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ABOUT YOUR WAITER…
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).
JOKE-A little boy was fishing but was
catching nothing. A man came by and asked him, are you fishing little boy?
He replied back, “No I am not fishing, I am just drowning worms.”
Sometimes, we may feel that way, that we are accomplishing nothing. But if
we wait on the Lord we will reap one day.
SOME BIBLICAL
EXAMPLES OF WAITERS:
A.
ABRAHAM AND SARAH
(FOR ISAAC)
B.
NOAH (FOR THE
FLOOD AND SUBSIDING WATERS)
C.
JOSEPH (FOR HIS "TIME"
IN POWER)
D.
JESUS (FOR THE "TIME
TO BE FULFILLED")
E.
MARY AND MARTHA (FOR
JESUS TO ARRIVE WHEN LAZARUS
DIED.)
F.
THE DISCIPLES
(FOR THE PROMISED HOLY SPIRIT)
G.
ALL BELIEVERS
(AWAITING HIS RETURN) “blessed hope…”
when
waiting…
1. REMEMBER GOD’S PROMISES
2. REST IN GOD’S
CHARACTER
3. RELY UPON GOD’S LOVE
IN EACH CASE, IT
WAS WORTH THE WAIT!!
I-FOR
THOSE WHO WAIT ON
THE LORD-THEY
WILL HAVE
INWARD
STRENGTH:
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their
strength; 31A
He is not talking about physical strength here, but he
is talking about moral strength.
The people in Isaiah’s day were in
captivity, they needed inward strength to give them power over temptation.
According to Ephesians 6:10, God commands us to be strong Christians
that can stand!
There is a song that I listen to every now and then
that says this:
The God on the Mountain
Is still God in the valley
When things go wrong
He’ll make them right
The God of the Good Times
Is still God in the Bad Times
The God of the Day
Is still God in the
Night
That’s the God that we serve.
ILLUSTRATION: Many of you
have seen the film "Chariots of Fire", an outstanding film about a
Christian, Eric Liddell, who refuses to run in the prestigious 100 meters in
the 1924 Paris Olympics because it involved racing in a preheat on a Sunday,
which Liddell believed to be an ungodly use of Sunday.
Liddell was
probably the fastest man alive at that time and had been the favorite to win
it for
Instead, he went to the Scottish Presbyterian church that
Sunday and read the lesson from Isaiah 40. And verse 31 seem to capture the
situation
However, he was given the chance to race for
Daniel had that inner strength
from God, that is the reason he was able to say no to sin.
THANK GOD
FOR INWARD STRENGTH
II-FOR THOSE
WHO WAIT ON THE LORD-THEY WILL HAVE
UPWARD
STRENGTH:
they shall mount up with wings as eagles; 31B
There are many ups and downs in this life that we live. But God will
give us victory over the downs if we learn to wait on him.
We are
often like Lucy in an old "Peanuts" comic strip. Lucy was complaining about
her lousy life. Charlie Brown is trying to cheer her up. "Into each life
some rain must fall," he said. That didn’t seem to help at all. Then he
thought of another saying: "Just remember, life has its mountains and its
valleys, its ups and downs." To which Lucy replied, "All I want is ups and
ups and ups!"
And so it is with us in the Christian life. When we
first become Christians we feel protected in the nest, but God soon takes us
out of it, so that he can teach us to "soar on wings like eagles."
The eagle doesn’t like the mud and filth of this world, if you look for him,
he will be on the highest mountain.
John 15:19-If ye were of the
world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world,
but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
Colossians 3:2-Set your affection on things above, not on things on the
earth.
III-FOR
THOSE WHO WAIT ON THE LORD- THEY WILL HAVE
OUTWARD
STRENGTH:
they shall run, and not be weary; 31C
Gal.
6:9-And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap,
if we faint not.
Notice he didn’t say they shall sit but they shall
run!
ILLUSTRATION: In the 1954 Cotton Bowl game,
Later on, Tommy Lewis was drafted to play pro football. The
main reason was that he couldn’t stand to lose--shown in his tackle off the
bench. He wanted to run, to play and not sit.
Sometimes we as
Christians want to sit, not get involved in the work of the Lord. And yet
there are those who are involved and running for the Lord…but they get
weary.
Gal. 5:7-Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should
not obey the truth?
Have you stopped running for Jesus?
Well the grandstands are full of those cheering you on and the Lord
is at the end of your lane…focus your eyes on Him!
Many people get
tired of running for Jesus and get weary even to point of quitting. But God
can get us out of spiritual retirement.
ILLUSTRATION: A
little boy told his father, “Today I beat a snake.” The father asked, “Did
you beat him with a rock or a stick?” The little boy said, “I beat him
running.” We should beat the devil by not only running from his temptation,
but by running for the Lord and staying close to Him.
ILLUSTRATION: One fellow tells
about being on an airliner making its way from
Unfortunately, a second engine burst into flames.
Once again the captain assured the passengers that two engines were
sufficient. Then a third engine was suddenly ablaze. The captain said no
more. There was only silence from the front of the plane. Soon the captain
appeared in the cabin with a parachute on his back. As he opened the exit
door, he said calmly to the passengers, "Don’t anyone panic, I’m going for
help." And out he jumped.
Also today, many are jumping out of the
Lord’s work. They become weary or discouraged because of the circumstances
and bail out on God.
IV-FOR THOSE
WAIT ON THE LORD- THEY WILL HAVE
ONWARD
STRENGTH:
and they shall walk, and not faint 31D
God
will give us strength for the long haul, in other words, He will give us the
strength to serve Him all the days of our life.
ILLUSTRATION: A
story is told about the construction of the overseas highway between
GOD TELLS US ALSO TO GO ON
God
help us not to be like Demas, Paul’s companion who left Paul and quit the
Lord’s work in the middle of it. But help us to be like Paul and faithful
until the finish line.
God made this world in six days, and the
seventh day, the Bible says He rested. He rested not because he was tired
but because He was finished with His work. One of these day we will finish
out work down here, and enter into our haven of rest in Heaven. But until
then, we are to wait upon the Lord for His strength to do his work and His
will.
CONCLUDING STORY: A grandfather was taking a nature hike with
his 6 year old grandson. The child was running ahead, and came to a
creek...afraid that he was going to fall in, the grandfather said CHILD,
WAIT FOR ME AND I’LL GET YOUACROSS...SURPRISINGLY, THE CHILD OBEYED, AND
WHEN THE GRANDFATHER GOT THERE, HE LIFTED THE CHILD UPON HIS SHOULDERS, AND
WADED ACROSS THE CREEK. the grandchild said, "If I hadn’t waited on you, I
would never have made it across!"
How true of us...Let’s WAIT ON
GOD...HE’LL GET US ACROSS ANY OBSTACLE LIFE PUTS IN OUR WAY.
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