Sermon Brief
Date Written: September 11, 2013
Date Preached: September 15, 2013
Where Preached: OPBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Series Title: A Series in Acts
Sermon Title: The Result of Obedience = The Church
Sermon Text: Acts 1:3-9 [HCSB]
3After He had suffered, He also presented Himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4While He was together with them, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise. “This,” He said, “is what you heard from Me; 5for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6So when they had come together, they asked Him, “Lord, are You restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?” 7He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by His own authority. 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9After He had said this, He was taken up as they were watching, and a cloud took Him out of their sight.10While He was going, they were gazing into heaven, and suddenly two men in white clothes stood by them. 11They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen Him going into heaven.”
Introduction:
Over the past 2 weeks we have looked at a very pivotal truth that we MUST absorb and apply to our Christian walk if we want to serve God as we should!
2 weeks ago we learned the basic truth that Before Victory Comes Obedience…
Now does anyone remember what we learned last week? Well, we learned about what obedience looks like for the believer… We learned that there are 2 parts TO obedience…
1st Part – Seek God’s instruction/guidance
A – Deny your own wisdom
B – Seek God’s wisdom
2nd Part – Trust in God’s instruction and put it into action!
So in the past 2 wks we have learned that if we want to see “victory” in our lives…if we want to see “victory” in our church…if we want to see “victory” in our ministries…
We learned that before VICTORY comes obedience and to be obedient we must seek God’s instruction… trust God’s instruction and put His instruction into action in our lives and in the life of our church!
To be obedient to God in His calling we must turn aside from our own wisdom and turn TO God’s wisdom… then we need to place our TRUST in God’s wisdom and guidance and put into action!
In essence this is what we see Jesus doing here in our passage this morning! He is calling for obedience by those who have followed Him for 3-½ yrs… He instructs them to NOT pursue their own wisdom here, but to defer to His instruction and trust in His instruction and VICTORY will come!
Let’s take a look at these verses this morning and let’s see how this applies to the church and how it applies to US as a fellowship as well!
Jesus IS Messiah! – v3
3After He had suffered, He also presented Himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
Jesus was ALL the disciples ever thought He was... We see in v3 Luke says that after Jesus died and resurrected that He showed Himself to the disciples with 'many convincing proofs'! Luke tells us that Jesus appeared to them over a period of 40 days after He resurrected.
For 3-1/2 years He had been leading them and teaching them, but I can just imagine that during these 40 days with Jesus AFTER the resurrection that the disciples learned more than all the time they had with Jesus before the Crucifixion.
WHY do you think that is? It is because Jesus had DIED and now was RISEN! It is because what they had believed in and hoped for before His crucifixion… what they were afraid they had lost when He was crucified...
What they had thought… what they had feared they had lost… It was NOW being proven true beyond any doubt to them – Jesus was everything they had thought He was! Jesus was the Messiah! Just as Peter had confessed in Matt 16:16(HCSB)16…“You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!”
There was NO longer any doubt in their minds… they knew who Jesus was… they now were beginning to understand where He was leading them!
Now today, for many in the church, we SAY we believe in Jesus! We confess Him as Messiah, just like Peter did, but we have trouble selling out… we have trouble following where He leads us! We have our doubts…
But today, as a church, our fellowship should have a new focus… Our church should be seeing a NEW life! You see, we have seen Jesus very evident in our church over the past several months… using our church to begin to reach youth in our community… and now beginning to use our church to reach an entire apartment complex… God is opening doors and is calling us to obedience!
Jesus has presented Himself to US here at Oak Park… we have seen Him move in a mighty way! He has made His presence known and we KNOW that He is in control! We KNOW Jesus is who He says He is…
The Disciples Seek Their Desire – Jesus sets them straight – v6-7
6So when they had come together, they asked Him, “Lord, are You restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?” 7He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by His own authority.
Now when Jesus had risen from the dead and had shown Himself to the disciples for over 40 days…AND the disciples had come to TRULY believe He was Messiah… we can see that they still didn’t FULLY understand what was about to happen!
In v6 they ask Jesus a question that reveals their desire… that reveals, both their understanding of Jesus and the desire of their heart!
It may seem like an innocent question, but look at what they say… “Lord are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time…” This reveals that they believed that the Messiah was an earthly king and that Jesus was going to rule here on earth… This reveals that they had NOT understood God’s plan and what Jesus came to do!
All their lives they had been taught that the Messiah was going to be an earthly king, and NOTHING Jesus taught them had changed their minds… “Lord are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel at this time…” In other words, Lord are things going to go back to where we feel comfortable… where we are in control!
I believe we have many sitting in our pews today that may harbor these same emotions and desires in their hearts! We have seen what Jesus is doing… we KNOW He is doing something wonderful, but many of us are wondering if God is going to restore Oak Park to its former glory…
I can almost HEAR your thoughts… IN FACT, I have fallen prey to those thoughts as well! I can truthfully say that I have thought how WONDERFUL it would be to get ‘back’ to what Oak Park looked like several years ago, but we CANNOT focus on the past… we cannot focus on what WE believe is the right result or direction!
God has instructed us and given us doors of opportunity over the past 18 months and we have seen Him revealed in a great way… but our focus CANNOT be that we are going to ‘restore Oak Park to its former glory’… It cannot be focused on that at ALL!
Our focus has to be on obedience to Christ in his guidance and in His calling! Now I want you to understand that NO ONE has come to me and told me ‘hey pastor, we just might get back to what we used to be…’ BUT I can guarantee you it is in the heart of MANY who sit in these pews!
Pastor, what is wrong with wanting to get back to what we used to be… what is wrong with wanting to restore a church that averaged 300-400 in worship and touched the community?
The problem is our focus… most of us are wanting to restore what WE had, what WE believe WE built… when their focus should be to zero in on what God wants and desires! We should not be focused on what was, but we should be willing to trust God in His instruction for a new victory that will come!
The disciples wanted the kingdom to be restored but they had NO idea what God had in store… We may want to see Oak Park restored to its former glory, but we have NO idea what God has in store if we will only be obedient to His instruction!
Jesus Gives HIS instructions for obedience – v4-5, 8
4While He was together with them, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise. “This,” He said, “is what you heard from Me; 5for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” … 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
JUST before He was to ascend back to the Father, Jesus calls the disciples to obedience & gives them some final instructions...
They were really very simple instructions, but they were important and they were to be followed if the disciples wanted to see victory.
Jesus did not tell them how things were going to go… Jesus did not give them detailed instructions on His plan… In fact Jesus had just told them that FULL knowledge of the plan belonged only to the Father and it was not their place to KNOW EVERYTHING, but it was their place to be obedient!
Jesus told the disciples to go back to Jerusalem… Now we need to understand the implication of this command by Jesus! Jerusalem is where Jesus was crucified and it was also the place these same disciples had gone into hiding the night of the crucifixion…
Now Jesus was calling them to go BACK to Jerusalem… how hard was THAT for these men! But not only did Jesus call them to go back to Jerusalem, He calls them to ‘wait’ on what God is going to do…
He calls them to wait until the Holy Spirit comes and baptizes them with His presence! Now we can surmise that because they did not understand fully who Jesus was and God’s plan… that they did not understand what Jesus meant at this point either!
Go back to the city where we are wanted and hide out until God sends us a sign… That had to be a really UNCOMFORTABLE plan for the disciples!
Now God has guided our church through some pretty tough waters over the past several years…
Now God has called us to penetrate our community and He has opened 2 very specific doors of opportunity for our fellowship! BUT… God has not laid out exactly what and how He wants us to do these things just yet…
We have our ideas about these things, but we must wait for God to guide us…! God has called us to several opportunities and what our focus needs to be is OBEDIENCE to His calling and NOT to the results or what the world deems as success!
Jesus revealed His power to the disciples and dispelled their misplaced desires and instructed them to trust in God’s plan… not to seek to do things themselves!
People we are called to do the same! Jesus has revealed his power to us by opening up these wonderful doors of opportunity for us to penetrate our community… It is His desire that we NOT seek our desire but stand firm in our trust of His guidance!
People if we want victory for our fellowship in this community our focus must FIRST be on obedience! When we are obedient, God is going bless us… that blessing may NOT look like what we THOUGHT it was going to look like…
The disciples thought the Kingdom was going to ‘look’ a certain way, but God had a totally different viewpoint and plan! Likewise, today we may think God’s blessing should take this form or that form based on our desires… but what our focus MUST be is obedience…
God IS going to honor our obedience with blessing… that blessing may not look like what we THINK it should look like but He is going to bless!
Jesus expects responsible actions on our part – v9-11
9After He had said this, He was taken up as they were watching, and a cloud took Him out of their sight.10While He was going, they were gazing into heaven, and suddenly two men in white clothes stood by them. 11They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen Him going into heaven.”
Finally this morning we can see that Jesus expects ACTION on the part of the disciples! He had shown His power, He had given His instructions, now He expected them to trust His instruction and put into action what He called them to do…
He called them to go and wait in Jerusalem for further instruction… when Jesus ascended into heaven, they all just stood there looking up with their jaws dropped and eyes fixated on Jesus as He rose into the clouds and disappeared!
The disciples were shell shocked… they had witnessed the Messiah for over 3 ½ years and now after He had given them instruction they see Him ascend up and out of their sight…
While they were staring… they were NOT acting! They were stunned and I am sure most of them were thinking WOW what is going to happen next? BUT, by standing around staring into the sky and wondering… they were not being obedient to what Jesus had instructed them to do!
God was calling on them to ACT! Now I know that the only instructions they had were to go to the city and wait on God… but they were NOT doing that! So we see 2 angels get their attention and basically tell them to get moving…
They said, ‘…why are you standing here, looking up at what just happened?” The implication was that Jesus gave you some instructions…what are you waiting for? Let’s get things moving!
Now for us today, we have seen where Jesus has opened many doors of opportunity for us here at Oak Park! These doors are standing WIDE open for us to step thru and DO be obedient to God’s calling! We know that God has called us to minster to and penetrate our community with the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
So, the question is NOT have we seen what God has done, but the question for us today is are we standing around and staring into the sky, wondering what is going to happen next?
God has called us to begin ministries… ministries focused on reaching our community! Are you ready and willing to become involved? Are you willing to step through the door of opportunity God has opened?
APPLICATION:
Now I can imagine you are sitting there wondering, “Preacher, I am willing, but HOW do I get involved? How do I get involved with the ministries that we have now OR the ministries God is leading us to start?”
First of all we have to know… ARE YOU WILLING? Are you willing to step out of your comfort zone?
Are you ready to begin to minister to people you DON’T know…
Are you ready to minister to people VERY much different than you…
Are you ready to minister to people who may make you uncomfortable…
Are you willing to minister to people you have convinced yourself that you cannot reach because there are so many differences!
We cannot focus on what our church is going to look like IF we obey God and reach our community! What we have to do is TRUST God and know that whatever God makes of this church… it is for HIS glory and not our own!
Are you ready to be a part of something that is going to change this community? Are you ready to get involved and see God work THRU you in reaching the lost for Christ?
Get involved…
Our youth ministry needs MENTORS! We need men of faith to step up and begin to mentor these young men! It does not matter if you have anything in common with them… show them the love of Christ we are preaching to them… let them see Gods love in action!
Our children’s ministry needs volunteers to help out with Children’s church and nursery duties… you may be thinking that you cannot do this OR that you have already served your time, but this is a door of opportunity we MUST step thru to be obedient to God’s leading on our fellowship!
Our Young Adult ministry needs you… the older generation to reach out to them… to accept them… to minister TO them! They need godly role models and mentors…
Our JoEllen ministry needs helpers… they need people willing to visit, willing to teach, willing to minister to those who may feel like life has turned its back on them…
Our Parc Fontaine ministry is just getting off the ground but we are already doing a Thur nite Bible study and we need volunteers to help out… to pray for the study… to volunteer to bring food… to encourage and support those leading and those taking part in the study!
We need volunteers to give homework help to kids afterschool! We want to begin a ministry to school children at least once per week where we offer help with their homework…we have teachers and retired teachers who can do this…
What about this Body & Soul ministry? Are you going to be willing to step up and support it? Take part IN it? Be willing to lead a part of it? The doors of opportunity are OPEN… are we going to be willing to step thru them?
We have ministries we don’t even KNOW what they are right now, but we are going to need human resources to make them happen… Are you willing? Are you going to step up and be a part of God’s movement here in our community?
Now today you have heard a real tough challenge… We all KNOW God is working in our church! We all know God has opened doors of opportunity for our church… are we going to stand idly by staring at what God HAS done, or are weA going to JOIN Him and start putting our faith into action?
I am calling on all Oak Park members to make a commitment to do three things this morning:
Acknowledge God’s activity in our fellowship… God is moving and leading us…
Acknowledge that God is calling us to ACTION...
Acknowledge your TRUST in God’s leading & get involved in a ministry today!
If you are here today and you do NOT know Jesus… you don’t have a saving relationship with Jesus… you have NOT experienced God’s saving grace in your life… I want to invite you to join me here at this altar!
Jesus has revealed himself to you today… through our service, through our people and through our worship, but especially through this message…
God has opened up a door of understanding of His love… of His desire to know you and save you! Are you going to answer His call today?
I call on YOU to step out… come pray with myself, Ben our Assoc pastor, Josh our Min of Outreach or any of our staff members… come and pray with us and we will share how you can come to know Jesus… how you can know His love and experience His grace and forgiveness!
As Bro Ken comes to lead us… I call on ALL here who are dealing with the convicting power of the Holy Spirit… come and surrender to God today!! Come as Bro Ken leads us in our hymn of invitation… I ask you to step out… and come!
