Plugging Into The Power Series

We have seen some incredible miracles in our church over this past year.

Now, even in the midst of the miracles God is doing though,

there are still difficult things going on

in society at large,

in the church as a whole, and

in people’s individual lives.

There are all kinds of things that seem to be not working properly or in fact, broken.

How do things get fixed?

Transition

Back when Jesus was on earth, the Disciples

got to see Him do some amazing things and

to be part of some amazing healings as well.

Even though God used the disciples to

heal people of sickness and

drive out demons,

they faced some difficult times as well. Times where things did not seem to be working properly or in fact broken.

They thought when Jesus came, He would fix everything himself.

Then when Jesus was crucified and killed, they got really scared.

They ran off and hid, just like we do sometimes when things get hard.

But then they saw Him alive again.

“This is unbelievable! He is alive. Everything is going to be great again.”

Jesus is around for 40 days talking with the Disciples and others.

But right before He ascends into heaven, the Disciples have a question for the Lord. It is a question that we have sometimes too.

Introduce Acts

We are beginning a new series today in the book of Acts. Even though the church universal has been around for about 2,000 years, we here at Hickory Creek are a lot like a brand new church and we can learn a lot from the early church in how we might be effective for the Kingdom.

As we go forward in making plans to expand our facility, we still must remember to keep our focus on what the church is all about,

It is about ministering to and loving people,

The people of God, Christians who are part of this church

The people of God, Christians who God brings to this

church

And the people in our community that need to receive Jesus as their Savior so they can be Christians.

To help us do that, we are going to be looking at various passages in

Acts 1 and 2 (p. 770)

Slide 2

Through these first 2 chapters of Acts, we get to see some of the

essential things that we need in order to effectively be used by God.

So in the beginning of Acts 1, Luke gives a recap of his gospel to Theophilus, the patron who probably supported Luke in his writing of these books.

Jesus tells them to wait for the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem and then the Apostles ask this question found in Acts 1:6

Acts 1:6

6 So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"

Basically they are saying, Lord things are kind of messed up here with your people.

They were not free. They were under Roman rule.

Their religious leaders were hypocrites.

Many people’s faith was in name only

There were people who would like to see the Apostles dead

People cared more about appearance before men than before God.

Things were messed up.

Do you ever feel that way about our own society or your own life maybe, that things are messed up?

People don’t really care about what God wants, they care about what they want.

We see many who seem to live hypocritical lives.

We have relationships with people who sometimes would like to do us harm

There are people, maybe even some here today, who care more about what people think about them, than what God thinks about them.

Don’t you ever want to ask God,

God, when are you going to fix things?

That is what the disciples were asking.

Let’s take a look at how Jesus replied to this question.

Acts 1:7-11

7 He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."

The Apostles asked Are YOU going to fix things to Jesus?