This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to week one, day two of our study together to the book of Acts. We're
still in Acts chapter one. We're taking two days on this first chapter as well
as the second chapter as we look at how the church explodes into this world
because of the calling of Jesus Christ and because of the sending of the Holy
Spirit.

Now as we begin to hear what Jesus is going to command this early church, I want
you just for a minute to dream with me. If you were able to get a hold of the
kind of life that you deeply desire, the kind of life where you're living and
you sense this is the life that God has for me, what would it look like? What
would your job look like?

What would your relationships look like? What would the use of your time look
like? Your daily activities, your struggles, your victories, what would it all
look like?

I want to present to you that it would look like the book of Acts. Acts is the
story of how to live a truly significant life. And this story of how to live a
significant life really making a difference in the world begins with a totally
unexpected command.

The first command that Jesus gives to these organized and energized disciples
is, wait, wait. We read yesterday 40 days with the resurrected Jesus. And these
disciples probably felt that they could take the world in 30 minutes, 20 minutes
if they didn't take a coffee break.

And you might have thought that the first command would be go. That's going to
come quickly, but no, it was not go. Jesus takes this enthusiastic, energetic
force and he gives them this moving command, wait.

And it's a reminder to us that God's command to wait at times, it is not one of
life's letdowns. It's one of life's greatest opportunities. The birth of this
church, the empowering of the spirit comes out of this command to wait.

So if you've ever had to wait on a dream or an answer from God or someone to
come through or the right circumstances to finally come true in your life, what
we're going to talk about today together is for you. Because the truth is you
haven't really learned to live until you've learned to wait. Just think about
how many of life's most important events require waiting.

If you're going to have a baby, you've got to wait nine months for that baby to
arrive, even after you're here, even after God brings about this miracle. If
you're waiting for marriage, you have to wait for the right person. Spiritually,
we wait for Jesus' return.

We wait for the fulfillment of our hope in heaven. Even at Disneyland, you've
got to wait in line for the best rides. You've got to wait also for God's
promise.

And waiting develops us. Waiting encourages us to trust in Him. In fact, today
I'm just going to touch on some of the things that waiting does in our lives
that we see in this chapter, Acts chapter 1.

Number one, waiting improves your timing. The Bible says this in Acts 1 verses 4
and 5, "On one occasion, while he, Jesus, was eating with them, the apostles, He
gave them this command, 'Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father
promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but
in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

'" In one sense, timing is everything. I mean, even in little league, you start
to learn to wait on a pitch. That's much more true in the realities of life as
we live it.

These disciples, these first apostles, you see some specific ways, in fact,
three of them, where waiting improved their timing in these verses. Waiting gave
them time to prepare. Waiting gave them time to receive.

Waiting gave them time to shift gears. First, it gave them time to prepare.
They'd been waiting 40 days with the resurrected Christ.

That gave them a faith and a hope that they could face anything. They saw the
resurrected Christ every day. They would never doubt it.

And now He says, "Wait a little more because there's something I want to do in
your life. " Waiting also gives you time to receive. Some of us, we're moving so
fast.

We don't give God any opportunity to give us anything. God is like a fast food
line to us. We're going through and we say, "God, I want one order of this and
two orders of this, and can you add some fries to that?

" And if we can't get it in three minutes, it's as if, "Well, sorry, God, I've
got to move on. " To receive the Father's promise, you often must wait. God's
plan was for this church to grow outward from Jerusalem.

So they had to wait to receive the promise in Jerusalem. They couldn't go
running off somewhere else. Waiting also gives you a third thing.

It gives you time to shift gears. You can't shift a car from first to fourth
without doing some damage. You've got to go through the gears.

And God graciously, when a baby comes into our lives, God graciously gives us
nine months to catch up to the idea, to shift gears mentally. We all need to
know the difference between God's will and God's timing. Sometimes we know the
right decision, but we try to get to it too early.

And like a quarterback who throws the pass before the receiver has time to get
downfield, the timing is off. It's the right decision. It's the right direction.

You just have to wait that little bit where you're saying, "God, I'm waiting on
your timing. " I don't understand God's timing all the time, but I know that he
does. So the question is not only is it God's will.

The question is, is it the right time? It may be God's will for you to be
married, but it's not the right time yet. So you wait.

You don't rush. It may be God's will for you to further your education, but it
may not be God's timing until maybe your kids are older or you've gotten some of
their tasks done. You wait for God's timing.

Waiting improves your timing. Second thing that waiting does is it clarifies
your priorities. It improves your timing.

It clarifies your priorities. Acts 1, 6 to 11 says this, "So when they met
together, the apostles and Jesus, they asked him, 'Lord, are you at this time
going to restore the kingdom to Israel? ' He said to them, 'It is not for you to
know the times or the dates the Father is set by his own authority, but you will
receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

' And after this, after he'd said this, he was taken up before their very eyes,
and a cloud hit him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky
as he was going when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 'Men
of Galilee,' they said, 'why do you stand looking into the sky?

This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the
same way you've seen him go into heaven. ' Waiting shows you what's important. "
The disciples are asking Jesus in their typical human impatience, "Is it time
yet?

" It sort of reminds you of a small child saying, "Are we there yet on a long
trip? Lord, at this time, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel? Is it
time yet?

Is it time yet? " While they are waiting, their priorities are rearranged, and
they get to hear the answer to the most important questions of life. What does
God want me to do?

Where does God want me to do it? When does God want me to do it? What does God
want me to do?

Acts 1a. God wants me to be his witness. Where does God want me to do this?

For them, the answer was Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria. Jerusalem, where they
lived. Judea, right next door, sort of the county next door.

Samaria, almost as close as Judea, but another group of people lived there that
many Jewish people rejected. So it was going to another people group, and then
out to the world. And when does God want me to do this?

When the power of the Spirit comes on you. As you look at these verses, it's
very interesting. There are two great enemies of waiting that are seen in the
lives of these disciples.

Doing and watching can be the great enemies of waiting. One is focused on here,
but I wanted you to be aware of both. One enemy of waiting is doing.

We just feel we have to help God out. So in the Old Testament, for instance,
Abraham comes up with his own plan for having a son. It's not God's plan.

Or Moses goes ahead and kills the Egyptian, which is not God's plan for how he's
going to set the people free. That's one enemy. The other enemy is the enemy you
see here, and that is watching, spectating.

They're standing, looking into the sky, and immediately some angels appear. And
they say, "Why are you doing this? Get back on track.

I don't mean you to be a mere spectator. " Christian waiting involves preparing
for ministry, following God's command, developing relationships. If you tell
yourself that you're waiting on God when all you're doing is just spectating,
you're just watching other people, then you're not waiting on God.

Waiting on God involves getting ready for what he wants to do in your life. And
these disciples are moved into action by these angels that immediately appear.
And so they go to the next step.

The next lesson. Waiting has the power to improve my timing. It clarifies my
priorities.

Number three, it strengthens your dependence on God. In Acts 1, 12 to 14, we see
that they learn to depend on God through this time. Now, this chapter is going
to end with a long section on the apostles replacing Judas with Matthias.

But the truth of the matter is that wasn't God's plan. He had a different plan
in mind. We're going to find out later in the book.

And they spent a lot of time majoring on the minors, which is what we can do
sometimes when we're waiting. More important to me is not what they got caught
up in at the end of the chapter. It's what happens in verses 12 to 14.

Their dependence in the midst of the chapter. Listen to what happens. Verse 12.

"Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a
Sabbath-day walk from the city. When they arrived, they went upstairs to the
room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James, Andrew,
Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James, son of Alphaeus and Simon and
Zealot, and Judas, son of James, different Judas.

They all joined together. " Listen to this, verse 14. "They all joined together
constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with
his brothers.

" Is there a time when you feel more dependent? I've got to depend on somebody
else than those times you have to wait. That's why God allows you to wait
sometimes.

Because he wants us to depend on others and he wants us to depend on him. And in
these verses, they depend on each other. They unanimously agree they are of one
accord in these verses.

That's a phrase that's repeated again and again and again. It's a phrase found
six times in the book of Acts. They are of one accord.

They are agreeing together. They all join together in one accord. Think of how
easily all of this could have fallen apart if they'd been caught up in petty
jealousies, but they were not.

They agreed with each other. They learned to depend on each other, but even more
importantly, they learned to depend on God. They constantly prayed saying, "God,
I'm depending on you.

" And in my life, in your life, one of the sentences to keep in your mind is a
time of waiting is always an invitation to pray. A time of waiting is always an
invitation to pray. I don't know what you might be waiting on right now, but I
want to pray for you.

In fact, would you pray with me maybe even in your mind this prayer for those
who wait? And just pray, "Father, while I wait, instead of rushing faster and
faster, help me to learn your timing. Instead of focusing more and more on my
little world, help me to see your priorities.

Instead of counting on myself, help me to depend on you. Instead of complaining
about what you're not doing in my circumstances, help me to rejoice in what you
are doing in my character. In your name I pray.

Amen. Well, tomorrow the waiting is going to end.