Saturday, December 27th

Finally, what are you waiting for? Who are you becoming while you wait? And we’ve already teased this out a bit, but what sustains you in the waiting?

Real quick, let me parallel this to something very simple. How many of you have a vehicle that takes unleaded gasoline? How many of, think, “you know what, I’ve heard that diesel provides better gas mileage, I’m going to put diesel in my unleaded vehicle?”

Ridiculous, I know, right. Diesel will not sustain your unleaded vehicle. Yet, living on our own fuel, sustaining life our way versus the Spirit’s way, is like running diesel in an unleaded car. We need the right fuel to sustain us, especially in our waiting.

OR how many of you, have ran out of gas in your vehicle? I have, actually, it was Christmas Day 2001. You want to know how much further I drove the vehicle, after I ran out of gas?

Ridiculous, I know right. When we are empty, when we have nothing to sustain us, we can’t go anywhere. And we are making our waiting that much more painful, it is as though we are doubly waiting. Waiting to be filled again and waiting for what we are waiting for.

Many of us know the pain and discomfort in waiting; that’s why we need the awareness of the Spirit’s presence.

One of the Greek words for waiting is paromeno. Meno is the Greek word for abide, which we read in John 15, when Jesus calls us to abide in him. Gemma Ryan shares it, “This Greek word for waiting, I hear the invitation of Jesus to stay with me even in the struggle, even in the confusion of waiting. Would you remain in me, endure with me? Because if you do, you will bear much fruit in the waiting.”

Waiting with the Holy Spirit, is in prayerful dependence of the comforter, to listen and have a tenacious trust that God is always creating, always working, always redeeming, always refining.

Romans 8:26-27- 26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

The Holy Spirit is what sustains us, growing in our awareness and dependency of his presence. It’s living with the Spirit’s source of fuel and not our own source. It is being filled by the Spirit, crying out groaning, in our emptiness or weakness, he fills and sustains.
Jesus comes in our waiting, but it’s not a passive waiting. It’s not a waiting filled with worry, anxiety, control or mistrust. It is an active waiting. Active waiting is living in humility of God’s power, awareness of the Spirit’s presence, and trust in Christ’s fulfillment.

The coming of Christmas, in unexpected ways, is seeing waiting as a gift; a gift to live in humility with God, greater awareness of his presence, and trust of fulfillment, but not according to our ways, Christ’s fulfillment.

That’s why I love the beauty of this scene, when Simeon takes Jesus and declares the promise of power, presence, and trust. Simeon worshipped in the waiting, he worshipped when his waiting was fulfilled. Worship is active waiting, trust in God’s power and presence and humbly coming before him.

Take a moment with this song and worship in the waiting. O Holy Night and Holy Forever