Through the book of Acts, and we're going to begin our journey through the book of Acts.
A little bit different, we're not going to start with verse one in our study of the book
of Acts simply because over the last few weeks I've been in another series of messages looking
at the final 40 days of Jesus' ministry on earth.
And we recognize that those days of ministry happened after the resurrection.
After Jesus was raised, he spent 40 days, and we talked about three major things that
occurred during that period of time.
One, Jesus appeared quite often to those who were his followers to convince them that the
resurrection was indeed real.
Secondly, he comforted his disciples as he taught them and gave them hope and helped
them understand the calling that he had placed on their lives, and finally he commissioned
them with the marching orders we sometimes call the Great Commission.
Now as we looked at those three things, we looked at the first few verses in the book
of Acts.
And so I'm not going to go back and look at those verses again, we've already talked
about them, but I will tell you that the book of Acts is the second book in a two-part series.
Acts was written by the same writer that wrote the book of Luke, and in the book of Luke
we have just an incredible record of detail with regard to the life of Christ, and Luke
goes into such great pain to make sure that he is accurate as he researches the information
about the life of Christ, and he gives us this wonderful book of Luke.
And when he ends the book of Luke dealing with the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the
book of Acts picks up where Luke leaves off.
And so what you might want to do is read through the book of Luke and the Gospels and then
move right on into the book of Acts, written by the same guy, he picks up right where he
left, leaves off, and he talks about what happens after the resurrection as he talks
about the church and the beginning of the church.
In the book of Acts, you and I have a front row seat to recognize the unbelievable life
change that happens as a result of God coming in the person of His Holy Spirit to abide
in the lives of His people.
And so we're going to make some incredible discoveries together, and I believe that the
book of Acts is so practical, that's why I love it, it's so practical, and there's so
much of it that we can apply to our lives so that we can live the victorious life that
God wants us to live that the disciples lived in, that our church can be like the early
church.
That's a model of what the church really is.
And so as we go through it together, we're going to make some incredible, incredible
observations.
So if you have your Bible turned with me to Acts chapter one, we're going to begin reading
with verse 12, where we kind of left off last time we were together, and we'll look at this
in incredible story.
Now keep in mind that when we make our way to chapter one, verse 12, the disciples had
already experienced an incredible ride for the last three years.
They had began with Jesus and His earthly ministry, and many of them began with a question,
Mark, could this be the Messiah?
Is it possible that this man who teaches as no man has ever taught before, this man who
has the ability to work miracles that none have ever performed before, is it possible
that he is the Messiah?
And from the early days of a question mark in their mind, they came to a place of absolute
certainty.
Yes, this is the Messiah.
This is the one.
And not only did they come to that place of confirmation in their heart, just as they
were getting excited about the kingdom that he was about to establish, then suddenly the
picture changes, and they walked through the most trying time of their life.
When Jesus' popularity began to wane, he was falsely accused.
He went through a mock trial and was ultimately crucified.
And with his death, and he died, and the disciples were saying, he's dead, he's gone.
And with his death, almost all of their hopes and their dreams, from a mountaintop experience
to the lowest of lows, not knowing what would happen for them and the certainty of their
own future, then three days later, the resurrection happens.
And all of a sudden, from a low to a high again, still not understanding what's going
on, but again affirmed that he is indeed the Messiah, the one that God had spoken about
and the resurrection excited and ignited within them a hope.
Jesus appeared to them over the period of 40 days, the great commission he had given them.
This was an exciting time in their life.
And then the pinnacle of that experience with Jesus is when he ascended into heaven, and
they had the opportunity to see that, all of the communication, all of the teaching,
all of the stories, all that they had experienced in their life comes at that culminating moment
when Jesus ascends into heaven and they're standing there watching, and then an angel
appears and says, hey, what are you sitting here looking at?
The Jesus that just left is going to come again, as if he was to say to them, hey, go
get busy, guys.
So what happens next?
I mean, after that kind of roller coaster experience, after coming to the full understanding
that Jesus is indeed the Son of God, he was raised from the dead, he is going to give
us the power that he had, he has commissioned us, he has challenged us, he has sent us out,
and these guys are pumped and ready to go, Jesus ascends into heaven and God says, wait.
Can you believe that?
Wait?
What do you mean, wait?
I mean wait.
Well, what are we supposed to do with all we've just experienced?
Wait.
Well, what about the Great Commission?
Wait.
Well, what about the resurrection?
Wait.
Well, what about the kingdom that you're going to establish?
What about all the things that we didn't understand that we suddenly understand right now?
I feel like I'm about to explode.
I got to tell somebody, wait, oh, it must have been grueling, don't you think?
Ten eternal days, they waited, and I want to tell you something, I think the disciples
were a lot like us.
They didn't wait very well.
I mean, we don't wait well, do we?
Don't you hate to wait?
Isn't that something in our lives?
We just kind of, especially in America.
I mean, we hate waiting, and this isn't just 45 minutes waiting on a table.
I mean, sometimes we have our limit, don't we?
We're going to a restaurant now, 45, I'm not waiting that long.
I'll drive all over town 45 minutes trying to find somewhere else I can go that I don't
have to wait.
I don't want to wait.
They had to wait 10 days.
We hate to wait.
I saw a comedian the other day pull out a cell phone and he said, it's amazing to me that
people pull out their cell phones and they get so frustrated because they're having to
wait for it.
And you're looking at your cell phone, you Google something, you're like, come on.
I mean, and I love what he said, hey, it's going to outer space and back, give it a minute.
But we just want it instantly, right?
Same thing with a microwave.
We'll just sit there with a microwave, 30 seconds, and it's just like, are you serious?
I think something's wrong with the timer, 30 seconds.
I don't know that I can wait that if you've ever been to a doctor's office and waiting
or how about going to a restaurant, even a restaurant?
We wait to be seated.
Then we wait for the waiter to bring the menu.
Then we wait for the waiter to come back to us and take our order and then we wait for
the order to be brought to the table and then after we get the order, we have to wait for
the check and then we give them our credit card and we have to wait for them to bring
that back and sign that.
And then they have the audacity to refer to the server that takes care of us as the waiter.
And we're thinking, no, you're not the waiter, I'm the one waiting.
You hadn't waited at all, I'm the one sitting here waiting.
You know, I've learned something.
I plan to wait.
I just kind of plan it.
I know that I'm going to wait.
So I always have a plan to wait.
Now the reason I did this, because I experienced something very traumatic years ago in a waiting
room.
I might have shared with some of you, but I went to a doctor's office and I was waiting
and I wasn't prepared to wait.
You know, a lot of you don't prepare to wait.
You just get there and that's why it's so grueling because you're not prepared for it.
I went to a doctor's office.
I wasn't prepared to wait.
I didn't bring anything to read.
I didn't bring anything to do.
I was just sitting there and the only thing to read was a red book that was outdated.
And so I'm sitting there bored, so I just picked up a red book and I began to read.
And there was an article in it about the 10 symptoms of PMS.
And I had eight of them and I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm sicker now than I thought I was
when I came in here.
What in the world is going on?
It was traumatic for me.
And I said, I'm never going to read that stuff in there again.
I'm not going to do it.
I'm going to bring my own stuff with me.
Whenever I go to a doctor's office, I bring a book.
Man, I'm ready.
You know, I'm going to settle in for the long haul.
Well, listen, I believe you and I can learn from the waiting experience of the disciples
as they waited that 10 day period of time.
I think this is going to be practical to help us.
What do we do when we wait?
How do we wait?
What did they do in the waiting experience of their life?
Well, that's what the Bible tells us.
So if you have your Bible, look with me to Acts chapter one, and we're going to begin
reading with verse 12 as we look at it together, where we kind of left off last time.
After they had gone, well, look at verse 11, just for context, and they said, men of Galilee,
it's the angels.
Why do you look into the sky this same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will
come in just the same way as you watched him go into heaven?
Then verse 12.
They returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olive, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath
day journey away.
And when they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying.
That is Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son
of Alpheus, Simon the zealot, and Judas the son of James.
These all were with one mind, were continually devoting themselves to prayer along with
the women and the Mary and Mary, the mother of Jesus and his brothers.
At this time, Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren, a gathering of about 120
people who were together and he said, brethren, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the
Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David, concerning Judas, who became a guide to those
who arrest arrested Jesus, for he was counted among us and received his share in this ministry.
Now this man had acquired a field with the price of his wickedness and falling headlong.
He burst open in the middle and all of his intestines gushed out.
That's just kind of a parenthetical story of what happened to Judas after he was hanged.
And it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem.
So that this, so that in their own language, the field was called hackdamah.
That is the field of blood for it is written in the book of Psalms.
Now this is Peter still speaking, let his homestead be made desolate and let no one dwell
in it.
Let another man take his office.
However, it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the
Lord went in and out among us, beginning with the baptism of John until the day that he
was taken from us, one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.
So they put forward two men, Joseph called Bar Sabbath, who is also called justice and
Mathis and they prayed and they said, Lord, who knows the hearts of all men show which
one of these two you have chosen to occupy the ministry and the apostleship from which
Judas turned aside to go to his own place.
And they drew lots for them and the lot fell on Mathis and he was added to the 11 apostles.
Now, this short passage of scripture gives us some insight into what happened during
the 10 days that they waited from the time that Jesus rose and went ascended into heaven
until the time that the promise of the Holy Spirit comes recorded in Acts chapter 2 verse
1 was a 10 day period of time and the disciples had to wait.
Jesus had instructed them on numerous occasions before he went to heaven, you are to stay in
Jerusalem and wait, wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit, wait for the promise of the
Spirit of God to be fulfilled.
Now I want to tell you, I believe that would have been the longest 10 days of their life,
but what did they do during that 10 day period of time?
How did they wait?
And what is the secret for us in our day today in the waiting that we have to do?
Because sometimes God says the same thing to us that he said to them, right, wait.
And there are a lot of us that have found ourselves in the waiting room of life and impatient
not knowing what to do.
And I think we learned from them four things that they did.
We'll walk through them together as we look at the text.
First of all, the number one thing that the disciples do as they wait this 10 day period
of time is that they are obedient.
The Bible tells us in verse 12 that they returned to the upper room.
They didn't go to Galilee, they stayed in Jerusalem.
Why did they go back to the upper room?
Why did they stay in Jerusalem?
Because Jesus told them to.
The first thing they did was to step out in obedience.
And I believe there's a wonderful truth for us to embrace in our life together today.
The first step for us to experience the power of God in our life.
The first step for us to know the promise of God fulfilled in our life is the same step.
It is the step of obedience.
You see, they never would have experienced what we're going to talk about next week.
They never would have experienced the power of God's Holy Spirit coming in their life
if they would have gone somewhere else.
Had they not done what God wanted them to do, they wouldn't have been where God told
them to be.
And they never would have experienced all that God had for them.
Look what old Vance Hapner, a preacher from many years ago, he used to call it the there
of God's provision.
He said there is always a there.
God told you to go there.
And God provided for you there.
And the disciples went where God told them and God provided for them there.
There is a there in our life.
And what amazes me is that many of us expect God to work in our life.
We are asking for the power of God in our life and in the circumstances of our life
and in the challenges of our life while at the same time we are walking in disobedience
to God.
And then we wonder why is it that God isn't providing power?
Why is it that God isn't answering my prayer?
Why is it that God is not working in my life?
And we're living in willful disobedience.
You see disobedience puts us in a place where God refuses to work in our life.
The first step to know the power of God and experience God's grace at a new level is
in the step of obedience.
You see there are some of you that are saying, oh God, I pray that you would just bless my
marriage.
My marriage is falling apart.
But you know what?
You're not being the husband that God has commanded you to be.
God said this is what you're to do.
You're to love your wife unconditionally.
You're to be willing to die for her and you're sitting there saying, well, if she would do
this or if she'll do that or if she comes around, I'm going to do it.
God says, how do you want me to bless your marriage if you're not even doing what I tell
you to do?
Often the very commands of God come with a blessing as we are obedient for a wife to
say, well, I know that I'm asking God to bless my marriage, but you're not doing what God
told you to do to be the kind of wife that God has called you to be.
We sometimes are praying, God, would you just do something with my kids they're out of control
and God says, well, you're not discipline your children.
You're not bringing them up in the way that I've told you to do.
You're allowing them to make decisions that you should be making in their life.
You walk in disobedience and then you ask me to take care of the mess that's created
as a result of it.
No, the power of God is known as a result of our obedience.
Some of you are struggling financially and you're praying and God says, you're not obedient.
You're not a good steward with what you've got.
Why should I give you more?
Why do you want me to work in your life when you're not doing what I'm telling you to do?
Obedience is the first step of the freedom of God's Holy Spirit to be able to work in
our life and the disciples are about to experience God in power and grace as they have never
known before, but they never would have known that had they not been obedient.
You know, I'm amazed the same simple truth happens in our walk with God sometimes.
We want to know God.
We want to read the Bible.
We want to grow in our relationship with God, but there's something lacking in our life.
There are some of you that have given your life to Christ, but you have never taken the
first step of obedience after you've accepted Christ, which is baptism.
And you wonder why there's something missing in my life.
I can't understand.
Jesus says, God, you know what he's saying, yes, I saved you, yes, you are mine, but look,
if you don't take the second step, how can you jump to the third?
You're trying to go to step number three and four and five, but you've missed number two.
You have never publicly identified with me through baptism, and I told you to do that.
Jesus even says, doesn't he, if you love me, you want to demonstrate your love for me?
Keep my commandments.
If you obey me and God didn't want us to obey him because he's some kind of mean God and
heaven, he wants us to obey us because his plan for us and his rules are for our good.
The reason that I tell my children to do what I tell them to do when they're growing up
is not because I want to be a mean dad.
It's to prepare them for life.
And if you do what I tell you to do, if you follow my instructions, it's better for you.
You put yourself in a position where I can bless you.
But if you are disobedient to me, then I'm not in a position where I can bless you.
Now I have to discipline you.
And so what is the first step of moving to a place where God can have the freedom to
move in our life?
Now what we're about to see in the book of Acts is what happens when God comes to live
in us and the person of the Holy Spirit, and he changes our lives radically, and we begin
to walk in his power and grace.
The only way that you'll ever get to the place where you can know God's power that way is
to walk in obedience.
So what do the disciples do?
They wait by being obedient.
All right, this is what God told us to do, so we're going to do it.
I'm not going to question it.
And I'm going to tell you, it's easy to do that, probably real easy after 10 days.
Are you sure he said for us the way here?
Are you sure there wasn't something else that we were supposed to be doing in the mystery
of this?
The Bible tells us, okay, well, let's just wait.
We're waiting for that 10 day period of time of their obedience.
That's the second thing they do.
The Bible tells us is that they pray.
Now this isn't a surprise to us, is it?
That they work together and they prayed.
You know, really what I want you to recognize is that their waiting was not a passive waiting.
Their waiting was active.
I want to tell you, I think sometimes when we wait on the Lord, we passively wait on
the Lord.
We feel like I pray and pray and God doesn't give me an answer, so I'm just sitting here
waiting for God to do something.
And the problem is if we passively wait on God, we will almost always get ahead of him.
We will almost always say, well, it doesn't look like God's going to do anything, so I
think I'll just step out and take care of it myself.
Maybe God's just telling me I need to take care of it myself.
That's not what God's telling you at all.
You need to actively wait.
And the way that we actively wait is that we are obedient.
We're doing what God told us to do.
As I am seeking direction, as I'm looking for what it is that I want God to reveal to
me, I do what God has already revealed to me.
I live according to the principles that He has already given, and I pray.
Now in the prayer that we're looking at, this is a fervent prayer.
This is a prayer that is prompted by longing heart.
This is prayer for 10 days.
This is not a normal prayer.
You see, some of you pray, but I tell you, 10 days is a long time to pray.
If God hadn't answered in 10 days, you're moving on.
In fact, most of us don't even make it to 10 days, do we?
We're asking God to do something in our life, and if it doesn't happen after the first 30
minutes, I mean, that was a long haul.
I didn't think I could pray 30 minutes, and I prayed 30 minutes, and God hadn't answered.
He hadn't done anything.
We're moving on to something else, but not these guys.
No, they said, you know what?
God made a promise.
God told us to stay here, and He told us that the Holy Spirit is coming, and we are absolutely
convinced that God keeps His promises.
So we're going to sit here and we're going to say, God, send your Holy Spirit.
We want it.
God, if there's something you're waiting on, fix my heart.
Is there something going on in me that needs to be right?
Fix my heart.
I want the Holy Spirit to come.
And there was a longing and an expectation and a confidence in their life based on all
that they had seen and all that they knew of God, and their hearts were turned to Him,
and they communicated with Him, God, we just can't wait till You fulfill Your promise.
We want to know the power that You talked about.
I'm about to die.
There's so many things I want to do, but I know I can't do it without Your power and
grace.
I got to stay here.
There's all that I need right now to wait on You, but give Your Holy Spirit to me.
And with great fervor and great persistence, and with not just persistence, but perseverance,
they just continued to pray that God would bring His promised hope of the Holy Spirit.
I heard the story of a little girl who was trying to get her dad to play with her.
She worked from home and had the computer on, and he was working, and she came in and asked
two or three times, dad, would you play with me?
Dad, would you play with me?
And finally, he told her, he says, honey, look, I'm working on this one report, and
as soon as I'm done with this report, I'll play with you, okay?
So let daddy finish what he's doing right now, and as soon as I'm done with that, then
I will, I'll come play with you.
She said, well, daddy, when you're done, I'm going to give you a huge hug.
And he said, well, that's great, honey.
When I finish, then you can give me that huge hug and we'll play.
So she walked out the door, but she didn't even shut the door.
She walked out the door, not even closing it, and she burst back in the door.
She ran up to him, and she just wrapped him up.
I mean, with one of these bone-breaking hugs, she hugged him, and he looked down at her,
and he says, honey, I thought you said you were going to hug me after I finished.
She said, well, I just wanted you to see what you have to look forward to.
You know what I think Jesus was doing with the disciples?
I think he was saying, guys, I want to show you what you have to look forward to.
You see, listen, when he appeared to them, and he taught them, and the Word became alive,
and he began to tell them the promise of his return.
He began to explain to them his kingdom and the purpose of it.
He was just simply saying, look, this is what you got to look forward to.
You've seen the miracles I performed.
You think that's something, hey, when the Holy Spirit comes, you're going to do greater
stuff than that.
When the Holy Spirit comes, you think I have the ability to talk to God, you are too.
The Holy Spirit's going to come and live in you.
And all of a sudden, everything that heard Jesus tell them, told them, wait a minute.
We know what we have to look forward to, and we can't wait until the Holy Spirit comes.
And so for 10 days, all day long, they were praying, and they were seeking God, saying,
God send it, today's the day, oh, I know today's the day.
They didn't give up after seven days, on the eighth day they got up saying, I know it's
going to be today.
It is today that the Lord's going to come, and we're going to be looking and waiting.
And when it didn't happen that day, then they woke up the next day, today's the day.
Today's the day.
God's promises are going to be kept, and we know that they are secure.
And so they prayed, and they were all together as a result of their prayer.
They were focused in one direction.
Now the third thing they do is not only do they pray together, but number three, they
studied the Word.
Now we recognize that because of what Peter does and what he said.
Peter was a fisherman, not a scholar.
Now when you're studying the Bible, we're going through the book of Romans on Wednesday
night, verse by verse.
And one of the things I've told the folks that are walking through that study with me is that
Romans was written by the apostle Paul, very, very educated, brilliant man, wrote over half
of the New Testament as God gives inspiration to him.
But when you read Romans in Greek, you get what you expect.
It looked like it was written by a PhD.
I mean, the Greek is absolutely perfect, the syntax and the rules of grammar are all there.
Now when you look at the book of 1 Peter in the original Greek, it looks like some fisherman
wrote it.
I mean, the syntax is poor, the grammar's not great.
I mean, it looks like he was a fisherman.
Peter wasn't a scholar, but yet he was in the Word.
And we know that because as they are sitting, they're not passively waiting.
They're praying and they're in the Word.
This is what I want you to understand.
If you ever find yourself in a waiting room in life, if you ever find yourself at a critical
juncture where you need to know God's direction and you pray and you ask and it seems that
God is not giving you direction, you don't know what God wants you to do.
If you ever find yourself in a waiting room, don't passively wait for God to ride across
the sky or burst into the room, actively wait by praying with absolute expectation that
you know he will answer your prayer and that you are ready and open for him to answer your
prayer.
God remove anything that would keep me from hearing your voice and knowing your voice
when you answer my prayer because I know it is coming.
Pray with that kind of expectancy and get in the Word, open the Word of God.
You need to be systematically reading through the Bible.
When I say systematically reading through, you need to have a reading plan that you embrace
and every day you're reading systematically through the Bible.
I can't tell you how many times in my own personal life when I'm looking and asking
and seeking for God's direction in my life and I'm saying, God, why is it that I offer
this question to you and there is no answer for it and as I'm reading through the Bible
one day, many days after I have offered that question before God and I've wrestled with
it before God, many days later I get to a passage of Scripture in my normal reading
and I read a verse of Scripture and I say, there's my answer, there it is.
And I would have never found the answer had I not been systematically reading through.
God knew what I was going to be reading on that day and so what does God say, oh, I'm
going to answer your question Carol, right over here, you've just got a few more days
between now and the passage of Scripture you're going to read, but I tell you what, when you
read that verse, I'm going to make it jump off the page to you and I'm going to say
to you, there it is, there's the answer you're looking for.
The way that we actively wait is through prayer.
God, I know that you're going to answer my prayer, I know, prepare my heart, move anything
that would keep me from hearing it, but I'm going to systematically read your Word.
You speak to me through the Word.
And so here is Simon Peter, he is not a scholar, he doesn't have a seminary degree, he doesn't
understand a whole lot of what he's reading, but he's reading it anyway.
Later on, this is before the Holy Spirit ever came.
You and I are at privilege as Peter would be later on.
At this point, Peter's reading and not really getting everything that he's reading.
A few days later when the Holy Spirit comes, the Holy Spirit begins to reveal the truth
of the Scriptures to us.
You and I are in a position where God can teach us.
Peter's just reading along, but all of a sudden he comes to a passage of Scripture and this
passage of Scripture kind of jumps off the page and Peter's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait
a minute.
I think this is talking about where we are and what we just went through and what we
just experienced and David wrote a long time ago.
Could it be that God was using his words to communicate about where we are and the next
thing that we find that the fourth thing they do, not only are they obedient, not only are
they in prayer, not only are they studying the Word, but the fourth thing they do is
that they confirm God's purpose in their life.
He began to recognize that God has a purpose and Peter understands that now the part of
the story that doesn't seem to fit is that right in the middle of this story about waiting
for the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Next week, we're going to get to see the Holy Spirit come and power and lives transformed
as a result of that.
But just before that happens, we have this weird story in the Bible of Judas.
Why in the world is that there?
Judas, the guy who had betrayed Christ, all of a sudden Peter reads the first of Scripture
and he says, hey, guys, this is about Judas.
You got to understand something.
Of the drama that they had walked through, Judas was a big part of it.
I mean, this was no small thing to the disciples.
They trusted Judas.
This was the treasure of the group.
You remember that?
In fact, let me just say this to you very quickly.
I think one of the reasons that God gives us the names of the disciples in the passage
of Scriptures because he wants us to remember who these guys are.
We need to remember next week when the power of the Holy Spirit comes, we need to remember
who these 12 guys are because they're not going to look anything like this next time
we see them.
In fact, somebody gave me this.
I thought it was pretty cool.
It's written as if it's a letter from the Jordan management consultants to Jesus in
the selection of his apostles.
This is what it said, thank you for submitting the resume of 12 men that you picked for managerial
positions in your new organization.
All of them have now taken a battery of test.
We've not only run the results through our computer, but we've arranged personal interviews
with each one of them, with our psychologists and vocational aptitude consultant.
The profiles of all tests are included and you will want to study them very carefully.
As a part of the service, we make some general comments for guidance, much as an auditor
does with general statements.
To this is given a result of staff consultation that comes without any additional fee.
It's the staff's opinion that most of your nominees are lacking in background education,
personal aptitude, and the type of entrepreneurial experience that you are undertaking.
They do not have a team concept.
We would not recommend that you continue to search with these people in managerial positions
and their proven capability.
Simon Peter is emotionally unstable, given the fits of temper.
Andrew has absolutely no leadership qualities.
The two brothers, James and John, sons, and subseptuaries, place personal interests above
company loyalty, Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that tends to undermine all morale.
We feel that it's our duty to tell you that Matthew has been blacklisted by the greater
Jerusalem Better Business Bureau.
James, the son of Alpheus, and Thaddeus definitely have radical leanings and they both register
a high score on the manic depressive scale.
One of the candidates, however, shows great potential.
He is a man of ability and resourcefulness, meets people well, has a keen business mind,
and has contacts in high places.
He is highly motivated, ambitious, and responsible.
We recommend Judas.
You know, when you look at the 12, who in the world would have picked them?
They wouldn't have.
And so when Judas betrays, you've got to understand the disciples were devastated by this.
They trusted this guy.
He was the treasure.
And they were sitting here saying, how could he have left?
How could he have seen what we saw and experienced what we saw and then left and then betrayed
him and what in the world is going on and with all of those questions, and Peter is
in the Word and he finally comes about and he says, wait a minute, guys, God is not in
heaven surprised.
God knew this was going to happen.
God knew that Judas was going to betray.
Look, and he wrote about it a long, long time ago.
God has a plan.
God has a purpose.
And when you think God has forgotten you and he doesn't know what's going on and the reason
he had an answer because he doesn't have an answer, you need to understand this.
His purpose is right on track.
And I believe he tells us the entire story and the entire experience so that we can recognize
that in those times where we wonder if God is in control, we can be reminded that God's
purpose is not going to be thwarted by anything that happens around us, that God is in charge.
He is in control and his purpose will happen no matter what occurs.
And we can trust him.
We can trust him.
As old Spurgeon said years ago, if you can't trace the hand of God, just trust his heart.
I think this is Peter's way of saying, you know what, guys, we hadn't been able to understand
or figure any of this out, but God's not in heaven ringing his hands wondering what's
going to happen next.
He's still in control.
So what does Peter do?
He reads and he says, hey, we need to pick somebody to take Judas' place.
And these are the qualifications.
They need to have been with us from the beginning.
They witnessed the baptism, they witnessed the resurrection so they could join the rest
of us.
And they picked these two people and then they cast lots.
It's interesting, a lot of people have looked at that and thought, what in the world is
that all about?
It was a way in the Old Testament times that they determined God's direction and God's
favor.
They fully believed that God would answer through the casting of lots and God often did.
By the way, this is the last time this method is used in the Bible because once the Holy
Spirit comes, we don't have to do that anymore.
God's Holy Spirit reveals truth to us personally.
And so they select math that some have suggested.
Maybe that was a mistake on the part of the disciples that Paul should have been the one
that would fulfill that position later.
But no, I believe that they were acting within the plan and purpose of God's direction.
And this is exactly what should have happened and what did happen.
So what do we walk away with in our time to get?
Well, maybe you're in a waiting room.
Maybe you're in a holding pattern.
If you're not, you will be, I promise you.
Don't just sit there passively, wait actively, obey.
Don't sit here wondering, what is it that God wants me to do?
Go ahead and do what you know He wants you to do.
If according to the plans and principles that He has already given to you, pray with expectation
that you know He's going to answer and He's going to work in your life and that He wants
to provide for you the resource and guidance and direction that you need.
Get in the Word and systematically work through the Word and believe that God is at work in
every situation in our life and that even when we can't see or trace His hand, we can
trust His heart.
So my question for you today is simply this, which one of these four areas have you failed?
Where are you struggling?
Could it be that you're asking God to bless you and you're living in absolute willful disobedience?
Don't you think you need to fix that?
Maybe for you today you need to come and say, God, I've been asking you to bless me financially,
but I don't know why you would.
I've not been faithful with what I've got.
God, would you forgive me?
Restore me and write fellowship.
I want to be faithful in the areas of the direction you call me to.
God, I want to take the next step, which is baptism.
I've been saved, but I've never, and I've got all kinds of excuses why I hadn't been baptized,
but I understand something.
If you told me to do that and I said, no, you can never bless me like you want to bless
me.
So I need to take that step of obedience.
God, I've given you my marriage, but I'm not being the husband that you have called me
to be.
I'm giving you my marriage, but I'm not being the mom.
I've given you my children, but I am not being the responsible parent you have called
me to be.
I want to walk in obedience.
So you show me where I have missed the step, and God, I'm going to confess it to you and
ask that you give me the power to walk.
God, I'm going to pray consistently and persistently, and I'm not going to give up 10 minutes into
it.
I'm going to believe that you have something great for me.
You have your Holy Spirit that you want to put in me and empower me to live the life you
have called me to live, and I'm going to pray every day until you are everything you want
to be in me.
I'm going to actively wait for you to fill me with your Holy Spirit.
God, I'm going to consistently read your Word, even when I don't understand it, even when
it doesn't make any sense.
Even though I don't have a seminary degree, I'm going to consistently pick up a pattern,
and I'm going to read it every day, expecting you to speak to me because you have a plan,
and no matter what happens, it's not a surprise to you.
You knew I would be here.
You knew I would face this, and I know that you are at work even in this to accomplish
your purpose.
Which of the four areas do you need to give to Him today?
Father, I thank you for the time that we have had.
I thank you for this part of the story, this waiting time.
This couldn't have been fun.
It was a tough experience for the disciples, but it was absolutely necessary before your
Holy Spirit could come.
They had to be prepared, and God often, the waiting times we experience in life are so
that we can prepare for what you have next for us.
And there are things you want to do, but we've got to be obedient first.
There are things you want to do, but our prayer life has got to be activated so that we are
listening to you, and we are accessing your power.
We have to be in your Word so that you can reveal truth to us, and we can walk within
the realities of that truth.
We have to understand that you have a purpose and plan for our life so that we're not discouraged
and see things in our life as a roadblock to what you have for us.
So Father, in these moments, speak to us and bring us to the place where the waiting
is preparation for what you have for our future.
And we praise you, in Jesus' name, amen.
