t's ironic, but fitting, that the first thing Jesus tells people to do in the book of "acts" is to "wait." If God is telling you to wait, waiting can be just as much an act of faith as doing. How can we wait patiently, but with expectancy? How long will we have to wait? And what are we supposed to do in the mean time?

Faith Waits - Full Version

by Eric Elder

I’d like you to take a look at a scene from one of my favorite movies called The Incredibles.

It’s about a family of superheroes. The dad has superstrength. The mom has to stretch in so many directions she’s called ElastiGirl. The teenage daughter can create a force field around herself to protect her from others. And the son runs so fast they call him Dash.

In this scene, the mother and two of her kids are on a plane and they’re speeding towards an island trying to rescue her husband when the plane comes under attack.

ELASTIGIRL [to Violet] Vi! You have to put a force field around the plane.
VIOLET But you said we weren't supposed to use our powers.
ELASTIGIRL I know what I said! Listen to what I'm saying now!
ELASTIGIRL [on radio] Disengage. Repeat, disengage!
DASH Mom?
ELASTIGIRL Violet!
ELASTIGIRL Mayday, mayday! India Golf niner-niner is buddy-spiked! Abort! Abort! There are children aboard, say again, there are children aboard!
MR. INCREDIBLE No!
ELASTIGIRL [to Violet] Put a field around us now!
VIOLET I've never done one that big!
ELASTIGIRL Violet, do it now!
ELASTIGIRL Abort, abort, abort! [all scream as they eject from the plane and plummet towards the ocean, and the plane blows up behind them]
ELASTIGIRL [as they parachute into the water] Brace yourselves!
VIOLET/DASH Mom! Mom!
ELASTIGIRL Everybody calm down. Now, I'll tell you what we're not gonna do. We're not gonna panic, we're not gonna--look out! [the plane crashes into the water right next to them]
DASH/VIOLET - Oh, my God! Who's idea was this anyway?! - What are we gonna do?! What are we gonna do?!
DASH We're dead! We're dead!
VIOLET It blew up!
DASH We survived but we're dead!
ELASTIGIRL Stop it! We are not gonna die! Now both of you will get a grip. Or so help me I will ground you for a month! Understand?

I love that: “We’re dead! We’re dead!” “Stop it! We are not gonna die! Now both of you will get a grip. Or so help me I will ground you for a month! Understand?”

What I wanted to show you in that scene is not so much what happened, but what didn’t happen. When the mom called on her daughter to do something bigger than she’d ever done before, the daughter panicked. She doubted...and she couldn’t do it. What she didn’t have was faith. But let’s fast forward and listen to what the mom says to the daughter later when they get to the island.

VIOLET Mom! Mom, what happened on the plane. I'm sorry. [stammering] I wanted to help. I mean, when you asked me to... I'm sorry.
ELASTIGIRL Shh. It isn't your fault. It wasn't fair for me to suddenly ask so much of you. But things are different now. And doubt is a luxury we can't afford anymore, sweetie. You have more power than you realize. Don't think. And don't worry. lf the time comes, you'll know what to do. It's in your blood.

There’s are some lines in there that is so subtle you could almost miss them, but they’re so powerful I want to highlight them. Listen to what the mom says:

“But things are different now. And doubt is a luxury we can't afford anymore, sweetie. You have more power than you realize. Don’t think. And don’t worry. lf the time comes, you’ll know what to do. It’s in your blood.”

There are times in our lives when it’s OK to doubt. But there comes a time in each of our lives where “doubt is a luxury you can’t afford anymore.” You either believe or you don’t, and the outcome depends on what you choose to believe.

The truth is, as a Christian, you do have more power than you realize. When you put your faith in Christ, God puts a seed of faith within you. It’s in your blood. In the coming weeks, what I want to do during our time together is to strengthen your faith. If you’ve already put your faith in Christ, I want to strengthen the faith that’s already within you. If you haven’t yet put your faith in Christ, I want to help you get to the point where you can put your faith in Him.

I want to get you to the point where Paul was at the end of the book of Acts.

Like the mom and her kids in The Incredibles, Paul was on a ship that was about to be blown apart. Hurricane force winds had pummeled his boat for days. The men on the ship had given up all hope of being saved.

If you read through the passage, you can almost hear them screaming, “We’re dead! We’re dead!” But Paul stands up and says, in effect, “Stop it! Get a grip! You’re not going to die! The ship may be destroyed, but you’re not going to die” Here’s what Paul says in Acts chapter 27, verses 22-25:

“...keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. Last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’ So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as He told me” (Acts 27:22-25).

And it did.

That’s the kind of faith God wants you to have, a faith that says “I have faith in God that it will happen just as He told me.”

So over the next few weeks, I want to take you through story after story in the book of Acts to show how to be “faith full,” how to be full of faith. Sometimes God calls people to wait. Other times to stand up. He calls people to speak, to give, to be healed, to be raised from the dead.

We’re going to start today by looking at a story in Acts chapter 1, verses 1-11.

1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."

6 So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"

7 He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."

I think it’s interesting that this is called the book of “acts,” the acts of the apostles, or the acts of the Holy Spirit working through the apostles. Given that this is the book of acts, what’s the first thing Jesus calls them to do? Take a look in verse 4.

"Don’t leave Jerusalem, but wait...." Wait.

“...wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about” (Acts 1:4b).

When I was reading through the books of Acts, looking for lessons of faith that I could apply to my own life, I thought it was funny, but fitting, that the very first lesson was to wait. We usually think of all the powerful things that faith does, like move mountains or walk on water. But today I want to show you that one of the greatest things that faith does is that “Faith Waits.”

And what were they waiting for? The gift of the Holy Spirit. You see, without God, what’s the point of going on?

I can’t imagine what it must have been like for the disciples to wait. Jesus had just been killed, and they’re next in line. But they’ve also seen Jesus raised from the dead, and they’ve heard Him say, "I am the vine; you are the branches...Apart from me you can do nothing” (from John 15:5). The apostles knew this, so they waited.

In his book Experiencing God, Henry Blackaby says that people will tell you, “Don’t just stand there, do something.” But as Henry’s looked through the Scriptures, he’s found that God often says, “Don’t just do something, stand there.” Don’t just do something, stand there.

There are certainly times when God tells us to do something. But there are also times, or maybe certain aspects of our life, where God tells us to wait.

One of my favorite passages in the Bible about waiting is when Moses is backed up against the Red Sea. He’s just fled from Egypt, taking with him over 600,000 men, not counting all the woman and children. The Red Sea is in front of them, and the chariots from Egypt are chasing after them from behind. The people start yelling to Moses to do something, to save them, to run, anything!

But look at what Moses says to them:

“Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today” (Exodus 14:13a).

Remember what happens next? Moses “stands firm,” and God shows up. At just the right time, God opens the Red Sea in front of them, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. The Israelites escape through the water to the other side of the Sea, and God brings the water crashing down on their enemies behind them, crushing them completely with the waves in a way that the Israelites never could have done on their own.

When the people came to Moses and said, “Do something,” it’s as if Moses replied, “I am doing something! I’m waiting! I’m waiting on God!”

Ephesians 6 talks about putting on our armor for the spiritual battle. Do you remember what we’re supposed to be able to do once we get our armor on? To stand. Ephesians 6:13 and 14 says,

“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then....”

Three times Paul says we’re to stand, to stand your ground, to stand firm. There are times, even in the midst of battle, where God wants us to stand firm, to wait.

The truth is, waiting can be just as much an act of faith as doing.

And “not waiting” can be your downfall. Here are just two stories from the Bible about what happened when people didn’t wait.

Remember when God told Abraham He was going to give him so many descendants that they would be as numerous as stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the seashore? But Abraham didn’t wait on God. He got impatient, and got his wife’s servant girl pregnant instead, hoping to have an heir through her. And God said that the child would have still more descendents, but that he would live hostility toward all his brothers (see Genesis 16).

Years later, when God eventually gave Abraham and Sarah their own son, Isaac, God gave Abraham descendents galore through him, too. But the descendants of Ishmael and the descendants of Isaac have been fighting each other even to this day. Present-day Muslims claim Ishmael as their forefather, and present-day Jews claim Isaac as theirs, and the battle between the two families continues.

God will keep His promises, but there’s a price to pay for not waiting.

You might also remember Saul, the first king of Israel in the Old Testament. The first time Saul went to battle, God told him through the prophet Samuel to wait seven days for Samuel to come and offer a sacrifice before going to war. But in the mean time, the Philistines, the enemy, were gathering their troops, too, and all of Saul’s troops were quaking with fear. They began to scatter, so when the seventh day came and Saul hadn’t shown up yet, Saul made the offering himself.

Just as he was finished making the offering, Samuel arrived and said,

“What have you done? ... You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you; if you had, He would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the LORD’s command.” (1 Samuel 13:10-14).

If Saul would have just waited a little longer...but he panicked and lost his kingdom because he didn’t wait.

Now contrast these stories with the story of David, the man who became king after Saul. David accomplished many things, but one of the things he wanted to do was to build a temple for God.

David told Nathan the prophet what he wanted to do and Nathan said, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the LORD is with you" (2 Samuel 7:3).

But that night, God spoke to Nathan and told him that David wasn’t the one to build the temple. That God loved what David wanted to do, and that He would bless David for the desire, but that his son Solomon was the one to build the temple. So David put his plans on hold, even though they were good plans, because God said to wait. David’s kingdom endure till he died, and David’s son eventually built that temple, just as God said he would.

I know many of you are waiting for God to do something in your life. You’re waiting on Him to show you the next step. To give you a new job, or a promotion from your old one. You’re waiting for Him to restore that relationship that’s been broken. To hear the results of a medical test. To bring you the perfect spouse. To bring you any spouse!

It’s hard to wait, I know.

I remember when I was waiting on God one time. I felt that God had called me to go to Israel. I didn’t know why He wanted me to go there, but I felt I had to go. After a few days of wandering around Jerusalem and looking at sights, I started to wonder if God was every going to show up. What was I waiting for anyway?

As I laid on my bed, I read this verse from Psalm 27:14:

“Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”

But I read it in the Amplified Bible, which gives even more detail about what the Hebrew and Greek words in the Bible mean. I love the way the Amplified Bible puts it:

“Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord.” (Psalm 27:14, AMP).

It changed my whole perspective. I began to look forward to what God was going to do. The next day, God showed up in a powerful way. I met a pastor when I was on the temple mount, the place where Solomon built that great temple. That pastor prayed for me, anointed me with oil, and spoke a prophetic word over me about the future of my life and ministry, resulting in much of what I’m doing today.

Waiting is not just idle time. It’s a time of great expectation for what God is going to do.

It’s the difference between sitting at home alone and wondering if anyone is ever going to stop by, and sitting at home, waiting for the most important person in your life to walk through that door at any minute, because they called ahead and told you they were on their way.

When God speaks to you about something in your life, be expectant. Stand up in your faith like Paul did and say, “I believe it will happen just as God said it would.”

Waiting can be one of the most godly and productive things you can do in your life.

You might say, “OK, I’ll wait. But how long will I have to wait?” I don’t know. I can’t answer that for you. Even Jesus might not answer that for you. The disciples in Acts chapter 1 asked Jesus a similar question. Look at what He said to them in Acts chapter 1, verses 7 and 8:

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Jesus didn’t tell them how long they’d have to wait. But He did give them a taste of the results if they would wait.

You might think, “OK, I’ll wait, even if I don’t know how long, but what do I do in the mean time?” While you’re waiting, don’t forget to keep on living.

Look again at Acts, chapter 1, verses 10 and 11. It says:

“They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

Then it says that the disciples went back down the hill, met together daily, and prayed constantly. They couldn’t leave, so they did what they could. They prayed. They chose a replacement for Judas, they took care of business, they went on with life.

Just because God may put a hold on one aspect of your life, don’t forget to keep on living the rest of it!

Even King David, when God told him that his son would build the temple instead of him, David put the word out to all the surrounding countries, asking them for gold and lumber and other materials so when the time came for Solomon to build it, he’d be ready.

I read a story about Yo-Yo Ma’s father. Yo-Yo Ma is an incredible cellist and performs throughout the world. It turns out that Yo-Yo Ma’s father lived in Paris during World War II and couldn’t go anywhere while Germany was in charge of the country. With nothing else to do, and to keep from going crazy, he learned how to play Bach’s songs on the violin during the day, and at night, when they weren’t allowed to have any lights, he would play them back from memory.

His son Yo-Yo began to do the same thing, playing a Bach suite from memory every night before going to bed. Yo-Yo says, “It isn’t practicing, it’s contemplating. You’re alone with your soul.”

Yo-Yo Ma’s father wanted to do lots of things in his life, but because of the German occupation, he couldn’t. So he did what he could -- he played the violin. And God blessed him, and his son, and the thousands of people who have heard Yo-Yo Ma play since then.

Even this interim time at our own church, while we’re waiting for God to bring us a new senior pastor, is not idle time. It’s a time of expectancy for what God is going to do. It’s a time of renewal. A time of refreshing. A time of putting things in perspective and strengthening our faith.

If you’re still not convinced, let me give you just a few of the benefits of waiting for the Lord.

You’ll sleep better, feel better, think clearer. You’ll be more content, less frustrated, kinder, gentler, more patient, more gracious. You’ll grow stronger, live longer, stand firmer. Here’s how the King James Version of the Bible puts it in Isaiah 40:31:

“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint..” (Isaiah 40:31, KJV).

I want to close with one more clip from The Incredibles. It takes place near the end of the movie when a giant robot is attacking the city, as Mr. Incredible is holding onto a metal arm that’s fallen off the robot, and Mrs. Incredible is holding the remote that controls the arm. They decide to send it flying back towards the robot to destroy it once and for all. Take a look.

MR. INCREDIBLE Honey! Wait a minute. Press that button again! No, the other one! The first one!
ELASTIGIRL First button! Got it!
DASH It's getting closer!
FROZONE Look out!
ELASTIGIRL Get out of here, kids! Find a safe spot!
VIOLET We're not going anywhere!
MR. INCREDIBLE Press the button!
ELASTIGIRL Not yet!
FROZONE Hang on!
MR. INCREDIBLE What are you waiting for?!
ELASTIGIRL A closer target! You got one shot!
MR. INCREDIBLE Everybody duck!
[Helen pushes the button, sending the metal arm through the center of the robot, and it explodes as the family looks on.]

“Press the button!” “Not yet.” “What are you waiting for?” “A closer target. You’ve got one shot!”

There are times in life when you’ve only got one shot. When God says wait, wait. He won’t ask you to wait forever, as we’ll see next time in Acts chapter 2. But in the mean time, I want to encourage you, that if God says wait, wait.

“Wait for the Lord. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord.”

Let’s pray...

Father, help us to wait when you say wait. And help us to increase our faith to say, like Paul, “I have faith in God that it will happen just as He told me.” In Jesus’ name, Amen.