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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Scripture says that the wounds of a friend are many.
[00:00:05] And what that's saying is that your friends will be honest with you, you know, they'll tell you what you need to hear.
[00:00:10] And our spouses are very good friends. They're the closest friends of all right, that first service, I come up here so excited about what I was sharing here, that I gave a big spiel for the first 10 minutes to whatever, five, 10 minutes and just really going off the cuff and then started, skipped a bunch of scriptures, went to my notes and then talking to Karen afterwards.
[00:00:37] And I told her, I said, man, I only got 2/3 of the way through this message. And she goes, well, she just stick to your notes.
[00:00:44] She said, stick to your notes. She said, you said everything you were going to say and then you said everything you're going to say or, you know, said a bunch of stuff, started out and said it all over again of what I was saying and just stick to your notes and you'll say it all.
[00:01:00] So that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to stick a little bit more to my notes. But you know, I'm talking on the power of God. What did I do with my clicker? Oh, it's good. It's there, not somewhere else.
[00:01:15] Do you have the power? What we're going to talking about? You'll see. This is going to be the last question I ask, do you have the power?
[00:01:21] And we're going to look at Acts, chapter one here. You know, I've been wanting to speak on this, on Acts for a long time, but I feel, I've always felt like just God was saying, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.
[00:01:33] And then I felt like he gave me the go ahead on this here now at this time. And I don't know if that's all is that faith or is that just presumption? But you know, I take it, I say amen. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. So I just say that's by faith I'm trusting, I'm following what God is leading me in this. And so I feel like he's given me the go ahead on this. And I want to read through the first 11 book, or 11 books. That would be quite a service, eh? 11 chapters in that book of Acts, first 11 verses in the first chapter of Acts.
[00:02:05] Do you have the power?
[00:02:08] Acts 1:1 says in my first book, Theophilus, in my first book, I told you, Theophilus, about everything Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven after giving his chosen apostles further instructions through the Holy spirit.
[00:02:24] During the 40 days after he suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles from time to time. And he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive.
[00:02:33] And he talked about the Kingdom of God. Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised. As I told you before, John baptized with water. But just in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
[00:02:53] So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom? He replied, the Father alone has set the authority for those dates and the times, and they are not for you to know.
[00:03:10] But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. Do you have the power?
[00:03:17] But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.
[00:03:21] And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere in Jerusalem, through Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
[00:03:30] After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching and they could no longer see him.
[00:03:39] And as they were straining, as they strained to see him rising into heaven, you can imagine these guys looking and watching and trying to see him. What an experience all of these things would have been.
[00:03:51] Two white robed men suddenly stood among them.
[00:03:55] That experience as well. Men of Galilee, they said, why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven. But someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go.
[00:04:12] And this next illustration I want to read to you is the title of this illustration is the Power of Witness.
[00:04:21] And you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And then you will be witnesses for me to everybody.
[00:04:30] And it says to the uttermost parts of the earth. A Chinese farmer, after having cataracts removed from his eyes, made his way from the Christian compound to the far interior of China.
[00:04:42] He had only been gone a few days when a missionary doctor looked out his bamboo window and he noticed the formerly blind man holding onto the end of a long rope in single file. And holding onto the rope behind him were several blind Chinese people whom the farmer had told about his operation.
[00:05:01] They all knew the farmer was blind, but now he could see. He told them that the doctor had cured him of his blindness.
[00:05:08] And all these blind people wanted to meet this doctor. The cured man could not explain the physiology of the eye or the technique of the operation, but he could tell the others that had been blind that the doctor had operated on him and now he could see.
[00:05:24] And that is what all these people needed to hear. And they came with the man to the doctor.
[00:05:31] Now, this is just a great analogy of the command that Jesus gave to us as his disciples to go and to make disciples of all nations. It's a good picture. He was blind. He could see. He went and he told. He found the blind people. He told them they came back with him so that they would be cured of their blindness.
[00:05:54] Before I was saved and baptized with the Holy Spirit. I was blind before I became a follower of Jesus. I knew that this world was messed up. And I can remember wondering, what is this world all about?
[00:06:07] What is life's purpose?
[00:06:10] And then one day, there was a crusade in Red Deer. I've mentioned this a number of times here, I know. But that night, Jesus opened the eyes of my understanding. And I realized that I wasn't a Christian and I needed to repent of my sins and ask Jesus to come into my life and be lord of my life.
[00:06:28] You know, as I'm walking forward to make this commitment to Christ, the hymn that's playing is just as I am.
[00:06:35] The following week, we went to another little crusade. And it was out at Bentley.
[00:06:40] And I was baptized with the Holy Spirit.
[00:06:43] You know, this was all so amazing to me. All of a sudden, things began to make sense. The way that the world was going and why it was going, the way it was going.
[00:06:52] Why the things, the bad, the evil things that were happening were happening.
[00:06:57] It was clear to me that as we.
[00:06:59] That we as human beings had fallen from God's grace. As we see in the book of Genesis. At the beginning, we turned our backs on God and we needed a Savior. And that that savior was Jesus Christ.
[00:07:11] He was alive, I discovered that night, and that he loved every human being just as they were.
[00:07:20] He accepted everybody.
[00:07:22] I was blind. But all of a sudden, now I could see. Things were getting clearer.
[00:07:27] I couldn't understand at one time. And then all of a sudden, things were beginning to make sense. The truth seemed so obvious all of a sudden. Jesus is the savior of the world.
[00:07:38] It seemed so simple.
[00:07:40] And so I went from there with passion out to preach the gospel. Because who wouldn't want to hear this message? I thought.
[00:07:51] And being a young believer, just saved. I just thought, nobody's not going to want to hear this message.
[00:08:00] I found out quite different, that not everybody wanted to. Because God has to prepare the soil or we have to do some of the work to prepare the soil.
[00:08:11] But, you know, in my innocence, I thought for sure, everybody would want to hear this. I remember walking home from lunch and one afternoon we lived in Bentley. I was going to Bible college.
[00:08:22] I did my first four years of a bachelor of theology degree there. And I was going to school in the mornings and working as a janitor in the afternoons. And I remember going home one afternoon and as I'm walking up the street, it just dawned on me. If Jesus was to come today, this world would crucify him again.
[00:08:42] And you know, and like Jesus sent out the 12 at one time in the Scriptures, and it says, okay, he says, be careful. He says, I am sending you as sheep among wolves.
[00:08:54] Use wisdom. He gave them instruction. And so God is asking us to go and make disciples.
[00:09:01] And he knows that he's sending his sheep out as among wolves and he's telling us to use wisdom, be wise as serpents and as harmless as doves.
[00:09:10] And going can be a scary thing. So we're commanded to go make disciples. That's a call and a command to each one of us who profess to be believers and followers of Jesus Christ and He's Lord of our lives.
[00:09:24] And going can be a scary thing. If you have never intentionally gone to make disciples.
[00:09:30] We're going to talk about that. And hopefully when we leave here today, we'll have a lot more, maybe be encouraged to do so, to do some fishing, fishers of men.
[00:09:41] But the fears that we have, some of us have, and I think most of us have about, you know, how do we do this, hopefully will be subsided.
[00:09:49] Pastor Darren has got a class going. It started last Thursday, Wednesday, and it's every Wednesday at 7 o'. Clock. And it's about teaching you, training you about questions that they might have, encouraging you, and teaching you, training you up in how to go public with your faith. Right?
[00:10:10] Close enough.
[00:10:13] So Wednesday night, seven o', clock, and Darren says he'd like us to register because they need to know how much material to prepare. So if that is something that when we're done here, hopefully you're all going to be there on Wednesday convicting, lord, I am to go. It's not an option, but it can be intimidating if we've never done it.
[00:10:33] Reading the Scripture, we see it very clearly that it's not optional. And he equips us to do it. He says, but you'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.
[00:10:42] And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere.
[00:10:47] That's a command to us. And it was by sending the Holy Spirit that he gave every believer everything that we need to Be the witnesses that God is calling us to be.
[00:10:57] The Book of Acts is a written witness.
[00:11:01] Being a witness is being faithful to tell of the work that God has done in your life and what he's done on behalf of the world.
[00:11:10] That's the witness. And that's the witness God has empowered us to be. We are all called to be witnesses and praise God. We don't have to all be trained theologians.
[00:11:23] We don't have to understand the increasing of God's mysteries. And we don't have to be perfect in the way we live our lives. We don't have to be perfect, flawless human beings, because there is no such thing.
[00:11:35] You know, but one thing that should really kind of speak quite clearly to people that have no hope compared to people who have hope is when the pressures come on our lives. How do we respond to that? What are they seeing in us when the pressures are coming?
[00:11:49] If Jesus is lord of our lives, these things should look very different. And when they come on to us compared to those that have no hope.
[00:11:57] But in spite of our imperfections, nobody can tell what Christ has done for you better than you.
[00:12:04] We are not all teachers, and that's good.
[00:12:09] Not all of us are called to sell everything that we have, give the money away and go to some third world country or go to live under a bridge to reach the homeless. You know, some people are called to that and praise God. You know, people listen to God and they do what they're called. We're all got a purpose here. Every one of us have a purpose. And God wants to teach us and train us up in that and to do that, because there's such a broad spectrum here of gifts and talents.
[00:12:38] We're all called to witness. And that's, you know, the main purpose or the main theme of the Book of Acts is verse eight, that you receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.
[00:12:50] It's a faithful telling of the work of God in the beginning days of the Christian church. The Book of Acts is a great way that we can learn the truths of God's word by seeing how God worked through the lives of the believers in the early church.
[00:13:04] And there's great stories in this Bible about the different miraculous things that God did. And, you know, Philip being transported and Peter being released from the jail. Like, there's just amazing stories. And God uses those stories to build a faith in our own lives that when we're stuck in situations and circumstances we have no control over, maybe God's going to do a miracle there. You know, when we get our mind set on the things that God wants us to focus on and have Jesus as Lord of our lives, he's number one. I think we would see a lot of amazing things happen because we would get into some predicaments that maybe we were avoiding right now because we don't want to go there. But when we're saying Lord, your will be done and as he's the center of our lives and we're stepping as he's telling us to step, where he takes us, nobody knows.
[00:13:57] But it would be a witness.
[00:14:01] Acts 1 and 2. It says in my first book, I told you Theophilus, about everything that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven after giving his chosen apostles further instructions through the Holy Spirit.
[00:14:15] All along Jesus was preparing his disciples to be the leaders of the church.
[00:14:19] The church was being birthed.
[00:14:21] For these men to be leaders of the church, they first needed to be convinced that death has risen to life.
[00:14:29] Luke writes that during this time Jesus gave many convincing proofs that he was alive and spoke about the kingdom of God.
[00:14:35] And reading that text just makes my imagination go wild. Just imagine when you're reading the scriptures, putting yourself in the place of these characters that God is bringing out in the scriptures. It just makes the reading of the scriptures so intriguing.
[00:14:51] But think about it. Jesus has been dead for three days.
[00:14:54] He's gone. He's been gone. They're convinced he's not alive and their hopes have been dashed. They're really desperate men. They were convinced and how could they not be convinced with all the miracle signs and wonders that Jesus did.
[00:15:08] He just spent three days in hell and he raises from the dead and he's popping in and out of these guys lives.
[00:15:16] He's giving them many convincing proofs to show that he is alive.
[00:15:21] And what was it that Jesus was talking about when he was meeting his disciples? You know, I'm thinking, okay, you know, like yeah, we've got some texts I'm going to show here in a minute. But you know, this I'm sure isn't the only wording that Jesus spoke. It would be so interesting to go back in time and just listen to these conversations of Jesus after he's been risen from the dead.
[00:15:44] So I've got, I think there's five appearances here that I bring out real quick.
[00:15:50] In John 20, 19, 23, Jesus appeared to the disciples when they were gathered together hiding behind locked doors for fear of the Jews.
[00:15:59] And a week later, Jesus appeared again to the disciples. But this Time it was including Thomas.
[00:16:07] Thomas was not with them the first time. Thomas was so discouraged. Like, that's a great character study to do.
[00:16:13] Thomas and the two characters that went on the road to Emmaus, two great studies to do about what's happening in their lives between the ascension, between the death and resurrection of Jesus.
[00:16:25] But Thomas wasn't with them. He was ticked off about this. Things were not the way that they were supposed to be. And so he wasn't there the first time. But a week later, Jesus appeared again. And the disciples, this time, including Thomas, who had been present, who had not been present during the first appearance.
[00:16:43] And when you read that story, he's mad. And they come to him, say, Jesus appeared to us this first week. And he says, I won't believe until I can put my fingers in the nails, holes in his hands and my hand in his side. And then Jesus appeared to them. And first thing Jesus said is, thomas, put your fingers here, put your hand here. And he says, stop doubting. And then Thomas response is so beautiful. He says, my Lord and my God.
[00:17:14] Like these guys, amazing experiences. They had to convince them that Jesus was alive.
[00:17:20] We see that Matthew 28, that Jesus appeared to the disciples on the Mount of Galilee.
[00:17:27] Peter's reinstatement is described in the Gospel of John. Specifically, Peter had denied Jesus three times. He was swearing when he was denying Jesus that he knew Jesus out of fear. And then when he heard the rooster crow, he took off and he was really beat down.
[00:17:48] Remember Jesus saying he would pray for him. And then this was the reinstitution of Jesus. Peter, do you love me? Jesus asked three times. Feed my sheep.
[00:17:57] And Jesus bringing Peter back to where Peter knew he needed to be out from underneath that condemnation that the enemy would be putting all over him.
[00:18:11] And then at the time of the ascension, during the 40 days after he suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles from time to time to prove to them, and prove to them that he in many ways, that he was actually alive. He talked to them about the Kingdom of God once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised.
[00:18:38] As I told you before, John baptized with water. In just a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Jesus obviously would be speaking to his disciples about some pretty important things here in the spirit of what's happening, what's coming. But they couldn't grab it. They could not understand this. And it was. There was an anointing that they were needing in their lives to be Able to do such a humanly impossible task, to go into the uttermost parts of the earth to preach this gospel. Just these few people, and yet their concern as Jesus is trying to speak to them about, you know, don't leave Jerusalem, go and wait, because just a few days you're going to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. And then they say in the midst of that, Their concern was about the political goals and the ideal that they could never quite stifle in their lives. They had this mindset of how things were supposed to be unfolding. Are you going to take care of that now, Jesus, now that you've raised up from the dead through the Gospels? These guys wanted Jesus to throw off the, the iron hand of Rome and he wanted them to tell, they wanted him to tell the nations that he was their Messiah. The Israelites, the Jewish people and set up his kingdom. Surely now he had risen from the dead and instructed his troops and it was time for the rebellion to begin.
[00:20:02] This is their thinking.
[00:20:04] And Jesus answer offers a warning for us even today, you know, and over the years they have not been heeded for the past 2000 years when we see what it says and Jesus says, so when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him. This wasn't the first time they've asked him this. They kept asking him, lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?
[00:20:35] He replied, the Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times. And they are not for you to know.
[00:20:43] It's not for us to know. So you hear people setting dates and times, turn the page. It's a waste of time.
[00:20:52] It is not for us to know.
[00:20:55] Let's not get distracted by these kinds of things that are all around us.
[00:21:01] But you will receive power. Jesus says to them when they're asking these questions, he gets them back to focus. Here you receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.
[00:21:11] And you will be my witnesses telling people about me everywhere.
[00:21:15] And this is the theme of the Book of Acts.
[00:21:18] Then we see these amazing pictures of Jesus ascension.
[00:21:22] After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching and they could no longer see him. And as they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white robed men suddenly stood among them.
[00:21:35] Men of Galilee. They said, why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven. But he will return from heaven in the same way you've seen him go. He is coming back. He's going to come back in the same way he left. He's coming back to this planet.
[00:21:53] And when we take hold of the significance of this new life of being a believer filled with the Spirit in Christ, the eternal power of his resurrection through the Holy Spirit, this should inspire us to obey his command that says, go and make disciples. There was the last thing Jesus said as he was rising to heaven was go make disciples of every nation or nationality, teaching them to obey everything that I've been teaching you.
[00:22:22] Romans 8:11 says that the Spirit of God who raised Christ from the dead lives in you.
[00:22:28] And just as God raised Christ from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by the same Spirit living within you.
[00:22:38] Jesus lives in the lives of his people today, even as he did back in the days of the beginning of the church.
[00:22:44] And it's by the same Holy Spirit that He says that he lives in the innermost being of us today.
[00:22:51] Because Jesus ascended into heaven, he could then send the Holy Spirit to empower us to be the witnesses that he's commanding us to be.
[00:23:01] You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. And you will be my witnesses.
[00:23:06] And when we receive the power, we can be confident that we will be effective witnesses.
[00:23:14] We can do this as God's people.
[00:23:17] Jesus said, if you love me, you will obey My commandments. And when we have received this power, Jesus becomes more than just a savior. He becomes the Lord of our lives.
[00:23:30] He's in first in every aspect of our lives. Is Jesus Lord of your life this morning?
[00:23:39] Because he needs to be Lord of our lives.
[00:23:42] Acts 16. So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?
[00:23:53] They did not understand.
[00:23:54] They had an agenda in their minds about how this whole thing was unfolding.
[00:24:00] They had no idea what was going on.
[00:24:02] All this stuff, Jesus popping in and out, and they're still asking this question that their agenda was not what Jesus agenda? And oftentimes I think our agenda is not God's agenda. We need to get God's agenda into our hearts and follow God's agenda. Lean not on our own understanding, but trust in the Lord and do good.
[00:24:23] These disciples didn't understand until they were baptized with the Holy Spirit and the light come on.
[00:24:29] And when they were baptized with the Holy Spirit, they went from being men and women who were hiding behind locked doors for fear of the Jews to being men and women willing to stand and proclaim the gospel message to anyone that would listen, regardless of the cost.
[00:24:45] They went from being men and women who had their minds set on what they could see to having their minds set on heavenly things. Jesus became Lord of their lives.
[00:24:58] They were being transformed.
[00:25:01] Their minds were being renewed.
[00:25:03] And it was no longer my will be done, but it was Lord, your will be done.
[00:25:09] And when we are trusting Jesus Christ as Lord as well as Savior, he enables us to live and speak as faithful witnesses.
[00:25:22] When Jesus is Lord of our lives, oops, our priorities change.
[00:25:28] Jesus, Lord of your life.
[00:25:31] He has to be Lord of our lives.
[00:25:34] I stop and I take stock in my own life. At times, I think we all need to do this because of the seasons of life, the busynesses of life.
[00:25:44] The circumstances of life can get us and can pull us off track, or, you know, it can get us distracted. The cares and concerns of this world.
[00:25:53] We can all be deceived.
[00:25:56] And there's, you know, are things okay in our life or do we just think they're okay?
[00:26:03] We can be deceived. And we need to do as the proverb says here, Guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
[00:26:12] Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.
[00:26:18] And the NIV says, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
[00:26:22] Guard our hearts. We need to be sensitive to the condition of our hearts, and we need to pay attention to the condition of our hearts.
[00:26:30] You know, I ask this question to myself. I try to keep sensitive to this because when I'm feeling dissatisfied, I'm struggling or having a hard time getting motivated about my responsibilities, you know, around here, at the church or around home, you know, I try to take stock. And if that doesn't shake me up or if that doesn't get me to the place where I'm saying, okay, Lord, your will be done. In my life, it's time for me to humble my soul with fasting. And fasting is a powerful tool that God has shown us the scriptures that he was having us do. It's a hard thing to do, but it's effective. Bringing my body, my soul, into submission of my spirit, where my spirit is the dominant part of my being.
[00:27:11] Search me, O God, and draw me, Lord, into your presence is a prayer I pray because we can't do it. Nobody comes to the Father unless he draws them. And we need to be leaning on the Lord for our condition.
[00:27:27] We have got to throw off the lie that says that it's okay that we don't say anything ever.
[00:27:34] That is not true. To go make disciples, we need to be saying something.
[00:27:39] How do they hear unless someone preach?
[00:27:42] Jesus wants us to Share what he's done in our lives and he's done for us. Because there is no other people in the world that can, you know, or there's many people in the world that are searching for truth. And when you have the truth, Jesus says, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. When the truth is living within you.
[00:27:59] Shame on us if we're not sharing the truth. Because you know, there's a lot of people searching for the truth. You may run into five people that don't want anything to do with the truth, but the sixth one may be right there, just ripe for the picking. And Jesus has been leading them to this encounter with you. And as you share the truth with them, the light comes on and, man, away we go. There's nothing more exhilarating than to share our faith in what Jesus has done in our life and see it affect somebody to the positive.
[00:28:29] Matthew 9:37 says that he said to his disciples, the harvest is great, but the workers are few.
[00:28:35] So pray to the Lord of the harvest who is in charge of the harvest. Ask him to send more workers into his field.
[00:28:42] So praise God right there.
[00:28:44] You know, like, our job is to go and make disciples.
[00:28:48] That's my accountability between God and I, I'm out there. There's nobody else out there. It's like, lord, I'm all alone. He says, pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest. Ask him to send more workers into his field.
[00:29:04] He will send workers. That's praying according to God's will. And he says, when we pray according to his will, he will hear that prayer. And so let's go and make disciples and let's pray for workers of the harvest. Just imagine how fast and how the church would grow if each one of us went out and made a disciple right there. This church, double this building would be. And one Sunday would be not near big enough, and we'd have to preach five sermons on a Sunday.
[00:29:37] That'd be exhausting.
[00:29:43] We need to be praying for workers.
[00:29:45] I needed to hear what Jesus did for me from people that were out there aggressively making disciples, sharing their faith. I needed to hear that. And that is how I responded to the gospel message, by listening to what God had done in somebody else's life. We have to be willing and we have to recognize that it is the Holy Spirit that empowers us to do this. We're not doing this on our own, you know, we can't use being afraid. I don't understand. I'm not sure we can't Use those excuses because it's the Holy Spirit that empowers us to do this.
[00:30:22] And he says, you know, we will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on us. Oh, where am I at?
[00:30:33] You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. He gives you what you need to be the witness.
[00:30:40] From the time Jesus ascension until now, the Holy Spirit has been filling believers who are living their lives to do the work that he has assigned for them to do.
[00:30:50] Do not leave Jerusalem, he said, until the Father sends the gift he promised. As I told you before, people need to hear what Jesus has done for them in the world, that he died for them.
[00:31:06] Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. And when they saw him, they worshiped him.
[00:31:15] But some doubted. It's like, what, what are they doubting? He's standing right there, you know. And then he ascended. I wonder if that cleared up their doubt.
[00:31:24] Should have made a little bit of an impact on them.
[00:31:29] The message Jesus gave them just before ascending to heaven, he says, Jesus came and he told his disciples, I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to ob all the commands I have given you, and be sure of this. I am with you always, even to the end of the age. We are not doing this alone. I am with you even to the end of the age.
[00:31:59] You know, we see amazing things.
[00:32:02] It's when we're out there making disciples, that's where we're going to see signs and wonders. As in Mark 16, it talks about that they went forth and they preached the gospel and it says, God confirmed what they were saying with signs and wonders. The signs and wonders are not just for us to be in here and seeing God do miracles. The signs and wonders, like Christianity, this is not a religion here. This is a life.
[00:32:29] This is a, you know, this is the faith. This is God. This is God's people. This isn't, you know, just a religion. You do what's right and everything, you'll be accepted. This is life. And when we go out and we proclaim that Jesus has risen, and then Jesus does miracles in their wonders, and then you explain the gospel to him, you think people are going to respond. I think they will. And that's where you're going to see miracles. When you get bold enough that you're going to say, okay, I'm going to go make disciples.
[00:33:01] Jesus did not say, maybe Think about going out someday and, you know, if it all works out, maybe try and make a disciple here and there, you know, maybe go out when you retire. Wait till you retire. You're way too busy right now.
[00:33:18] And he says, well, you know, maybe when your kids grow up, you're just too busy right now. I understand.
[00:33:25] And he says, go and make disciples right now, you know, and what does that look like?
[00:33:32] I will maybe talk about that more at the end here. We'll see where it goes because it sure came up the last sermon when I wasn't following my notes. But the world needs us to be that witness that Jesus says that we are to be. They need it. It is our calling before God as a church to equip you to be able to go out and do the work of the ministry. And that's what I mentioned with Darren's class on Wednesdays at 7 o'. Clock. He's working at that. And there's going to be more to follow of equipping you to go out and do the work of the ministry.
[00:34:03] It's our calling before God to do that. John 15:19 says, as it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. You should have this verse memorized by the time I'm done. This message here, eh?
[00:34:18] Jesus never had the New Testament to teach his disciples. He used the Old Testament to emphasize that he was the Messiah that Israel had been waiting for.
[00:34:31] And he says, when I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.
[00:34:40] And how he is turning now, he's turning the reins over to the disciples at this time to be the leaders of the church. Jesus life on earth was finished. But really the work had only just begun. The disciples are now assuming the responsibility to carry on Jesus work.
[00:34:58] And today our responsibility is to carry on that work, to continue to carry on that work.
[00:35:05] So what do they do now? Jesus is gone. He's leaving them. Okay, where do they go from here? Where do they start? Where do we start from this morning? Okay, it's been made clear we're to go and make disciples. God has baptized us. If you've been baptized with the Holy Spirit, he's empowered you to be the witness you need to be. Okay, what does that look like? Well, Jesus first command to them was, when you go, do not leave Jerusalem until you receive power from on high.
[00:35:35] They were not to engage in ministry until they had been empowered by the gift that the Father had promised.
[00:35:41] And are we.
[00:35:43] As we read words like this in the Scriptures, we're reminded of the great history of the church that has preceded us for the past 2000 years.
[00:35:54] The church would never have made it to this point without the empowering Holy Spirit making in us the helping us to be the witness that we've needed to be.
[00:36:06] It has been going on for 2000 years up till today, and it's not stopping today. And it did not stop 10 years ago. It didn't stop way back when the apostles were on the planet. It's been going on. And Jesus taught his disciples what God had done for them. The disciples had taught people in their generation what God had done for them. And we are to teach what God has done for us going and making these disciples.
[00:36:32] And it's been done all the way up to today.
[00:36:35] And you and I have the opportunity and the responsibility to be a witness of what Jesus has done for us.
[00:36:43] And in this case, the gift is not just the Gospel in general, but this specific coming of the Holy Spirit is to empower the believer to do the work that Jesus has assigned us to do.
[00:36:57] Jesus had talked about it in a number of places, and we can see it in the Gospels. Now. I'm just going to pick out one of these, and it's John 14:16. And I will ask the Father and He will give you another advocate who will never leave you.
[00:37:12] He is the Holy Spirit who leads you into all truth. The world cannot receive him because it is not looking for him. And it doesn't know him or recognize Him. But you know him because he lives with you now and later will be in you.
[00:37:28] No, I will not abandon you as orphans. I will come to you soon. The world will no longer see me, but you will see me. And since I live, you will also live.
[00:37:39] When I am raised to life again, you will know that the Father is in that. I am in the Father, and you are in Me. And I am in you. Those who accept My commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I love this. And I will love them and reveal Myself to each of them. Has Jesus revealed Himself to you?
[00:38:07] You know he says he will.
[00:38:10] You know we have an assurance. That's a supernatural assurance of knowing that I know that I know I'm going to be going to heaven because Jesus is my Lord and Savior. And he has shown Himself to me. He has revealed Himself to me. It says that and I will love them and reveal myself to each one of them. Has he revealed himself to you?
[00:38:29] Do you have the power?
[00:38:32] Believers are not somewhat. Or believers are somewhat divided on this term. The baptism of the Holy Spirit. And that's not where I'm going with this message here this morning. But the spirit baptism, you know, it is where the believers were at this time. When Jesus ascended, told them to go, wait. Ten days later, they were all baptized with the Holy Spirit. And they spoke in tongues.
[00:38:57] The coming of the Holy spirit took place 10 days after Jesus ascended. And the only way that we can fulfill Christ's command to be witnesses can be that he's calling us to be is to be under the power and control of the Holy Spirit, who energizes us for service.
[00:39:14] We cannot carry on the Lord's work in the flesh. It would have never got this far.
[00:39:20] John 15:5 says that, yes, I am the vine and you are the branches. Those who remain in me and I in them, will produce much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing.
[00:39:32] I want to close with this story. It's imagine a small town after a massive storm.
[00:39:38] The power lines are down, the homes are dark, the businesses are closed.
[00:39:43] Sounds like Covid.
[00:39:46] Hospitals are on generators. Everyone has equipment that they need, but there's no power flowing through it, the lines. And then one day, the power company finishes its work. The lines are restored, the switch is flipped. Suddenly the lights come on in the homes, refrigerators hum, schools are reopened, communication is restored. And nothing in those buildings changed, except that all of a sudden, the power was connected.
[00:40:13] Before Jesus ascended, the disciples were like this small town.
[00:40:18] They had heard Jesus teaching. They had seen the miracles, the signs, the wonders. They seen people being raised from the dead. They seen the blind healed, the lame walk. They seen amazing stuff.
[00:40:31] They had seen the resurrection.
[00:40:34] And they had received the great commission to go and make disciples.
[00:40:39] But Jesus said, do not leave Jerusalem until you receive power from on high.
[00:40:46] Wait in Jerusalem. The ascension was not Jesus leaving the mission of what he was doing. It was Jesus taking his place as king so that the Holy Spirit could be sent to every believer. And at Pentecost, the power came on Chapter two of Acts. And when it did, ordinary people spoke with boldness.
[00:41:10] Fearful disciples became courageous witnesses. The message moved from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the world.
[00:41:21] And so the question that I'm raising this morning, are you connected to the power?
[00:41:26] Have you been baptized with the Holy Spirit?
[00:41:31] Do you have the power?
[00:41:35] But you will Receive power.
[00:41:40] When the Holy Spirit comes on you.
[00:41:43] And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
[00:41:55] You know, when I. That week that I went to the Capri here, and the preacher asked, you know, a couple of questions, and one of them was, he says, you're a Christian. And I just thought, yeah, I'm a Christian, because mom went to church and we went to Christmas services, I don't know, three times in my lifetime. So I knew about God and I believed in God. I believed in Jesus.
[00:42:18] He says, you're a Christian? I said, yeah. And he says, if you died tonight. And he's saying this to the crowd, and I'm answering myself, he says, if he died tonight, do you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, you'd go to heaven?
[00:42:30] And I thought about that, and I thought, wow, I don't know that for sure. And he says, you know, if you can't answer that question, you know, you may not be a Christian and you may want to get your life right with God. And that was the night I went forward in that song, just as I am.
[00:42:43] God doesn't expect us to be so good because at our very best, still deserves hell.
[00:42:52] You know, we're a fallen society. We're a fallen human beings.
[00:42:58] Everything is because of what Jesus did. He suffered, he died. He rose from the dead, and he sent His Holy Spirit to live within us so that we could be saved from our sins.
[00:43:09] And with that, I would have us stand.
[00:43:12] And I want to just give an opportunity to you. I'm going to pray a prayer.
[00:43:17] You know that most of us have prayed in our lives as believers of asking Jesus to come into our lives and be Lord of our lives. But, you know, sometimes as believers, we need to recommit our lives to Christ.
[00:43:28] We're all the same, you know, we're not any different. You know, we go up and we go down, and spiritually we're on fire. And then spiritually, we're kind of dull. We're all the same sometimes, you know, I recommit my life to Jesus, man. I don't know every day a lot. And I think we need to do that, guarding our hearts. Maybe you don't know Jesus. Maybe you've never asked Jesus to be lord of your lives, to come into your life. It's real.
[00:43:54] He says that, you know, as we believe in him, it's a crazy thing in our world, saying, okay, show me and I'll believe it. Jesus says, you believe in me and I'll show you like the kingdom of God is just not like us.
[00:44:06] And so if you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I want to introduce you to him. And if you would come down here and let me introduce you to him after we pray and dismiss the service, I would love to do that. You'll find out how real he is when I introduce you to him.
[00:44:22] And so let's pray, Father. We thank you, Lord God, for the grace and the power of your Holy Spirit that you have sent Father God, for us to be able to walk out the walk that you've set in front of us. That is so humanly impossible. But you have set the Holy Spirit within us that we could be witnesses. We receive power, Lord, when that Holy Spirit comes on us. And so, Lord, we receive that power in Jesus name, Lord, I just. And I'm going to pray with you that maybe don't know Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Pray with me. You know, you can pray quietly, you can pray, just scream it to the roof if you want.
[00:44:59] Lord Jesus, come into my life.
[00:45:03] Forgive me for all my sins and the wrong things maybe that I've ever done, I've ever thought I've ever said.
[00:45:10] Forgive me, Lord, for my sins.
[00:45:13] Come into my life and be Lord of my life. I commit my life to you.
[00:45:17] And from this day forward, I'm going to live for you, Jesus.
[00:45:21] Amen.
[00:45:23] If you prayed that prayer, I want to really encourage you. If you're not coming forward, I want to encourage you to pick up that card, connect card and fill that out and hand that in so that we can follow up with you. Because you don't just say a prayer and then everything's done.
[00:45:36] That's the beginning. You need to learn how, okay, how does this all work? And we can help you to start reading the scriptures and we can train you up in the way that you should go as far as the discipleship.
[00:45:47] If you prayed, you know, recommitted your life to Christ, praise God. Take that card if you, you know, there's so many areas of ministry in a church, sign up.
[00:45:55] They all help you grow in your faith.
[00:45:57] So I remind you guys, sign up for that men's breakfast too, because that's. It's going to get full by the looks of it.
[00:46:07] So, Lord, we thank youk.
[00:46:09] Bless your people as we go. Father God, we thank you for the empowerment as we go forth. Give us wisdom. Help us to be as wise, Lord, as serpents, as harmless as doves.
[00:46:19] We commit our lives to you and we just pray Lord God your will be done in our lives. In Jesus name, amen. Go and make disciples.
