Dr. Michael Yousaf explores God's power for daily living.
Next on leading the way. When God is silent, he's possibly because he's trying to teach you something or some truth about yourself that you need to know in your relationship with him. When God is silent, it is possibly because He wants to see how. You can really trust his word, that you trust his promises, not just when the sun is shining, but even when it's pouring rain. Life circumstances often bring about times when the greatest desire and heart need.
is to hear loudly and clearly from God. And yet, The sound of silence while waiting is deafening. Hello, welcome to Leading the Way with pastor and author Dr. Michael Yousaf. Today, watch the early church as they gathered and waited anxiously to hear from God.
Let's join Dr. Michael Youssef right now for a very special episode of Leading the Way Audio. For most of us. waiting It's never easy. In our culture, waiting for anything is not considered to be a virtue.
Anymore. Waiting is something that children hate. And adults do too. Everything in our culture. And in our society, and seem to be expanding throughout the world, is instant.
We do have instant food and instant drinks. Instant diets and And even they have now manufacturing antique while you're waiting. In fact, I read this week that the average person. The average person. gets agitated.
within a period of forty seconds waiting for an elevator. 40 seconds. and then became to show A visible agitation. Here's the problem. That most people bring this agitation, they bring this impatience.
They bring all of this into their faith. And into their walk with the Lord. And their expectations for instant things grows but the same proportion as it grows in society at large. The problem is because of our instant society. We tend to think of God as just another person, and we try to treat God just like if He's another.
friend or somebody down the road, we have lost That vision of God, of so being awesome God and being a transcendent God and being a magnificent God who's in control of the whole universe. What do I mean by we treat God just as another person?
Well, the best way I can give it to you is in the form of illustrations that you can relate to. When you get the silent treatment from your angry spouse, What happens? What normally happens? You get confused and you feel isolated. Right?
In fact, it was George Bernard Shaw who said. Silence is the most perfect Expression of scorn. No. Beloved friends, let me tell you, God is not like that. Let me repeat this.
God is not like that. When God is silent, it's not because He's angry. As I understand the scripture in all the decades I've been studying it, as I comprehend the word of God. I have learned from the Word of God that There are several times when God is silent in our lives. When God is silent, it's probably because He is putting you through His Practical school.
He's putting you through his training school. When God is silent, he's possibly because he's trying to teach you something or some truth about yourself that you need to know in your relationship with him. When God is silent, it is possibly because He wants to see how. You can really trust his word, that you trust his promises, not just when the sun is shining, but even when it's pouring rain. When God is silent, it is possibly to get you quiet so that He can work on your behalf.
When God is silent, it is possibly Because he loves you so much. That he wants you to rest. On his love. In confidence. And in Acts chapter 1, Versus Twelve to twenty-six.
God gave the apostles a period of waiting. But that was not a waste of time. There was a period for waiting. It was a period for private. Preparation for them to be able to receive the Holy Spirit of God.
God always, when He keeps you waiting, it's for a purpose. It's always for a purpose of preparing you for something greater in your life. What is this lesson? And the lesson is this. God is doing things in your life that you cannot see.
That God is doing things in your life which you are totally unaware of. God is doing things in your life in order to develop your character, and that takes time, and possibly you cannot see it. What was God doing? in a period of ten days. This ten-day period from the time that they saw Jesus The resurrected Jesus Christ ascended into heaven after He's been with them for 40 days.
This period of ten days was the time from when they saw him going up to heaven to the time that the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them on the day of Pentecost. That was a ten-day period of time. And that waiting period was serving three purposes. Purpose number one, waiting for the Lord. was to strengthen the apostles.
How? First, In this incident, by teaching them Obedience. In Acts chapter 1, verse 4, he says, Go to Jerusalem and wait. That was the command. He commanded him to wait.
Here in verse 12, what are they doing? You're going to find them obedient to the command of Jesus. He said, Go and wait. In 4 he said, wait. In 12, they are waiting.
He said, do not leave Jerusalem. I'm going to tell you why in a minute. There's a reason for that. He said, Don't leave Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit to be fulfilled. And he didn't tell them when.
He didn't give them a clue as how long it's going to take for the Holy Spirit to come upon them.
So they waited for the Holy Spirit. How many of us would have gotten restless? By the third day. Fourth, fifth, eighth day, a week past Now I don't believe for a moment. that it was easy for these men and women.
It was not easy. Most of these apostles, in fact, all of them with the exception of Judas, they all came from the Galilee region, which is north of Israel. Jerusalem is in the south.
So they're all away from home, they're away from their familiar surroundings, they're away from their loved ones, they're away from their Families. And they've been away for a while.
Some of you might remember that after the resurrection, Jesus did not show up for a few days. They already saw the risen Christ more than once, but he did not show up for a couple of days. And you know what happened? Peter got restless. In chapter 21, verse 3 of the Gospel of John, he said, I'm going fishing.
Yeah. The waiting is killing me. I'm going fishing. And the others followed him. And Jesus appears to them on the shore of Galilee as a form of rebuke.
And here the Apostles Could have said look. Jesus has now gone to heaven. And uh we need to get on with life. We need to leave Jerusalem and get back north to the Galilee region. We need to go home to Nazareth and all the other villages from where we came.
We need to get on with business. We need to get on with life. We can't just sit around and do nothing. Please listen to what I'm going to tell you. The one thing you are not supposed to do while you're waiting for the Lord is nothing.
Did you hear that? The one thing you are not supposed to do while you're waiting for the Lord is nothing. There is nowhere in the scripture that I find in the Old or the New Testament that God called anyone who was sitting there idle. They were doing whatever they were doing, and God came and spoke to them and called them to do to serve and do a ministry for God. The most important obedience.
The most important obedience in your life. is the obedience that you practice. When you have no earthly idea or earthly reason as to why you are called to do what you are called to do. I want to repeat this. The most important obedience in your life is the obedience that you practice when you have no earthly reason as to why you are called to do what you are called to do.
Listen to me carefully. You are not learning obedience. If you have all the logical explanations given to you ahead of time. If you know all of the what, where, who, when, That's not obedience. You have not obeyed yet.
You have not learned obedience yet. If you know all the circumstances and all the facts surrounding the situation. But when you cannot see any rhyme or reason why you should do what you have been called to do. Then you're practicing. Simple.
Obedience. The disciples were being strengthened by waiting. How? They were learning obedience. But also in waiting they were not only learning obedience, they were learning 120 of them.
How to fellowship together. And here you thought that family reunion was hard. And this was not just for a few hours of the day, and then you got your hotel rooms or your houses. This was not even for the whole day. And then got to your rooms or got to your homes.
Now that was day and night in one room, 120 of them. Please Listen carefully to what I'm going to tell you. I know that there are people who can get on our nerves. I know that. I know there are some people can drive us nuts.
I understand there are some people who just irritate us. I know there are people who are just pure pain. I know that. But listen to me. You cannot live the Christian life in isolation.
If We are to grow in Christ. We need people. If we are to develop the character of Christ, we need people. If we are to exhibit the marks of Christ, we need people. In waiting, they were learning obedience, but in waiting, they were learning fellowshipping together, but also they were learning how to pray together.
Look at verse 14 of Acts chapter 1. It says, in unity they were constantly praying. What do you think they were praying about?
Well Possibly they were confessing their sin. exhibited cowardice and they all ran away and left the Lord. They're probably asking They'll be confessing. They're probably giving thanks for the Lord's forgiveness of their sins. Giving thanks for the Lord's patience with them throughout these three years of training them, and it seemed to not any more than we are able to get the lessons of life.
They probably were preparing their hearts for anticipation of the coming of the Holy Spirit. They probably were reading the Old Testament as we saw graphically illustrated. They were searching the scripture together. They were reading all about the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ and said, ah, that's what Isaiah meant. That's what Ezekiel meant.
That's what Jeremiah meant. They were reading the Scripture together and praising God through the Word together. Probably they were studying the book of Joel chapter 2 verse 28 to 32 about the coming of the Holy Spirit. Waiting for the Lord strengthens the apostles, but secondly, waiting for the Lord. Separate The apostate.
Verses 16 to 20. Let me tell you what an apostate is. An apostate Is a person Who knew the gospel? and even accepted it intellectually. And believed it in their head.
But they After that they've turned their back. on the gospel. and went their own way. That's an apostate. A person who turns.
We have many an apostate pulpit. all over this country. Apostasy abounds. Those who preach the denial of the virgin birth. Those who preach the denial of the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, those who preach the denial of the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, those who preach the denial that Jesus is the only way to heaven, those who preach the denial of the fact that He is coming back and He will judge the earth.
That's apostasy. An apostasy. Abounds. in churches today. You see, that's what Judas Iscariot is all about.
Judas scariot, Was an apostate. You see, he followed Jesus. Are you going to church? But he had his own agenda. But what do you want to get out of Jesus?
He followed Jesus because it was profitable for him. It was beneficial for him to follow Jesus. He followed Jesus because he wanted to use Jesus. He followed Jesus only. It to try to manipulate him to get out of him what he wanted out of him.
You see, when Jesus Failed to deliver what Judas wanted, namely a revolution against the Roman occupiers. He turned on him. And he delivered him. to the rulers. Judas represents those who Throw away the most incredible opportunity they will ever have in their lives.
Eternal life. Judas represents all those Who are churchgoers, oh yes, they go to church, they hear the gospel message, they accepted it intellectually, they assent to it intellectually, but they never commit their lives to Jesus as Savior and Lord. Judas represents those churchgoers who have been privileged to hear the word of God, but it never takes hold of them. And they live the lives Crookedly. See, Judas represents those who follow Jesus.
only for what they can get out of him. And when Jesus doesn't deliver, they betray him. In chapter 1, verses 16, 17, and 18 of the book of Acts. Peter obviously is giving us some detail account of how Judas committed suicide. detail information that we don't have anywhere else, right here in these three verses.
Obviously, he was trying to hang himself from a tree. That's on a cliff. And his weight must have pulled that branch, and his body smashed. all the way down. in the valley on the rocks.
And his body was Cut the pieces. By the way, some of you may not know this. Do you know when Judas? who received thirty pieces of silver to deliver Jesus to the rulers. Surprise.
of a slave. When his conscience was burning within him, he took the thirty pieces of silver and returned them back to the rulers. Do you know what these hypocrites said? They said this is blood money. We can't take it back.
Uh cool. We're going to give it to charity. And with that money they got a cemetery. in which they buried the strangers among them. Please let this be a warning to all of us.
Waiting for God strengthens The apostles. Waiting for God. Separate the apostate. Waiting for God. solidifies The anointed.
The set aside. Because The Apostle waited on the Lord. They have learnt obedience. They have learned fellowshipping together. They have learned how to pray together.
But they also learned how to discern the will of God together. You know, in my years in ministry. I have many people who have come to me. Would say um I feel a call of God upon me for a full-time ministry. Do you know what my reaction is?
Discourage them. Yeah. Discourage them. You say, why do you do that? Very simply.
Because God is always going to get his men or His woman.
So I'm not worried about that. I've experienced that firsthand. And now how God works. When God has his hand on you, mean you run all you want, ain't gonna make help you one bit.
So I know that. I'm not worried about that. But most often I meet those who see full-time ministry as an escape from the other things that God had called them to do. They saw that as a way out. I'm amazed at times when someone comes to see me and says, I feel called of God to go across the ocean to witness for Jesus Christ.
My simple question is: this: Have you ever gone across the street to witness for Jesus Christ? Don't tell me you've got a vision to witness people across the land until you had a vision to witness to people across the street. And here the apostles are very careful in selecting a replacement for Judas. They have put a set of criterion, they have put set of qualifications they believe the Lord has given them. And even then, they wanted God to be the final one to call somebody to replace Judas.
And they waited upon the Lord, and the Lord showed them. I'm getting close to the end, but I want you to listen to what I'm going to tell you. You've heard me. You heard many of us. And many of you pray for a revival.
We often pray for a revival. And we Absolutely right to pray for a revival, genuine Holy Spirit revival. When God's Spirit is pouring upon people. and we can see it with our own eyes. But I have often wondered, and I continue to wonder, every single day when I pray personally, publicly or privately, I always wonder and ask myself the question, are we really prepared for a revival?
It's one thing to pray for a revival, but am I really prepared for it? Are we as a body prepared for a revival? That's the question we need to ask ourselves. Are we really prepared for it? You say, what do you mean by prepared for it?
As I read church history, I learn. that when genuine Holy Spirit revival breaks out, in an area or or across the world for that matter. It is the most draining experience emotionally, physically, spiritually the most draining thing that more than anything in the world. I read this again and again in history books. During times of revival, people come under such conviction of their sins that they are literally pressing into the church.
The people who, when they come under conviction of their sin, they don't want to go home. When they come under conviction of their sins in times of revival, Christians, new Christians are hungering and thirsting for the Word of God. They're hungering and thirst for godly men and women to teach them, to train them. They're hungering for godly men and women to counsel them, to give them wisdom, to strengthen and help them straighten their lives. And are we Really?
prepared for that. I'm becoming more and more convinced. that if we're really going to experience a revival We had better prepare for it. Thank you for joining pastor, author, and respected international Bible teacher, Dr. Michael Youssef.
for leading the way. Hey, are you struggling to get momentum in your spiritual life? Perhaps you've been looking for something to help answer biblical questions and provide some sense of direction.
Well, leading the way may have just what you need. It's called My Faith Assistant. Get answers to ways to share your faith with a friend or family member. Tips for deepening your faith through Bible study. My Faith Assistant is a platform ready to provide you with answers to your faith questions, rooted in God's Word and the trusted teaching of Dr.
Michael A. Youssef. Visit ltw.org or LeadingThe Way's mobile app today and explore your questions with my Faith Assistant. Before we close out today's Leading the Way, here is a testimony that our team recently received. And we thought that you would be encouraged to hear how God is using Dr.
Yousuf. and leading the way. Dory writes My mother had a massive stroke. I cared for her for 10 years while working full-time. Although it was a struggle, I was filled with joy and strength from listening to the teaching of Dr.
Youssef and leading the way. When my mom died, I stopped studying the word, stopped singing, stopped. listening to any of my beloved music. and even stopped praying. During that time, I lost several jobs.
I was completely lost and felt like Jesus had abandoned me. Then my dad died, and I knew I had to somehow return to my Father in heaven. I again started listening to Dr. Youssef. and loved his truthful messages.
Thanks to his messages, I am listening to music, reading the word, and praying again. For me, Dr. Youssef's sincere and simple teachings have been my lifeline. Thank you so much, Dr. Youssef, and leading the way.
Thank you for your prayers and your generous support of leading the way. Through your faithfulness, Dr. Youssef and the ministry teams are able to reach into this neighborhood and neighborhoods just like it all around the world with the gospel. Learn ways that you can stand with Dr. Youssef.
at ltw.org. or call us and speak to a Leading the Way ministry representative. The number is 866. 6264356. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr.
Michael Usack. passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth around the world.
