PATIENCE
1. In the first chapter of Acts the people of God are told to be patient.
2. The Lord told His friends that they needed to wait.
3. If you have your Bible open to Acts 1 let’s start with Acts 1:2 – READ
4. Jesus chose the apostles.
5. These men were chosen but they did not get to do everything at once.
6. There were some jobs and some promises that only came after Jesus returned to heaven.
7. These men had to wait.
8. The command to wait is made even clearer by verse 4 – READ
9. Waiting is even implied in verse 11 – READ
10. Jesus made promises about the Spirit and said that He would come back.
11. All of these promises involved waiting.
12. Verse 13 says that people were “abiding” in an upper chamber.
13. The information in verse 14 also indicates waiting.
14. The people in this room “continued steadfastly” in prayer.
15. The disciples of Jesus were willing to wait and pray.
WE DO NOT NEED TO BE TOO OLD BEFORE WE LEARN THE MEANING OF WAIT.
A. Young children must wait until they are old enough to ride a bicycle.
B. As children get older they must wait until they are old enough to drive a car.
C. Those in school wait until their HS or college graduation.
D. Adults may wait to get married, wait for a job, or perhaps a job promotion.
E. The couple that gets married may need to wait for their first home.
F. There are times when all of us are forced to wait.
G. For most of us waiting is not something that we relish.
2. I want to propose that some of God’s greatest people were individuals who waited.
3. The apostles are my first example.
4. These men were the Lord’s disciples for about three years.
5. They worked and waited with Him for more than 36 months.
6. At the end of this time they were asked to wait a little longer.
7. They did.
8. These men waited and they kept the faith.
9. According to Acts 1-2 their waiting paid off; they made the right choice.
10. There have been other great people of God who waited.
11. Abraham was someone who waited on God.
12. Gen. 25:7 says that Abraham was 175 years old when he died.
13. This age is significant for two reasons.
A. God had made some promises to Abraham.
B. Abraham waited the length of time that the apostles had waited.
C. That is, he passed the three-year mark.
D. He got to the ten 10 mark and God’s promises had not been fulfilled.
E. He waited for 20 years; 30 years; 50 years; 75; years.
F. It seems that Abraham waited for more than one hundred years to see all of God’s promises fulfilled.
G. The Bible says that he died waiting for God to carry out His word.
H. This is what the Hebrew writer said in Heb. 11:8-13 – READ
I. Abraham was someone who waited as long as anyone can.
J. He waited until his dying day.
14. Another man who waited was Noah.
15. In this case he Noah get to see the end result of things.
16. He got to see what the waiting led to.
17. Noah did get to see the end result but he still to wait for more than a hundred years.
18. Most of us are probably familiar with Noah, Abraham, and the apostles.
19. There are some other great Bible characters who waited God.
20. These characters are not as well known as the ones I have cited but they are just as important.
21. Two of these people are found in Lk. 2.
A. Luke describes a man and a woman who waited on God.
B. The first person that Luke described is Simeon.
C. We first read about this man in verse 25 – READ 2:25.
D. This
man was looking (and thus waiting) for the “consolation of
E. The
“consolation of
F. The statement in verse 26 has caused some to think that this man was old.
G. If this is a correct inference this man may have been waiting a long time.
H. Whether he was old or not he was willing to wait.
I. God made a promise and this man was willing to wait for its fulfillment.
22. No matter how old Simon was there was a woman who was old.
23. This lady was Anna.
24. It appears that she too was waiting (verse 38 – READ).
25. Anna was a “prophetess” (verse 36).
26. It appears that just like Simeon she knew that something was about the happen.
27. The prophetic spirit let her know that a good thing was about to occur.
28. This woman waited on God.
29. Notice verse 37 – READ
30. Simeon waited. The Bible says he was righteous and devout (verse 25).
31. Anna was someone who waited on and served God.
32. Heaven allowed her to be a prophetess (verse 36).
33. WHEN WE LOOK AT SOME OF THE GREATEST CHARACTERS IN THE BIBLE WE OFTEN FIND THAT THEY WERE PEOPLE WHO WERE WILLING TO WAIT.
A. In our culture we do not like to wait.
B. We want things right now.
C. In some respects this is not always bad.
D. If there is a faster way to get through the check out line at Wal-Mart let’s take advantage of that.
E. When it comes to the spiritual side of life we need to be willing to wait.
F. Tonight I want to present a few Old Testament passages that deal with waititng.
G. Knowing about and applying these passages should help us.
H. The first passage is Ps. 40:1.
i). The writer of this Psalm described some type of difficulty.
ii). It may have been a severe illness or something that could have caused death.
iii). Whatever it was, the matter was pretty serious.
iv). There are three thoughts in the opening verse of this psalm.
v). The
writer “cried” to God. God heard. The one who cried waited.
vi). Ps. 40:1 – READ
vii). Why should we wait on God?
viii). If we cry (pray to God) and we do not get the answer we want why pray again?
ix). If God does not immediately answer, why should we stay faithful to Him?
x). The answer is found in the word wait.
xi). The psalmist waited and he waited patiently.
xii). We sometimes use the “sooner or later” expression.
34. This may be an appropriate description for our dealings with God.
35. In some cases we may not need to wait too long.
36. In Acts 1 Jesus told the disciples to wait; their waiting was a matter of days.
37. In other cases our waiting with God is a long, drawn out process.
38. Abraham literally waited until he died but didn’t get to see all of God’s promises fulfilled.
39. In the spiritual realm we must teach ourselves to wait and wait patiently.
40. Those who do will be the people who succeed.
41. Another passage that tells us about the benefits of waiting is Isa. 40:31.
A. This is one of the most well known passages in the entire Old Testament.
B. This verse has stuck with me because of an incident just after my conversion.
C. On one Sunday morning several years ago there was a guest preacher.
D. It was said that this speaker would speak on this text; he would fully explain it.
E. This was a sermon that I wanted to hear.
F. This passage was familiar to me but the exact point wasn’t too clear.
G. I came that Sunday morning ready to learn. I left disappointed.
H. The speaker didn’t explain the passage. He spoke of how wonderful the verse is but he didn’t apply it.
I. Let’s see what we can learn about Isa. 40:31 – READ
J. The people who “wait” on God are those who put their confidence in Him.
K. Whether people are in danger (Ps. 40) or lacking something, they trust in God.
L. In this context the passage had application to the Babylon captives.
M. These people were prisoners in a foreign land.
N. The prophet said, “wait” (trust, hope, believe and have faith in God).
O. This doesn’t mean that we sit back and expect God to do everything for us.
P. The idea is that we do not try to do everything on our own.
Q. When God moves forward, if we are with Him, we are going to move forward.
R. The thought is that those are with and move forward with God have strength.
S. This is why the text has words like “run.”
T. Through and with God people have the strength to “mount up with the wings of eagles.”
U. People can, if you will, “fly over and above” their circumstances and difficulties with God.
V. This is what we saw in Ps. 40.
W. The captives in Babylon were told the same thing.
42. Throughout the Bible God’s people are reminded about the need to sometimes wait.
43. Even James commented on this need.
44. In Jas. 5:7 we read – READ 5:7.
45. There are some things in life that we cannot hurry.
46. Trees can only grow so fast.
47. Fruit is only produced at a certain time in the year.
48. In the secular realm we understand that waiting is sometimes necessary.
49. Waiting is not always fun but it is the best choice.
50. Will we be a Christian who waits on God?
51. Will we be so firmly committed that we will be like Abraham?
52. Even if waiting for some things means waiting till our dying breath, we will wait?
53. To succeed as a Christian we must be willing to wait on God at all costs.
54. Are we willing to do that or do we need help doing that?