Wednesday Night Service 7PM -

Children, remember your promise, oh God. Up just a little bit. Grace is enough. Your grace is enough. Your perfect is enough for me.

And just this God, the strong, lead us in the song of your salvation. And all your people sing a love song.

Lord, I just thank you for bringing us together. God, I just pray, Lord, that we would just have softened hearts before you in this place this evening, God. I pray that we would just be able to take advantage of this time, putting away all of our worries and everything that we're dealing with throughout the day, God, and just give this time to you. Lord, I pray that everything that we do would be an act of worship.

But, Lord, especially just this special time. That we have together, worshiping you, praising you, hearing your word with our brothers and sisters. God, I pray that you would work through this time this evening. I pray that as we're singing your praises, Lord, that this would just be a prayer from our heart. That it wouldn't just be words on a page, but we would be consciously communicating to you, God, and giving you the praise that you deserve.

I just pray this in the power of Jesus' name. Amen.

You guys can be seated for these next couple if you'd like. A song must end, never do, and again, cause all that I have is a heart. Don't you get shy on me, lift up your dark galaxy.

First declares your majesty.

There's beyond. Our galaxy declares your majesty.

Universe declares your majesty. Universe declares your majesty. Thank you so much.

God, sometimes it's so hard to humble ourselves under somebody else's authority. But I just thank you for being somebody that it's a pleasure to be under your authority, Lord. That your word that you've given to us shows us the best thing for us. Whether we fully. Understand it or comprehend it or not, God, I just pray that you would help us through the power of your Holy Spirit this evening, Lord, to understand your word, God, I pray that as Mason comes, Lord, that he would just be bold and that he would, God, just be filled with your spirit, that you give him wisdom and peace in Jesus' name.

Hello? Is it good? Okay, well, as you can tell, I am not Pastor Ryan. He needed a day off, as we all do sometimes, and so he asked me to fill in for him today. I wish we would have a picture of when he asked me because my face was pretty horrified, and I would like to see that myself. So today, I asked him what I should do here, and he said, go where the Spirit leads.

So today, we're going to cover the entire Bible. We're going to cover the entire Bible from front to back. We're in it for the long haul. Now, we're going to be in Acts chapter 1, verses 1 through 14. Let me get there.

I think we should start by just reading it all, and then we'll get into it. So, starting in verse 1, it says, The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and to teach, until the day he was taken up to heaven, after he, by the Holy Spirit, given orders to the apostles whom he had chosen. To these he also presented himself alive after his suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.

Gathering them together, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, which, he said, you have heard from me, for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. So when they had come together, they were asking him, saying, Lord, is it at this time you are restoring your kingdom to Israel? He said to them, It is not for you to know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come to you. And you shall be my witness in both Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest parts of the earth.

After he said these things, he was lifted up while they were looking on. And a cloud received him. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while he was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched him go into heaven.

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day journey away. When they 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, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. These all, with one mind, were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

So let me pray real quick. Lord, I thank you for this day, for the rain we're receiving. For the rain we're receiving right now, and the chance to join together in fellowship with these other believers. Lord, I pray as we get into the word, that it moves mightily, that you do a work in our lives. Every time we open the word, it's a wonderful chance to get to know you better.

And I pray that our hearts are open and we're ready to receive what you have for us. I pray this in your heavenly name. Amen. Amen. Alright. So, this might seem like a stretch here, but we're going to talk about waiting. Look at that. We're going to talk about waiting. And waiting, I think, is one of the hardest things humans can do. Nobody is stoked about waiting.

When you go to the doctor and you have to wait for medical results, when you graduate high school and you're waiting around to know what's going on in your next chapter when you're going to college, when you're waiting on a job to call you back or a package to come in, it's not a fun experience. Nobody is stoked about it. Like, you know what I'd like to do? Just spend more time waiting.

I'll tell you a quick story about a time that I think about with waiting. You close your eyes, maybe picture with me being a child, and the Christmas tree, the plastic Christmas tree comes out and gets set out, and you decorate it, and the packages get put under the tree. And for me, it was the year I got the PlayStation 2 that I sat. And I remember coming home from school every day and laying next to the package under the tree and thinking about all the things that I would do.

I would intently look at it, and I knew it was there, and I was just wondering, when is it going to be my time to do this? What's it going to be like when I get to play with this toy that I'm going to get? Most people don't think about the waiting as the thing they're supposed to be doing. But I hope as we go through the Word tonight, we get maybe some encouragement if you're in a time of waiting.

That it is a good thing. Waiting can be a good thing. So Acts, more broadly, but maybe specifically chapter 1, is a picture of the church. And it shows us, well, those believers in a time of waiting. And it shows us how to wait. Or more broadly, maybe what's the deal with waiting? So verses 1 through 3 are kind of a setup. It sets up the book. If the Gospels, or the Gospel of Luke specifically, that's the one Luke wrote to Theophilus,

if the Gospel is to show us how Jesus ran his earthly ministry, then the book of Acts is to show us how he ran his church, or continues to run his church. It's about the Acts of the believers. I think it was Guzik that talked about Acts being the only book of the Bible that's incomplete, that we're still living in the book of Acts. It's still being added to by the things we do.

So I think it's in verse 1. It says that the Gospel is all about what Jesus began to do and to teach. And I think the word began is kind of interesting, right? When we think about the Gospels, we think about all the wonderful things Jesus did, right? His miracles and his parables, his teachings, all these awesome things. Luke chose the word began to do. And the word began implies that there's a beginning and it's continuing on.

That it's not over. It didn't say that I wrote about all the things that Jesus is done doing, right? It says all the things Jesus began to do and that he'll continue doing, right? Yeah, it is. It's David Guzik. Here it is. I liked this quote, so I thought I'd read it to you. Luke's Gospel, this is David Guzik in his commentary, says, Luke's Gospel describes only the beginning of Jesus' work,

and Acts describes its continuation as the work of Jesus continues to this present day. So verses 1 through 3 are talking about that time where Jesus is there present with them, physically present with them, right? It talks about spending 40 days, a period of 40 days after his resurrection, before his ascension. I actually think 40 is kind of an interesting thing.

40, when you think biblically, you think 40 is a number that shows us up a lot of times, and it's a number of preparation, right? Jesus waited with them a complete amount of time, right? He was preparing them for the next step, right? And I'll just say, the book of Acts, while it is broadly about the church, it can also be looked at as applicable to the life of the believer, right?

And in this period, there's a period of 40 days, that they're being poured into. Jesus is teaching them after his resurrection. They've seen these awesome things, and he's still teaching them, right? And I think in the believer, that can be applicable to us, right? There's periods where we're sitting and learning, right? We're really in the Word. The Word seems like it's, like Jesus is speaking directly to us.

Not that he isn't all the time, but there are times in our lives when we really feel like, wow, Jesus has a word for us. Or maybe Jesus puts a mentor in our life to show us something new, right? There's that time.

Verses four through eight. All right, this is the waiting part. It says, Gathering them together, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, which he said, You have heard from me, John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

What does this mean to us? All right, verses four through eight. This next section is where Jesus gives commandments to us, right? He tells us what to do. He's giving direction, right? So we've kind of had the setup. Now there's a direction piece, right? And the first thing he does, this tells them to return to Jerusalem and wait, right? There's no indication of how long.

He doesn't tell them, You're going to wait till Christmas day, like with my gift. There's no like, wait one week. No six hours, right? There's no indication of how long it is. And when I was reading this, I've been thinking about it the last week, you know, and when I read it, I thought of, this is a conversation I have with my kids. If you have kids, you understand that they ask questions constantly

and they want to know. They want to know like the timeline, even if it doesn't matter. They ask, we just have lunch. And they're like, when is snack? I'm like, we had lunch five seconds ago. It doesn't matter, right? This conversation he had with them is much like what conversations we have with our children. And I will tell you, he reacts, the way he reacts is totally different than the way I react,

but we're skipping something before we get there. He gives them an answer, right? But before that, they ask him another question. I guess he answers them, you'll be baptized with the Holy Spirit not long from now. And they ask him another question. They say, so when they had come together, this is verse six, when they had come together, they were asking him saying,

Lord, is it at this time that you're restoring the kingdom to Israel? Right? He tells them, you're about to get the Holy Spirit. You just need to wait, right? You need to sit and wait. And their immediate response is not, okay, let's slow down and wait. Let's spend time in waiting. Their immediate response is another question. It's like they're not even listening to the answer.

They're ready with another question, right? And again, if you have kids, this is very familiar to you. They've got another question loaded before the first question is even answered. And they're asking him, when are you going to set up your kingdom? Right? They're tired of the waiting, right? In their mind, it's all been waiting, right? They've been waiting for him to set up his kingdom since they were kids.

They've heard about this kingdom. Jesus is going to come set up their whole life. And they got lucky. They got the miracle of like being born at the right time. So that way they could follow Jesus in his earthly ministry. They're like, this is the time we get to see him set up his earthly kingdom. And so they're stoked about it. They're not even listening. They're not even listening.

They're supposed to wait, right? Ultimately, their question shows that not only were they not listening, they were trying to fit God's will, to morph God's will into theirs, right? Rather than waiting like they were told to do, they wanted to say, this is my will. This is what I want done, right? I don't really want to wait. What I want is, is your kingdom be established right now.

And I think that's a great thing to want, right? What they wanted isn't bad. It's not bad to want the kingdom of heaven right now, right? For Jesus to come back and set up his earthly kingdom. That's not a bad thing to want, right? It's not like they were wanting something horrible. They were wanting something great. They were wanting God's will, but they were wanting it in their way, right?

And I think this is extremely applicable to believers right now. We live in a culture of right now, all the time. If I order something on Amazon, and it's not at my house in 48 hours, I lose it. Like, I'm checking my phone. I'm wondering what's going on. I'm watching for the postman to come by. I want results now, right? And oftentimes, whether it be big or little,

God asks us to wait. We want the new car. We want the new house. We want even great things. We want our friend to come to church right now. We know it would be better for him. We know we want to get the opportunity to share. We want to get out there. We want to get in the mission field. We want to do whatever it is. They could be good things that we want, and sometimes the answer is,

we just need to wait, right? So anyway, they question him. They're like, why aren't you doing this right now? I mean, that's, to me, that's the subtext behind this question. Lord, when's the time you're restoring the kingdom in Israel? Because right now is a great time. And if it were me, and my kid's asking me when, when, when, when, I say whenever I feel like it.

But he doesn't answer them that way. If you look at his answer in verse eight, oh, sorry, verse seven, he said to them, it is not for you to know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed by his own authority. His answer is gentle. It's not belittling, right? He's okay with your questions, right? He understands that nobody wants to wait, that it's not a fun ordeal.

He gently answers their question, right? And tells them, it's not for you to know, right? The waiting is on purpose. It's not a problem to be fixed. It's a season to be in. The waiting. Why not? When I was reading this, I kind of asked myself, why not tell us? Like, it's not for us to know. And I'm okay with that answer. But I was digging and looking at people that are way smarter than me,

way more in tune with the word, have spent their whole life looking, and I landed on Chuck Smith. I think that's a good place to go. But he talked about not knowing producing a sense of urgency, right? When you know, I'll do a fun story. I taught middle school. I taught seventh graders for three years. And it was a good time. Middle schoolers are a whole other breed of people.

Particularly seventh graders. And I really enjoyed it. But one thing you'll find out about middle schoolers and high schoolers and college kids and everybody is if you give them a deadline. If I said, hey, we're doing a project and you're gonna have to get up and talk for 10 minutes in front of the class and you're gonna look like a fool if you don't know your stuff.

I'm gonna ask you questions. It's gonna be really fun. If I gave them two days. I said, you have two days to work on this project. That's two hours of class time. If I told them on Thursday you're gonna be getting up in front of people. They would say, cool. I'm gonna do it in 15 minutes on Thursday right before class. It doesn't matter who the kid is. Every kid is gonna do that.

They're gonna wait until the very last minute. That was Chuck Smith's rationale. I actually buy it. I think that's great. I think God could tell us if he wanted to. Part of the waiting is building something in us. It builds in a sense of urgency. If we knew, I guess we could go with these people. If these people knew that Jesus wasn't returning for 2,000 years,

well, there's not much of a fire lit under you to do much of anything. You just get complacent. I think there's something there for the church today that we can get complacent. Myself included. Maybe me more than anyone else. I don't know. I guess I can't speak for you. For me, I can get complacent. I can be okay doing nothing. We'll talk in a minute about the difference between waiting

and sitting around and doing nothing. Because they are two different things. And he calls us to wait. Okay. Verse eight. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Sorry. Has come upon you. And you shall be my witness in both Jerusalem and in all of Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest parts of the earth. All right. This is a big one.

This is a big thing that's being asked of us here. All right. He's saying, once you have the Holy Spirit, which in the church age we do, we have, we have access to the Holy Spirit. He says, you're going to be my witnesses. And then he lists areas. All right. I think, well, if you take a step back and look at this, if, well, we'll look at Revelation 14, 6. At the end of time,

God uses angels to spread his word. He says, if you take a step back and look at this, if, well, we'll look at Revelation 14, 6. At the end of time, God uses angels to spread his word. All right. And I'll just, I'll read it for you. It says, then I saw an angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth, to every nation,

tribe, language, and people. All right. Right. And if I were, like, designing the most effective way to spread the gospel, I think that would be it. Right. Have an angel fly around and tell everyone in their own tongue. But God wants us to be part of this. Right. Once you have the Holy Spirit. Right. So, again, we're waiting. Once you've got the Holy Spirit,

now we're ready to move into something else. Right. But there's a period of waiting first. Right. There's, there's a waiting period. I think it's important to look at this list. Right. Every word in the Bible is important. It's not, not wasted space. And so, he gives us a list. It says, Jerusalem, all Judea, to the remotest parts of the earth. When I was a kid,

I heard it said that like, when you look at this, that it's, like Jerusalem is your, your close circle. And then, Samaria, or Judea is a little bit further. And Samaria is a little bit further. And it's like concentric circles where you're supposed to witness to those in your immediate circle. Right. Your family, your closest friends. And then, you go one step out.

Right. These are maybe your coworkers. These are foreign missionaries, whatever it may be. And I don't think this is a bad take on this. I actually think it's a very good take. I want to look at it one slightly different way. I want you to look at this and be in the headspace of the people he's talking to right now. He's talking to his, the people that are following him,

40 days after he was just, I guess 43 days, after he was just brutally murdered. And sometimes when we read the Bible we lose sight of context. We read these verses as individual pieces and we don't look at it like as one long letter from God to us. We don't look at it as one story, God's story. We look at it as individual pieces. But this is, these people are coming off of

just witnessing something truly horrific and then something wonderful and spending time with Jesus. But when he tells this, he's telling them, I want you to witness in Jerusalem. He's telling them, go right back where the people are that killed me. Go right back into that hostile area. He's saying, I'm sure it's not going to be great for you there. Right? I was just murdered

by an angry mob. I want you to go there. And then, I want you to go to Judea. Right? That's the area around Jerusalem. And, I want you to go to Jerusalem. And, I want you to go to Jerusalem. And, I want you to go to Jerusalem. And, the way I look at that is that area around Jerusalem, they had their chance. Right? These are people in your life that you've given them a chance.

And, you've given them a chance again and again and again and again. And, Jesus says, go back to those people. Right? Go to Judea. Right? Samaria. Right? This is the area further north. And, it had people in their mind that were they were not people that you associated with. And, so, Jesus is telling them, after you go to the people who just murdered me, who are angry at you,

hostile with you, and you go to the people that are you've given them chance after chance after chance. I want you to go to these people that you don't particularly like. Right? Go to them. That's next. And then, lastly, I want you to go to the people that you think are part of the earth. When I read that at first, I thought, remote beach. That sounds wonderful.

But, I don't think that's probably what he was implying there. I think remotest parts of the earth probably was implying not a great comfortable place. Right? Remote does not equal that, like, cabin in the woods you see on Facebook. That's like picture number two. That's like a picture number two. That's like the which would you choose. I don't think that's what he's implying.

I think he's implying the place where you don't want to be. Right? That's remote. So, he asked them to go wait. And then, when they're called, once their waiting is done, when they've received the spirit, in their case, when their waiting is done, then he asks them to go out and do something. Go out and be a witness. Okay. These are three verses in the Bible

that I would like to see be a lot longer. I looked elsewhere in the Bible to see if they're longer and it is, in fact, four verses in Luke. So, I guess I asked and I received. But three verses on his ascension. It says, after he said these things, he was lifted up while they were looking on and a cloud received him out of their sight. And they were gazing intently into the sky

while he was going and behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched him go into heaven. A lot going on there. This is one of those things where I think it helps to visualize

what you're reading because, again, we read this like it's two separate pieces of the Bible and it's not two separate pieces because they're in different paragraphs in your Bible and who knows, maybe Luke put them in different paragraphs when he was writing it but it's one continuous thing, right? After he said these things, right, he's done talking and he lifts up off the ground and disappears into the sky. It's incredible, right? I have so many questions about this.

But I want to focus on one little phrase here. It says, he was lifted up while they were looking on and the cloud received him out of their sight. And right here, it says, and as they were gazing intently, they were standing there watching, right? We don't know how long. It could be one minute. It could be one hour. They could have been setting up a barbecue

and grilling burgers. We really don't know how long it was. We don't know what they were doing other than that they were intent to stand and gaze. This is what I'm saying with there are times of waiting and there are correct ways to wait and incorrect ways to wait. Those these people could have stood there and stood there and stood there and built a monument

right there and maybe like a community center and just waited around and say, well, he told us to wait. Here, I'm just gonna sit here and do nothing, right? And I think maybe God knew them really well and immediately or pretty close to immediately sent some people to come talk to them, right? Jesus knew that they needed a push. They needed direction from men

dressed in white to tell them, what are you doing? Why are you standing here? Really, there was an implication. He says, why are you standing here? Right? And I don't think this is a question that was like, why are you standing here? You should give me an answer back. It's a question like a teacher gives when they prompt a student, what are you doing? And the question is not,

I'm not expecting an answer back when I ask a student that. I'm expecting them to think backwards about what I'm supposed to be doing. Obviously, I'm not doing what I'm supposed to be doing. Standing, gazing into the clouds is not what we're called to do. It's a callback. He's reminding them of what they're supposed to be doing, which is, go back to Jerusalem

and wait. And then once you're done waiting, once you get the Holy Spirit, then go, right? It's a reminder. And I think God does this for us a lot. I don't know about you. I should do a better job of writing stuff down. But there's so many times in my life that I can think back if I sit and think. I can think back to a time when God has made it abundantly clear

what I'm supposed to be doing. Right? Whether it be a text from a random person or a friend. Whether it be something falling in your lap. I'll tell a, this is not on my notes, but I'll tell a quick story. So over the last year, I've been able to get into SCA. SCA. SCA. SCA. SCA. SCA. SCA. SCA. SCA. SCA. SCA. SCA. SCA. SCA. And I mean it. Right? Right? Right?

Right? Right? And now I'm ready to classified about myself. Right? Just wanted to share that with you. So I did one of those circle that you should do. How did I start? How did I to do. And in May, at the end of May, I got a call from somebody at Cowley asking me to apply for a job, and I did. And I think that was a way of God telling me, like, no, I think this is where you're

supposed to be. You're supposed to be doing this thing, right? That's a freak thing that happened to me. Most people don't, well, maybe you have a story. You should ask people stories, by the way. Most people have a story or two where God has provided direction, right? It may not be two robed men showing up at your house and saying, what are you doing? If anyone has that, you should let me know right after this, or right now, actually. Just run up

here. It's probably not. It's probably not that. It might not even be as drastic as somebody calling you and offering you a dream job, but there are times in your life where God is reminding you what you should be doing, right? Okay, verses 12 through 14. This last section, this last little bit, is what to do while you're waiting, right? I'm not going to read the whole thing because it's a lot of names here,

but it says, So this last little section, my Bible put it in the next section, which, again, is one of those things where, when you're reading and you look at the little, sections. Sometimes I feel like they're not right. But anywho, it says they returned to Jerusalem.

They went up to the upper room, and they started praying, right? So what to do while waiting? Well, thing one, they returned to Jerusalem. Well, where have we seen that before? Well, up in verse, I don't know, I don't know, up above in the verses above, sorry. That's the first thing he tells them. That's his commandment. Go back to Jerusalem and wait, right? So when you're waiting, when you're in a

season of waiting, whether it be now, or whether it be a year from now, or whether it, or whenever it is, when you're in a season of waiting, the first thing you should do is, well, obey his commandments. That's step one. Do what you know you're supposed to be doing, right? I find God's will is sometimes very specific. And sometimes it is not. It is go and wait. It is sit and learn. It is get to know me better,

right? And so what they did is what they knew they were supposed to do. They went back to Jerusalem. That's thing one. Then it says they went to the upper room. The significance of that is they met together, right? When they went back to Jerusalem, they didn't all go their own way and all sit and hide in their own houses. They're like, I'm just gonna do my own thing. You guys do your own thing. Whenever the Holy Spirit

comes, we'll meet up again, right? They met in fellowship. They met together. Met with other believers. And specifically, it says they met with each other with one mind, continually devoting themselves to prayer, right? They met with one mind. They met in unity. They weren't squabbling about who's gonna be, well, Jesus is gone. Who's gonna be top dog now, right?

They weren't worried about the little things. They met in unity, right? And what did they do with their time when they met? They prayed, right? They didn't waste time with strategic planning committees, marketing campaigns, worrying about what color the carpet is going to be or who's going to have what titles. They didn't squabble about anything like that, right?

They met in unity, and they prayed with each other. They passed the time in prayer, right? And I think that is a big thing, right? While they were waiting, they obeyed, they fellowshiped, and they prayed, right? So while we're waiting, we should be obeying, fellowshipping, and praying, all right? Inclusive. In conclusion, I think I timed this right even. So in conclusion, why waiting?

What's the point, right? What does waiting bring about in us, right? I have four things that waiting brings about in us, all right, that I got out of this section. One, waiting implies value, all right? We don't. Just this. When you see a long line for something, you wonder what's at the front of the line, right? You're just like, there's got to be something up there.

It's got to be good, whatever it is. When you're driving your car, and you're like, I'm a little bit hungry. I'm going to go to McDonald's. If you saw a line of cars around McDonald's going out onto, what's that street called? Radio Lane, you're going somewhere else. It's not worth waiting, right? Waiting here implies that what you're waiting for is worth it.

All right, it's valuable, right? And that's, the Holy Spirit is valuable. It's worth waiting for, right? The things of God are worth waiting for, right? Waiting itself builds faith, right? Whenever my kids tell me something, like that's obviously a joke, like obviously bogus, like I saw a flying blue monster go by the front of the house. I don't stand out. I don't stand out.

I don't stand outside and wait for it to go back by. I don't, right? I wait for things that I believe in, right? And we should be the same way, right? Waiting implies value, but it also builds faith, right? We're waiting around because we know it's true. And I think that fellowship thing is really important because we strengthen each other. There are times that we're like,

Lord, I know this is true, but I am tired of waiting, right? And, well, we should be together. We should be praying because we can bolster each other's faith, right? And call on him, the prayer part, calling on him to help us with our faith, right? So waiting builds faith. Waiting also reorients our perspective, right? Let's meant by this, right? When we have to wait,

we're keenly aware of how little power we have, right? Every time someone goes to the DMV and you're sitting in line waiting impatiently, tapping your feet, your fingers, wondering how long it's going to be, you understand that you hold none of the power. Nothing you do speeds this thing up other than just waiting. You just got to wait, right?

Waiting in the biblical manner here, not at the DMV, that does test our patience, but waiting in this manner re-changes our mind to focus on how little power we have and how much power God has, right? Ultimately, nothing is done out of our own power, should be done out of our own power, right? Everything we're doing should be out of God's power and it will require us to wait on him, right? His time, not mine, but his.

So waiting reorients, reorients us and reminds us that we are waiting on his power, not ours, right? It's not my ministry. It's not my thing that I'm doing. It's God's thing. And it'll happen whenever he wants it to happen, right?

So I guess to sum up this thing, we look at this chapter, right? Or the book of Acts as a whole, right? The book of Acts as a whole is a picture of our walk, of the church, right? And there's a time where we learned from Jesus, right? We should still be doing that, to be clear. That should be a constant thing. But in this, there's these 40 days of we're sitting

and we're learning intently. That's all we're doing is we're sitting and learning. And then we're waiting. There's periods of waiting and there's periods that were sent out, right? Today, we looked at the waiting portion, right? So let's pray and let's get out of here. Lord, I thank you for this day.

I thank you for your word, Lord. You gave it to us to teach, to instruct. Lord, it's a complete work. And I thank you for that.

Lord, as we go out, whatever season we're in, Lord, help us seek after you in that season. Understand that we're not doing things in our own power, right? If it's a season to be sent out, we should be looking for where to be sent. If it's a season of waiting, Lord, give us the strength and patience to wait, to listen to you, to obey, to gather, and to pray, Lord.

Pray for each and every one of us as we go out. Keep us safe and in the middle of your will. Pray this in your heavenly name. Amen. Have a quality week.