What Are You Waiting On?

I titled my sermon today, "What Are You Waiting On?" Seems like a lot of life is spent waiting. You go to the doctor, you sign in and wait. And as Americans we are not very patient people when it comes to us having to wait.

Does anybody enjoy waiting? Maybe you're in minority here today. But Americans spend an estimated 37 billion hours waiting in line each year. Much to our distaste, few things stimulate as much universal frustration and annoyance as a lengthy wait time. Many of us struggle to wait for even our sluggish web browser to load.

I do remember they dial up. What a weight that was. So thankful we got beyond that. Self-checkouts have become a large hit because we feel like we're not having to wait in line as long. So I'll just check myself out. They're programming us to do their job, but we get in and out a lot quicker. Is there anybody here that looks for the longest line and that's the one you run to get in at the store? If you're at Walmart it's just one line that's actually got a live person, so you don't really get a choice to check yourself out or wait in that line.

Confession's good, you know. We're going to start with confession here, that we all don't like to wait. How about when you approach a red light? How many of you observe all the lanes when you're, when you're pulling up to the light? You kind of start looking: let's see what cars are ahead of me. If it's a sports car, that's probably a good lane to get in. Um, the exhaust is really loud, they're probably going to take off, I'll follow them. Um, if the radio's turned up, they're, they're in the beat, they're fixing to, to Florida and go, so I'll get behind them. If it's a Buick, don't get behind that, they're not going to peel out and take off. If you look through the window and there's a little white q-tip above the headrests, uh, you're not gonna, not gonna get behind that one. If it has the little decal on the window, "I love my grandkids," they're probably not going to be the one you want to follow off the line. If it's a smart car, just pray for them.

But we don't like to wait. And whether you admit it or not, you do that. Let me see where am I going to get through the quickest today.

We want to look at Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 31. I'm going to take a different turn here. But as you're turning there on to thank my in-laws for being here today. They came to join in service, and they're probably regretting that now. But they, my wife told them I was preaching, they came a day early, so I don't know if they want me to just buy lunch or what. But no, thank you all for being here today. I appreciate it.

Isaiah 40 and verse 31 says, "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall turn run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint." Very familiar passage. If you've been in church very long at all, you've heard it read, seen it on plaques. But we're gonna go a different direction today. And like, this is what the Lord spoke in my heart for this service.

God, we ask you to move in this house. God, have your way in this service. God, I surrender to you, Lord. Use this vessel. Speak through me today, God, and say, Lord, what you placed in my heart, God, let it flow out today. In Jesus name, amen.

When you look in Scripture, there's not one place in the Bible that tells us to wait for the Lord. It says to wait upon the Lord. There is a difference. There's a difference in those two statements, those two wordage phrases there. An understanding of the difference between waiting for the Lord and waiting upon the Lord is the attitude with which we wait. There's waiting, and then there's waiting on someone.

Bill was visiting a local department store with his wife, and they just purchased a piece of luggage and a cooler. And as Bill was waiting for his wife to finish the rest of her shopping. He's dragging the luggage and cooler around with him, and he decided to stop off in the, in the shoe department. And the clerk come up and said, "Sir, can I help you?" And he said, "No, thank you." He said, "I'm just waiting for my wife." At that point the man behind him turned around quickly. He said, "I'm waiting for my wife too, but I never thought about bringing a lunch in an overnight bag."

So sometimes we got to plan those waiting moments. But, but most of us are waiting the wrong way on God. Most Christians wait for God to move, kind of with their arms folded and watching, patting their foot. God, when are you gonna, you know, do what you need to do? And why is it taking so long for you to accomplish what it is that I need you to do for me?

The truth is, it does not take God long to do what he needs to do in our life. There's nothing incompetent about God. There's nothing incapable about God. There's nothing incomplete about God. There's nothing that's too large for him, nothing that he can't handle, and nothing that he cannot do for us. And he can do it suddenly in our life, in a moment. But the truth is, what's lacking a lot of times is my attitude. Something in me. I'm not doing my part. I'm not doing what he's asked me to do. And the truth is, we're not really waiting on God. We're just saying we are, but we're waiting for him to do something for us. God is waiting for us. He's waiting for us to start truly waiting upon him.

Waiting for the Lord versus waiting on the Lord's a matter of asking the right question. I've got to stop having the response as a customer in the booth at the restaurant, you know, "Come wait on me, come." But I've got to become as the waiter is. I can't ask God, "What's taking you so long?" But I've got to ask the right question: God, what can I do for you? God, I want to wait on you. I want to serve you. I want to follow after you. Whatever you're asking of me, God, let me be willing today to serve you.

It's never a question of whether or not God can do it. The question is, what is it that I'm supposed to do for him each and every day? The Hebrew verbs for "to wait" and "to hope" are very similar. Their definitions are very close, and they're used to speak a trust as an activity that does prove itself with time, when we have to position ourself in a stance to endure the present anticipation for the future result. And so many times we miss what it is God wants to do, because we're not positioning ourself in the right mode, the right frame. God, let me hear your voice. Let me do what you're asking me to do. Because God will never fall short on doing what he desires to do in our life, if we will position ourself in the right frame of mind to follow after him, to wait upon him.

Waiting on the Lord requires us to do something. It's an action on our part. It requires something of me. But so many times we come in and say, "God, I made it to church, now you do your thing." And we leave church disappointed because God didn't do his thing. And we never recognized that, God, I truly didn't serve you. God, I missed an opportunity during the week, because I wasn't looking to serve you. But I was looking for just a benefit package that only benefited me and came my direction.

I believe there's always something good that comes out of bad things that we face. There's always a lesson to learn. And sometimes it just points out the flaws and the frailty in my own life that I need to adjust and correct. But if we can learn to recognize that those trials that we face, those tests that come our way, and tribulations, allow me to examine myself, that, Lord, I can serve you better, that I can come to you, Lord Jesus, without my own actions blind in what it is you want me to do for you. Is there something that's in me that's not allow me to be ready to receive what it is God's asking of me? Maybe there's sin in the camp, and God's trying to reveal to me that I've got some shortcomings that I need to deal with. It could be fear that's holding me back from what it is that God's promising in my life. It could be doubt that's keeping me out of the promise of God. Or maybe there's something that I'm just not latched on to believe, and it's blocking or hindering me from the will of God in my life.

Because the truth is, a little sin is a big thing in our life. You say, "Well, how dare you point that out?" I'm pointing at my own life, and you can point at your own as well. Because none of us are perfect. We all have shortcomings. We all have failures and disappointments that we have to work through. But I'm so thankful that I get to serve a God who is perfect. I get to serve a God who is all-encompassing of everything I need. And he knows what I need in this moment. He knows what I need tomorrow. And he gives me the strength for today, and he equips me for what I must face tomorrow. And as long as I can get myself in the right frame of mind: God, I'm going to wait upon you. God, I'm going to quit waiting for you, but I'm going to wait upon you. God, you can pour out your blessings as you see fit, because I don't want to be a hindrance to what you want to do in each of our lives. God, let me not be that stumbling block to anyone around me.

See, God is waiting for us to search within ourself, because there's nothing wrong with him. If you look and you study the children of Israel, they had to stop and find out why it was that they couldn't take that little city like Ai. God had already allowed Israel to take the fortified city of Jericho with a shout, and they were on cloud nine. We can take anything little. We took the big fortified city, surely we can take this little thing. And they eventually did. But they had to stop and examine themselves. What was going on? Why would they not be able to conquer that city after they had the victory at Jericho? When they were defeated by Ai, they come to realize there was sin in the camp. Nothing will bring to feed and make God paul's like unrepentant sin in our life.

And so many times we come to church and we shake hands, used to, and we smile at each other through our mask. But no, we come and act like everything's good, and we try to hide those things we struggle with, those moments that we just soon nobody know about, those trials that we feel like everybody will judge us because we're going through. But God's saying, if you want victory, you've got to give it all to me. You can't hold nothing back. You can hide nothing in your tent. But you've got to come clean, and you've got to be willing to serve me, and to follow after me, and to do what I'm asking you to do.

So God's asking us to do something for him. What is it he's calling you to do? What is it he's asking of you today? God may be waiting for me to get off of my do nothing, and calling me to accomplish something for him. But I've got to be able, I've got to be willing, to give myself and get myself out of the way.

How can we expect to get anything if we do nothing? If we're waiting on the Lord and not waiting for him, the Lord, then I can guarantee you, he's working on your behalf. The song talked about, you may not see it, but I guarantee you he's working on your behalf. You may not feel it, but he's working on your behalf. And when we're waiting on the Lord, our prayer life becomes a true life. When we wait on the Lord, our attitudes become in check, and we can hear the voice of God directing our steps as we go forward. When we wait on the Lord, others become important to us, and we get ourself out of the way. When we wait on the Lord, we recognize his blessings in our life, and we begin to pause and take time to praise him for who he truly is in our life.

Because people all around us are facing the storms of life. The winds that were blowing last night in this morning, there's trees down. And when I come in, the haystack out front, everything was kind of disheveled, and we kind of put it back together. Sometimes those storms come in their life and just mess up our plan. They mess up what we thought we had all together. People here are struggling emotionally, spiritually, maybe even financially, and their lives have been torn apart by this present world and all that it's facing currently. Maybe the relationships that they have are tattered, and they're strained, and they're looking for help. They're looking for love. They're looking for hope somewhere. They are waiting for something. But we as children of God, we can direct them. We know where God is, and we know that God loves us, and we know that God is our hope in the middle of whatever crisis we may face, and through the depths of the storm, no matter the heartache that life may bring. We as a church must be about sharing what it is we know, instead of just sitting passively by and watching as sermons or preached in the service, and, and someone else can do it, I don't have to. But God is calling us to serve him, to wait on him. But we've got to make ourselves willing.

In a world that seems so hopeless, we serve a God that is hope. Regardless what it is that you face, God is your hope. He is your answer. He is the solution to whatever you face.

I've come to tell somebody that your time of waiting for the Lord is over. Your time of waiting upon the Lord is now. We've got to change our mode, our mindset, our attitude, and come to him willing to do what it is he's asking of you, willing to give what it is he's asking you to give.

Deuteronomy 28, verses 1 and 2, says, "And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God." Not only shall blessings come, but if you read that, it says they will come and overtake you. They'll come on you quicker than you can get away. I don't know about you, but this world isn't just throwing stuff at us that it's just blessings. But every time I go to the Lord in prayer and I begin to pour my heart out, his blessings are revealed new and fresh every day. His blessings overtake me, and they strengthen me, and they comfort me.

And if you continue to read: verse three, "Blessed shall thou be." In verse four, "Blessed shall be." In verse five, "Blessed shall be." In verse six, "Blessed shall thou be." I don't know what God you're looking for, but why not serve a God that's painting out blessings each and every day in your life? Why not pursue the one who cares about you, to pour those blessings into your life when you're willing to serve him?

What is it you're waiting on today? We all have a list, stuff that we want. Christmas is coming. The list is longer than the check can write. But if you're content with nothing spiritually in your life, then keep doing nothing. But if you want more than nothing, and you crave the presence of God and his blessings in your life, then you have to do something. It's not to name it and claim it, blab it and grab it. But it requires something on each of our parts. You have to wait upon the Lord. That's not what arms folded, but that's with hands raised, and heart open, and willing to receive his spirit to work in you and through you and to those around you. So if you wait upon the Lord, you will renew your strength, the Scripture told us that, to renew. That means you do an exchange. If you renew vowels, you're exchanging those vowels again. If you renew a book at the library, you're exchanging your signature or whatever for more time. If you renew your license, you wait a long time through that line to get those for another year. But to renew, if you repent of your sins and you commit your life to the Lord, there is a promise of an exchange. Salvation is all about exchange. Relationship with God is all about exchange. My sin for his salvation. My poverty for his wealth. My sickness for health. And his, his dying on the cross was all so that I could live. He went through hell so we could go to heaven. He's always looking for a greater exchange on your part, but he's simply asking: will you wait on him?

The great exchange: my weakness for his strength. When I wait on the Lord, his exchange is my yoke for his. His yoke is easy. His burden is light. But don't forget, it does require action on your part. There is a yoke involved. Just like the oxen were used to plow in the field, the yoke was placed on them for them to accomplish work, but there was a benefit to the work being done. And there's a burden that we carry. We must have a burden for lost souls. We're called to be witnesses, to be salt and light to this world. And God placed that burden on us, that we would wait on him, to serve him, to do what we have been called and commissioned to do through his word.

Are you waiting on him? What are you waiting on? What you're waiting on, is it worth the effort, all the energy that you're expending to accomplish something? Is it worth it? Are you waiting for God to do for you what you should be doing for yourself? Are you waiting for God to just rain blessings down from the sky, right into your lap, when the answer to your prayers is already within reach? He's just telling you, you've got to go get it. Are you unresponsively waiting for the Lord, when you should be waiting upon the Lord?

There's those that are filled with the Holy Ghost. They're pursuing a relationship with God. And we're caught between the not yet of fallenness and the already of the end of the world. We have promises beyond this world, but yet we're living in this current world. There's a tension between the two. We live in the futility of suffering and death and mourning and pain. But we also live in the Spirit, who gives us hope, who gives us peace, who gives us comfort in the midst of all of those things. We may be oppressed by this world's fallenness, but we are liberated and renewed by the indwelling Spirit of God. He gives us hope beyond the current situation and what we face. And this tension creates the situation where we must wait for something that we already partially possess, and also wait for the end of the world with a hope, that overcoming this fallenness and ending in victory. And sometimes we get a wrong mindset: well, I've got this, so I'm good, let somebody else deal with it. And we drop short of waiting on the Lord, and decide we'll just wait for the Lord.

It's important that we understand that concept, so we don't fall into that trap. Because it's so easy for the devil to trick us and to deceive us, that, well, you've received the Holy Ghost, so just sit back and wait on the welcome home train to come by and pick you up. When the Lord commissioned us to be salt and light, to be a witness, and to disciple those around us.

First Corinthians 1 and 7: "So that you come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ." He's given us spiritual gifts. Well, what good is a gift if we don't use it, if we don't exercise it and work for him?

Titus 2 and 13: "Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our savior Jesus Christ." Just know, regardless what you face, whatever difficulty you may be staring in the face, we have a blessed hope and a glorious appearing, one day of him coming to receive his church to him. While we're waiting on the Lord, we're also waiting with that hope, that expectation. And through the power of the Holy Ghost, we will be victorious.

I've come to tell somebody today, there's a divine exchange that wants to take place in this house today. The Lord has shown up, and he's looking for those who are willing to wait upon him, those who desire him to do a work in your life. If you're willing to surrender all to him, God is waiting for you to come. He's waiting upon you to surrender all to him.

Psalm 63. It says, "Oh God, thou art my God. Early will I seek thee. My soul thirsts us for thee. My flesh longer for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is, to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. Because thy loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live. I will lift up my hands in thy name. My soul shall be satisfied as with moral and fatness, and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips, when I remember thee upon my bed and meditate on thee in the night watches. Because thou has been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. My soul falleth hard after thee. Thy right hand upholdeth me."

As we stand today, I've come to tell somebody, it's time to surrender to Christ today. It's time that we wait upon him. Verse 7 said that we are in the shadow of thy wings. This happens when we position ourselves to wait upon the Lord. And there's the Scripture that we open with. It said they'll mount up with wings as eagles. There's no pl, place to be when we mount up with those wings as eagles, than to be in the shadow of the Almighty that's leading us on our journey.

I've come to ask somebody today: what is it that you're waiting on? What is it that you're seeking today? What is it you're longing for in your life that's missing? I've come to tell you, these altars are open, and the answer is here. And he's inviting you to come and to have a relationship with him. He's inviting you to come and to wait up on him.

He's longing to embrace you today, and to ask you, what is it that you desire? What is it that you need in your life? Because I have the answer. I am the answer to the questions in your life, the frustrations that you face. I can give you peace. The disappointments that have come your way, I've come to encourage you today: there's peace, and there's hope when we come into his presence.

But he's asking us to serve him today. He's asking us not come just wanting and desiring, but opening our heart, willing to serve him with gladness and joy, because he's the giver of joy that goes beyond whatever difficulty you may be facing. If you're here today and you're hurting, I invite you to come to this altar and meet the one that can heal, that can mend the broken heart.

God, have your way today. God, we surrender to you. Oh, in the name of Jesus. God, we give you glory. These altars are open. Please come find a place to pray today.