Sermon Tone Analysis

*Wait A Minute*

Acts 1:1-1:15

Do you like waiting for things?

Does it depend on what you are waiting for?

Intro: Hunters wait for the kill \\ Pregnant women wait 9 months for the birth \\ Patients wait on the doctor \\ Husbands wait on their wives while they shop \\ Kids who have been bad wait on their dad to get home \\ Teenagers can hardly wait until they can drive \\ Drivers wait on traffic and trains \\ \\

I hate to wait.

I hate to stand in line.

I hate to sit in traffic.

I hate when they lock me in the little room in the Doctor’s office and I have no idea why it is taking so long to come in and see me.  \\ Impatient – want it now!

\\ Psalm 62:5 “My soul, wait quietly on God alone.”

\\ \\

The Bible implores us to wait.

\\ Waiting is not the absence of movement!

You wait right here.

Don’t do anything.

Waiting is not delay!

Even though it might feel that way.

God doesn’t have us wait just to play the waiting game.

He doesn’t have us wait just to be mean or to try our patience.

Waiting is preparation!

Something should be happening while we wait.

Drives me nuts when I think that it is a waste of time, but while we are waiting we have to realize that God is preparing us for something.

When Moses was leading the Israelites through the wilderness they were waiting to enter the Promised Land.

They wasted a lot of time while they were waiting because they did not realize that God was preparing them.

He was preparing them to be a nation, to be His representative to the peoples around them.

Jesus had been preparing his followers.

After the crucifixion and resurrection the disciples went to Galilee where Jesus told them that He would meet them.

It was there in Galilee that He gave them the Great Commission to go to the nations and make disciples.

Jesus was there, gave them their assignment.

Let’s go!! I’m sure that Peter grabbed his stuff and was headed for the door.

Gotta wait.

Acts 1:4-8, 12-15

*Acts 1:4-8 (NASB95) \\ *4Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” /He said, /“you heard of from Me; 5for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” 7He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; 8but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

Jesus tells them why they have to wait:

        The time is not right – they were still expecting Him to come back as the ruling King.

They still hadn’t caught the picture of what he was doing.

\\         They are not ready \\         Can’t go out under their own power, need the HS to guide them.

So they have to wait.

So, what do you do when you have to wait?

*Acts 1:12-15 (NASB95) \\ *12Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away.

13When they had entered /the city/, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James /the son /of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas /the son /of James.

14These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with /the /women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

The passage goes on to tell about the selection of the one to fill the vacancy left by Judas.

But they still had to wait.

\\ Luke 24:49 Jesus said, “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry (wait) in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

\\ \\

They were commanded to wait.

\\ \\ Let’s see what lessons the disciples learned as they waited.

Lessons from The Disciples as they waited \\ \\ THE PURPOSE OF THEIR WAITING vs. 4 \\ To receive the Promise of the Father- \\ To receive the POWER of the Holy Spirit \\ What are you waiting for?

Healing, Job, Finances, Son or daughter, loved one to come home, His will for your life \\ What is the purpose of your waiting?

\\ God wants to prepare you as you wait.

Circumstances, people around us. \\ God wants you to learn and grow spiritually as you wait.

Remember that you are not waiting just to be waiting.

\\ \\ \\ 1. THEY POSITIONED THEMSELVES to receive the Promise vs. 12-13

They were in the right place- Jerusalem \\ They were in the right place- the Upper Room

What about you?

How are you waiting?

Are you putting yourself in a position to receive God’s promises?

We have to put ourselves in the right place.

We have to be in the right place physically:  It is not just that the disciples were in the Upper Room, but that they were with other believers.

We have to be in the right place spiritually:  That means that while we are waiting we are working on our relationship with God.

Waiting is not the absence of movement; we are to be doing something while we wait.

We are wasting time and missing opportunities to witness and minister to others if we are doing nothing while we wait.

We have to put ourselves in the right position so that when the time is right we are ready.

Vs 14 shows one of the most important things that we are to be doing while we wait:

*Acts 1:14 (NASB95) \\ *14These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with /the /women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

2. THEY PRAYED WHILE THEY WERE WAITING \\ -John Wesley said - Nothing happens in the Kingdom of God unless it is preceded by prayer \\ \\ We have got to pray while we wait.

\\ We are called to prayer- \\ Pray without ceasing 1 Thess.

5:17 \\ Vs. 14 says in prayer and supplication, some translations leave out the word “supplication”- that is PLEADING and BEGGING \\ This means these disciples, while they were waiting, prayed earnestly.

We have to be careful that our prayers are not vain repetitions like Jesus warned us about in Matt 6.

Our prayers are to be conversations with God and our prayers should also consist of times of earnestly listening for God.

Jesus gave us a model for what should be in our prayers.

I don’t know that He ever intended for us to recite the model.

It is a framework to model our prayer after.

Vicki and I went to a cooking class last week.

\\ Chef said “Recipe is just a guideline.

You have to tweak it and personalize and make it yours.

Have fun with it.

Try different things.”

\\ It is just her words on the page until I experiment with it, give it a try and it works for me.

Then it becomes my recipe, based on the recipe of the master chef.

Suzie’s biscuits.

Gotta try it for yourself.

Experiment with your prayer.

Driving, on the beach, while you cook, while you wait on the train.

Out loud, quietly, written down, in art, music.

We have all these expressions that make it ours.

We can even use the Psalms as a guide and make the prayers of the psalmist our prayers.

Not by reciting the words but by feeling the emotion of them and making them mine.

They give me a starting place when I don’t have words of my own.

We find every emotion in prayer in the psalms.

The apostles knew the importance of prayer: \\ They were passionate in their prayers \\ They were persuasive in their prayers \\ they were serious about their prayers \\ We should always pray \\ \\ 3. THEY WERE PATIENT & PERSISTENT WHILE THEY WERE WAITING vs. 14 \\ …these all continued… \\ They didn’t quit while they were waiting – they kept asking and asking and asking \\ They didn’t complain while they were waiting \\ They didn’t throw in the towel while they were waiting \\ They didn’t turn their back on the Lord on day 3 or day 9.

They kept waiting.

\\ \\ Ps. 37:7 “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.” \\ \\ 4. THEY REMAINED POSITIVE WHILE WAITING vs. 4 \\ How?

Because they had a word from God. \\ Remember Luke 24:49 when Jesus spoke to them- His Word \\ Vs. 4 he commanded them to wait for the Promise of the Father \\ They had faith to believe it would happen.

The promise would come.

\\ \\ Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

\\ \\ They knew their faith would be rewarded.

They had walked with him and saw him work.

They saw the miracles.

They saw his resurrected body.

They knew his word was always true.