.

We need to learn this and live it out day by day. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. Acknowledge God in all your ways, and he'll direct your paths. That posture and position of waiting. You know, our own understanding, our own education, all of our memories, our vast experience, that's not what God would have you to lean on.

God is in his omnipotence and in his omniscience, two words that simply speak of his being all-powerful and all-knowing. We don't compare. We will never rise to that. God wants us walking and living by faith, trusting him. And when he says wait, church, he means wait. When you are given instruction to wait, God means wait.

He doesn't want you to create an Ishmael and offer that up as here is your promise. No, God has the power to perform his promises for you. And lest we judge Abraham and Sarah, we have to consider how often have we tried to help God out a little? How often have we tried to help God out just a little, jumping in where impatience overtakes us and we're unwilling to wait?

So the question today before us in our text in chapter 1 of Acts is, well then, how do I wait on the Lord? How can I be better in walking in the patience of God waiting for God to act? In Psalm 46:10, it says, "Be still." And that could just be a word for someone today. The answer to your prayer is be still and know that I am God.

In times of great grief, in times of great difficulty, in times of great stress and anxiety, when fear grips you, that is the worst time to make big decisions. That is the worst time to go to and fro trying to figure out what's happening. It's the best time to be still and know that he is God. Remember your relationship with him.

It always works best when your vertical relationship with God is in order. Like I'm abiding in Christ, receiving his strength, so that then my horizontal life will be lived out to the degree of my vertical life. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, and I will be exalted in the earth.

With that in mind, pick up with me where we left off in Acts chapter 1 verse 9. Now when he, speaking of Jesus, had spoken these things, the promise that he just shared in verse 8, while they watched, he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, "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." Don't miss the emotion of the moment. The disciples, the followers of Christ, it has been a very difficult, let's say two months for them. Very challenging. They just many days prior saw their best friend arrested, lied about, beaten, crucified, buried, and for a few days wondering if they had made a wrong decision with their life.

On top of that, they ran away from him. Peter denied him. And then Jesus rises again from the dead. So they go from low to high. Oh, he's back. And for 40 days, he's hanging out with them, ministering to them, encouraging them, restoring them. And now he gives them a promise. There's going to be power. It's going to be amazing. Just wait in Jerusalem. Just wait. Don't go anywhere. Just wait.

He says in verse 8, "You're going to receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you." Now, we have studied this already because we know with chapter 2 what's going to happen. They don't know anything. They're living life day by day. This is where they're at. They just got this exciting promise. You're going to receive power. Don't leave. But those of you that like more information, you know how they would be feeling.

Well, okay, I'll wait, but when's it going to happen? Where's it going to happen? How am I going to know? How long will I have to wait? And those of you that like all that information, Jesus said, "No. I just want you to wait. I'm not telling you anything else. Oh, and by the way, I want you to wait and then I'm going to leave you." And that's where they're at. He ascends into heaven.

This is for you. You want to circle the word in verse 9 just to remind you of this when it says he was taken up. This is what is often referred to as the Ascension of Christ. He's ascending into heaven. So theologically you call it the Ascension, but here it's just described he's taken up. This will be the last time they have any physical contact with Jesus. They won't have him around anymore.

And we don't want to miss the emotion. They are in a position where they don't know the future. All they have is the word. They don't know what's going to happen. I mean, in my Bible, the promise is on this side of the Bible and the fulfillment is on the very next page. They don't have that privilege. Just like you and me. I don't know how things are going to end in my life.

I don't know how some of the things are going to end. They could end very, very well, or they could end very, very poorly. But I don't know. All I know is I have today to live. I need to be faithful today. I need to cling to the promises of God each and every day that I don't see them fulfilled. Each and every day that I don't see it happen.

Each and every day where things seem to get worse or things seem to get harder. Or just when you thought it was at the worst, it gets worse and it gets worse. And I say, "No, no, I need to wait on the Lord." And so in our waiting, we learn some things from their lives that will greatly help us in the emotional upheaval, in the challenges that we face as we wait on the Lord.

Number one, we're going to use different parts of the body to remember different places as we're waiting. So the first one is eyes. You can jot down in your notes, eyes. Our eyes, while you're waiting on the Lord, number one, our eyes need to remain on Jesus. Again, another cliché, right? And clichés, unfortunately, they get so easily dismissed, but haven't you found it to be true?

The clichés of Christianity are actually some of the most powerful truths to live by. So as you're waiting on the Lord, keep your eyes on him. And what does that mean exactly? We're not going to stand here like them and look up and see him ascend. No, in a very spiritual way, when you use the phrase, "keep your eyes on the Lord," what we're saying is remain in a position where he is the central focus of your life.

Like when you're driving, you're teaching your kids how to drive, keep your eyes on the road. You mean exactly what it says. You have a multi-thousand pound vehicle that you have the wheels to. Watch the road. Why? Because the car will follow your eyes. If your eyes divert to the right or to the left or what some people are doing now on their phones, texting and doing whatever they're doing now, your eyes need to be on the road when you're driving.

Well, even more so, your eyes, my focus, my attention, especially in times when I'm waiting, need to be on the Lord. Now, we went through this in depth when we studied verse by verse in Hebrews. So I encourage you to pick up the study in Hebrews chapter 12. But let me read to you what it says in verse 2. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 2: Looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith.

Looking unto Jesus. Now this phrase back in verse 10 of Acts chapter 1, you can circle that phrase "looked steadfastly." The phrasing in the original language speaks of staring. Staring. You will not avert your eyes. I'm certain if we had an opportunity to give testimony on this today, we would hear if I asked the question, how many of you got your eyes off the Lord and you paid a high price for it?

There'd be lines on both sides of the stage saying, "This is what happened. I got so caught up in it. I was wrestling with this and my eyes got off to the circumstance. My eyes got off to a person. My eyes got off to anxiety, to worry, and it just made things worse." While you're waiting on God, like these guys, they're in a crisis moment right now. They're just awestruck, of course.

They're witnessing something supernatural, the Ascension of Christ into heaven. Unbelievable. We'll never see the Ascension of Christ into heaven. But I'm praying that we see his soon return. Just like the angels promised, he's coming again. The same way he left, he's coming just like that. Every eye will see him, the Bible says.

But in our day-to-day life, this would be such a temptation to fall back into discouragement, just like the first time they lost Jesus. And that's not their choice. They looked steadfastly. Instead of running, instead of frowning, their attention was not on themselves anymore, but on Jesus. Which brings this section brings us to number two, and this I describe as your desires.

So your eyes are on the Lord. Your desire needs to be expecting Jesus. So you're watching him. You're staring at him. You're focused upon him. Now the next thought is right here in verse 11 where these two men in white apparel, which I believe are angels, they say, "Men of Galilee, why are you standing up gazing 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."

So the idea here is that as you are waiting on the Lord, your desire needs to be in expectation of the soon return of Jesus. Jesus Christ promised to return and he will. We believe in the imminent return of Jesus Christ. And as we're staring, we also need to be living. There is life to be lived as we await the soon return of the Lord.

And here's where it kind of gets into how we get off when we're waiting on the Lord. One of the frustrating parts of waiting on God, waiting for a situation to resolve, waiting for an answer to prayer, waiting for an open door, waiting for a closed door, waiting for confirmation, all of that, part of it is impatience. And when impatience grips our heart, we strive for anything that will alleviate the nervousness of impatience.

And here's where a great mistake is made. In our waiting, we're waiting for the wrong things. We're waiting for the situation. We're waiting for the answer. We're waiting when the Bible is very clear that for here the angels gave direction. You need to be in a position of waiting for the Lord, not the situations. Live all of your life with the banner of his soon return as it works in your life.

It's a blessed hope, the Bible says. It's a motivating help, the Bible says. There's an expectancy to live out your life waiting for his soon return. Let me show you what I mean. Turn over to Luke chapter 19, would you? That's to the left. Luke chapter 19. As Jesus is teaching on the Kingdom of God, he gives insight about this certain nobleman, which represents him. Luke chapter 19 in verse 11.

Now as they heard these things, he spoke another parable because he was near Jerusalem and because they thought the Kingdom of God should appear immediately. Therefore he said, "A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, that happened, and to return." Then he says he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, or basically money, ten minas and said to them, "Do business till I come."

In the Old King James, they translated this "occupy until I come." And it is true that God has left us on the earth to do business until his return. He has left us on the earth to occupy that space of our lives as the church, interfacing with people's lives and sharing the love of Jesus in practical ways. We're to do business until he comes, to live expectantly for the return of Jesus Christ.

And if you find yourself waiting for anything other than the return of Christ, you will become frustrated and disappointed. Keep your eyes on him and just know he's coming back. Why is that so important? Well, that's the greatest promise that he gave to us. Apart from the forgiveness of your sins, his soon return where every wrong is made right, where the consummation of human history will take place.

Like the promises of God, the return of Christ, like we read today. I mean, think of this church. Just in your own circumstance, there's some heavy things among us, I know. I want you to think of the Psalm we read. Listen to what David says when he's surrounded by all these enemies, all these people taking advantage of him, coming against him, wanting to kill him. It's a heavy Psalm.

Sometimes you're reading the Psalms and you're like, "This is in the Bible, man." And it sounds like your life. It's like, "Man, this is in the Bible. This is exactly what I'm feeling. It's right here." And I've learned how to walk with David to trust in him no matter what. And what we learn in verse 15, remember David's hope at the end was, wasn't for the people, he prayed for the people, he prayed for the situations, he brought them.

But his hope was, listen, "As for me, I will see your face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake in your likeness." That's where satisfaction comes. In the presence of God. When we are in the eternal state. When the Lord returns. Until then, we're touched and tainted by sin and the imperfection of this world and waiting for anything or anyone other than Jesus is just going to leave us disappointed.

And certainly there's disappointment to share among us as we've got our eyes off the Lord and our desires in different ways.

Larry: We're learning how to wait on the Lord today on Abounding Grace through a study of Acts chapter 1 and Genesis chapter 17. Pastor Ed Taylor's message, "How Do I Wait on the Lord?" can be heard again at aboundinggraceradio.com and at oneplace.com.

Pastor Ed, as we've been talking about waiting on the Lord today, it's quite possible someone listening right now is in that waiting room, so to speak. And maybe it's been many years and they're frustrated or discouraged and they're struggling with the "why" question. So why would God wait so long? Would you address that common question as we close?

Pastor Ed Taylor: That's a huge question. I mean, even as I'm answering this, Larry, I've been waiting on something so powerful and so personal and so hurtful for over 11 years that it is discouraging, and this is a question that does come up on a weak moment: why?

And let's be clear. From God's perspective, what's happening right now is within his will. He has allowed it, and he knows the timing exactly. We're the ones that are waiting. We're the ones that are living with the pain or living with the situation. And it is a part of life. Believers wait, unbelievers wait. Those that love God wait, those that don't love God wait.

But those that know the Lord, those that love God, you and me, we get to wait with hope. We get to wait and live life. We get to wait and know that our life matters, that God is working all things together for the good. We just finished our study in Genesis on this program, didn't we? And we looked at the life of Joseph, and you can think over and over again this kept coming up.

Joseph at the end of his life, when God tied all the pieces together and he's there with his brothers, he goes, "You guys meant this for evil." That's the truth. "But God meant it for good to bring it about as it is this day." And so we want to wait like God's going to bring it about. He knows what he's doing.

And of course, when we're talking about waiting on the Lord in Acts chapter 1, it's so beautiful because the waiting on the Lord is for something great and good. And so sometimes God has us waiting for something great and good, and he always delivers in his perfect timing. Great question.

Larry: Thanks again, Pastor Ed. I'm sure someone needed to hear that. Here in the month of May, we've picked out an excellent book written by Chuck Smith called *When the Storm Hits*. If you're struggling with life's burdens, this is a must-read. From the ability to discern spiritual warfare and how it can affect our emotions, to the realization that God is intimately aware of everything we are going through, this book will restore hope and peace to the weariest of believers.

God may not always deliver us from the storms of life, but he is faithful to be with us as we go through them. And we'll send you a copy with our thanks for a gift of $25 or more to Abounding Grace. Please remember, it is through your financial support that we're able to come to you day by day on stations all across the nation.

Your gift, whatever the size, would be greatly appreciated and put to good use. Request your book today by calling us toll-free at 877-30-GRACE. Again, 877-30-GRACE. You can also order the book online at calvaryco.store.

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