here we go trying something a little different um this is the first time for this channel i'm brian and i am one of the pastors with pax christian church starting up and tonight i have a bit of a bible study on acts 1 verses 4 through 14. previously earlier this week we posted a bible study on the first 11 verses of acts and so we're kind of backing up and overlapping a little bit of that but we're going to be looking through this next piece of when god has a plan for us there's often something more that he wants us to do and so uh as we get ready for that so let's dig right in starting with acts 1 chapter acts chapter 1 verse 4. it goes like this 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've heard me speak about so when jesus says wait which is what we talked about in our previous video you can find that on igtv when jesus says wait then what do we do and he tells them about this he says for john baptized with water but in a few days you will be baptized with the holy spirit wait for the holy spirit this gift that has been promised that has been given to you or promised for you and will be given to you and he says they gathered around him and they asked are you going to restore the kingdom to israel at this time he's like you guys it's not for you to know the times or dates the father is set by his own authority but you will receive power when the holy spirit comes on you and and you will be my witnesses in jerusalem and in all judea and samaria and to the ends of the earth he says you don't miss the point i'm telling you the holy spirit will come you will receive power this is has a specific purpose i'm telling you to wait for this because otherwise you will not be able to do the thing that i'm calling and telling and commanding you to do after he said this he was taken up before their very eyes and a cloud hid him from their sight and they were staring looking up intently into the sky as he was going when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them two angels show up men of galilee they said why do you stand here looking into the sky this same jesus who's been taking from you into heaven will come back in the same way you've seen him go into heaven why are you standing here he's going to come back just like this but he's not coming back right now he just told you to do something now when jesus tells you to do something and you know it's not yet you know the command is weight when you know the answer is wait i mean i don't know about you but i've prayed a lot of things where i'm like jesus please make this happen and it doesn't happen right away for whatever reason and when we have those moments where god gives us clear direction but also tells us to pause how do we know what to do the best thing to do is not to sit on our thumbs the best thing to do is not to go and just netflix and binge watch uh you know tv or to scroll social media endlessly and get caught in the black hole of time that is browsing the internet or you know youtube surfing until we fall asleep at the computer or our phone hits us in the face and wakes us up no what the disciples do once they get you know kind of broken out of like oh yeah we just watched jesus fly into the clouds now we gotta you know we gotta go figure out what to do they returned to jerusalem like jesus told them to and check this out they returned to jerusalem from the hill called the mount of olives a sabbath day's walk from the city when they arrived they went upstairs to the room where they were staying and those present listen to this all these people all these people that come those present were peter john james and andrew phillip and thomas bartholomew and matthew james son of alphaeus and simon the zealot and judas son of james all the disciples except for judas iscariot judas son of james is a different judas there were multiple guys with the name judas who were followers of jesus and so they all come and they all join together constantly in prayer they get together and they're praying constantly along with the women and mary the mother of jesus and they and with his brothers and so all these people get together and start praying when jesus begins to reveal what he's calling us to or even more what happens so often is when we're looking around in life and we don't know what god wants us to do when we have those questions jesus what am i supposed to do in this situation the right answer is to pause if we don't have a clear direction to begin to pray and then what we'll look at as we finish out acts uh chapter one uh early next week the the next thing is to prepare and the way we know how to prepare is to pray and we won't have the proper capacity and ability to listen as we pray if we don't pause and so we need to pause or stay where we're at we need to get on our knees and pray and then we we need to prepare in the way that he's called us to and make sure that we are getting rid of things that would hold us back from following god from being ready so that when he does speak when he does activate us when he does say all right now is the time we're ready to move and that can be weird and terrifying and hard uh i have just experienced that we're starting this new church that's what this channel is right we're starting this church and i'm so excited to come back and see so many people uh who i haven't seen in a long time we've been gone for four years and and we're so excited to be coming back to the carson valley but this is not the timing and not the plan that we were anticipating but as soon as god began to speak to us as soon as we began to recognize that there was this new and different thing that we hadn't been anticipating we paused what we were doing we didn't immediately jump into action go oh that's the thing okay we're just going to jump and just see what happens but we began to pray and as we began to pray and prepare our hearts and prepare our lives for okay god what are you calling us to do he has been making moves that are just crazy he we said okay if we're gonna plant a church we'll you know start these preparation processes and he said no go this fall okay we're going to start going this fall that sounds crazy but we're going to do what you're calling us to do and we'll launch up and we'll start in a living room and god was like no i got a place for you and i'm going to open up this building for you and so now we have a building we're like the building doesn't have any equipment what are we going to do and god's like i got you and he started coming through as we continue to pray more and more things continue to confirm that we are doing the right things we didn't start and launch the church day one the first time we thought about it we paused and prayed and asked for direction and now god is moving us toward this and we'll be starting services on december 6th in the ranchos in gardnerville uh which is super exciting and but that all comes from just like here starting to look at how the disciples followed god followed jesus waited for the call how they prayed at the beginning how they listened to what god told them to do and i want to encourage you anybody who sees this anyone who hears this to do the same thing pause and pray and allow god to speak and then as you are praying also begin to prepare we'll talk more about that next week thanks i hope you're blessed i hope that you find ways to speak and i have a question for discussion here in the comments or if you want to dm us or reach out in any other way or just something to consider and reflect on how do you hear from god best how do you engage with him best in prayer that's an important factor when you know it's time to pray and the bible says pray without ceasing so it's always time to pray but when you are praying how do you best engage with god that's an important question for us to go and then if you share that in the comments anybody else who sees this could uh maybe glean from that or share some ideas and we'd love to see some interaction there on encouraging one another in different ways of engaging with god through prayer whether that's through solitude through musical worship through contemplation of scripture or just getting on your face and praying out to god what's your favorite way and most effective way to quiet everything else so that you can hear from god's spirit with all of that i want to say go and start listening to god be in prayer and ask him first what you need to be doing don't just run off and do stuff let the spirit lead you may you be blessed and be rad for jesus peace