To Those Who Wait Pt. 3

Ezra 9:8-9 (NKJV) 8 And now for a little while grace has been shown from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and give us a measure of revival in our bondage. 9 For we were slaves. Yet our God did not forsake us in our bondage; but He extended mercy to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to revive us, to repair the house of our God, to rebuild its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem

Introduction:

• We have entered a new season in our Church.
• We have entered into a season of waiting on the Lord.
• I can make long distant observations about what is going on in our Nation or

  world… but first hand what is happening in our congregation.

• When our hearts are being stirred, fires are being rekindled, our children are

  responding to the Lord, the Presence of God is being experienced in new and deeper ways, the anointing of the Lord is empowering ministry and opening doors.

1. Seasons of revival is how God revives, repairs, and rebuilds our life.

1.1. Revival is God’s mercy extended.
1.2. The Lord does not leave us in our bondage but offers a way out.

1 Cor. 10:13 … (NKJV) but with the temptation will also make the way of escape
1.3. Continual revival is required to keep from becoming dry and hardhearted.

Isa. 44:3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.

1.3.1. Ela… my backyard example. Without rain it is so hard you can drive an 18 wheeler on it but with a day of rain you can’t ride your bike back there without getting stuck. Such is the nature of outpouring. Seasons of dry seem to have their function as everything seems easier in one way. Except that you find yourself down the road wondering why the fire for God has become dim and love for Jesus is not your priority.

1.3.2. Every thing gets a bit mushy in times of out pouring.
1.3.3. We can live like this.
1.3.4. It can seem unproductive with some of our life goals but very productive with keeping our hearts ablaze with the love of Jesus.

1.4.One of the strangest aspects of outpouring is that not everyone loves it.

1 John 2:19 (NKJV) They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.

1.4.1. Some cannot handle the challenge.
1.4.2. Others find ways to become hurt or offended.
1.4.3. Others just do not like change of the status quo.
1.4.4. All these things can be going on on the inside but we need to deny the flesh the pleasure of giving in and find ways to make space.

Why waiting upon God is so important?

2. Waiting on the Lord is faith in action.

Ps 27:13-14 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living. 14 Wait on the LORD ; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD! NKJV

Ps 37:9 For evildoers shall be cut off; But those who wait on the LORD , They shall inherit the earth. NKJV

2.1. We wait on the Lord believing that we will see Him.
2.2. Like the ole saying goes “anything good is worth waiting for” 2.3. Waiting for anything is growing extinct.

2.3.1. Ela… There is a reason why it takes almost 10 months for a baby to be born. Can you image if you receive the report of being pregnant and having a baby the next week. Talk about going crazy.

2.4. Some times the most faith filled act one can endeavor upon is to be found waiting.

2. Being revived and experiencing revival requires waiting on the Lord.

Isaiah 40:9-18 (NKJV) 9 O Zion, You who bring good tidings, Get up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, You who bring good tidings, Lift up your voice with strength, Lift it up, be not afraid; Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” 10 Behold, the Lord GOD shall come with a strong hand, And His arm shall rule for Him; Behold, His reward is with Him, And His work before Him. 11 He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, And carry them in His bosom, And gently lead those who are with young.

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, Measured heaven with a span And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales And the hills in a balance? 13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, Or as His counselor has taught Him? 14 With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him, And taught Him in the path of justice? Who taught Him knowledge, And showed Him the way of understanding?

15 Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket, And are counted as the small dust on the scales; Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing. 16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, Nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering. 17 All nations before Him are as nothing, And they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless. 18 To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him?

2.1. We begin to come aware of the greatness of God the longer we wait for the revelation of Himself.

2.1. You shall be renewed:

Isa 40:31 But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. NKJV

2.1.1. To pass through, go through…
2.1.2. We spend all week running around expending physical and spiritual energy…

2.1.3. Martin Luther ““I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.”

2.2. Because it takes time:

“washing of water with the Word” Eph. 5:26

2.2.1. The washing and renewal takes time.
2.2.2. It takes time to break through.
2.2.3. It takes time to push through all the distractions.

2.3. Be diligent to enter into a new rest in the Spirit.

Hebrews 4: 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. 11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.

2.4. Ceasing from fruitless works.

2.4.1. To be striving in the flesh is to have a heart filled with anxiety and trying to change the outcome with our effort.

2.4.2. Getting out of striving in the flesh mode and enter into striving in the Spirit mode – there is a difference.

2.4.3. Entering a rest…
2.5. An increased eagerness to wait arouses in our heart.

Rom 8:24-25 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. NKJV

2.6. The longer we wait the more eager we become to wait.

2.6.1. We see and feel the results of waiting.
2.6.2. Hurry up and wait.
2.6.3. The desire to be other places grows smaller.
2.6.4. Ela… hurry up and leave and get to Asbury and you will also find yourself waiting in the lines.

2.7. Our eyes and hearts are finally fixed upon and captured by Jesus.

Psalms 119:15 (ESV) 15 I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.

(St. Augustine: The Life and Thought) Or are we in bondage to the pleasures of this world so that, for all our talk about the glory of God, we love television and food and sleep and sex and money and human praise just like everybody else? If so, let us repent and fix our faces like flint toward the Word of God in prayer: O Lord, open my eyes to see the sovereign sight that in your presence is fullness of joy and at your right hand are pleasures for evermore (Psalm 16:11).

(St. Augustine: The Life and Thought) Can we say the following with Augustine? “How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose . . ! You drove them from me, you who are the true, the sovereign joy. You drove them from me and took their place. . . . O Lord my God, my Light, my Wealth, and my Salvation.”

2.8. Death to self finally sets in.

John 12:23-26 (NIV) 23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

2.8.1. The hour has come.
2.8.2. The hour of death.
2.8.3. An encounter with the Lord always means something is dying in our life.
2.8.4. It seems there are *Seasons of death*. 2.8.5. Death becomes our way for a while. 2.8.6. Then death needs to die again.

2.9. Presented as a glorious Church 2.9.1. Chains are broken off:

3. Jobs revelation during His encounter with the Lord, at the end of his suffering journey, says it all.

Job 42:1-6 (ESV)
1 Then Job answered the LORD and said:
2 “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 3 Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
4 ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.’
5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you;
6 therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

3.1. God can do all things.
3.2. Stop uttering things we do not understand.
3.3. Now he not only knows from hearing but knows from seeing. 3.4. Smallness and repentance always follows.

Conclusion:
Here is a word from the Lord “slow down and wait upon God.
The glory of God can accomplish in seconds what otherwise seemingly takes years.
We need to respond to what is happening in the earth.
Continuing this week we will have an increased focus on waiting on the Lord: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday will proceed with normal schedule. Friday and Saturday 630pm we will be here waiting.
Let’s respond, dig out our wells, and drink n the goodness of God.