On This Rock (Part Two)
Text: Acts 1:1 – 11
If you remember from last time we talked about how you can learn about something by looking at its origin or it’s beginning. And we’re looking at the Church. Last Sunday we saw how Jesus is the originator of the Church. He’s the founder so to speak. And He’s the One who is building His Church. And so last time we saw Jesus say to Peter and the other disciples that He will build His Church. Today; we’re going to get to see Jesus actually doing that. Last time He announced it, today we’re seeing Him do it.
So if you’ll take your Bible’s and open them up to Acts 1 we’ll begin (READ TEXT).
Now looking at the beginning of the Church is kind of like looking at our family history. I guess it’s been what… 8 years ago? Something like that, MJ could tell you… but about 8 years ago our family took a trip to Scotland. And it was amazing. We got to see where the McKinley family came from… we got to see the history, the places they were, the battle sites they fought at. Just to learn about our family was a great and awesome thing. And when we look at the Book of Acts, it’s kind of like doing the same thing. You see; we’re all brothers and sister in Christ, and these early Christians are our brothers and sisters as well… Sure they lived 2000 years ago, but they’re still our family.
Now before we dig in too far, let me give you a little background to the Book of Acts. It’s written by Luke. Yeah, the same guy who wrote the Gospel account of Luke. And Luke was actually a doctor… a physician. So he was educated, which is probably why he got along so well with Paul. They could relate to one another. And not only is he an educated, medical doctor… he’s connected. Because the whole reason he writes the Gospel of Luke, and the whole reason he writes the Book of Acts, is to give a detailed, historical account, specifically to a man named Theophilus. Now what we know about Theophilis is that he’s a Gentile… he’s got a Greek name, and he was probably a wealthy, successful, business man or government official, because it appears that he’s the one who’s assigned Luke to this task. And if you were to look at chapter one of the Gospel of Luke, he basically tells you why he’s doing what he’s doing. He wants to create a historical record of Jesus… what Jesus has done, and what Jesus is continuing to do. And so that tells us… that the Book of Acts, isn’t a philosophy text, it’s a history text. It’s a historical account, inspired by God, and written by Luke.
And so, in his Gospel account, Luke tells us about Jesus. He tells us that Jesus was born, that He did miracles, and that He traveled around preaching and teaching and healing the sick and casting out demons. And one of the most important verses in Luke’s Gospel is found in Luke 4:18 – 19 (READ).
And the reason this is so important is because it’s not only when Jesus declared Who He was… and it’s not only when He began His public ministry… but it’s important because of what He says. He says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.”
So Jesus stood in the synagogue and said, “I’m the promised Messiah and Savior you’ve been waiting for. I’m the One whose been promised by God… I’m here, and the Holy Spirit is on Me. The Holy Spirit is empowering this ministry. The Holy Spirit is working through Me.” And guess what? When Luke begins part two of his account to Theophilis… we see Jesus remind His disciples, “Wait for the promise of the Father, which He said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’”
So as Luke moves from Jesus’ life to the lift of Jesus’ people – the Church, he is going to let us know right up front, that the same Holy Spirit is still working, and still empowering, and still working through them… and through us!
So let’s back up and read through verses 1 – 5 again (READ).
Luke gives a real quick summary… I find myself wishing that more of those 40 days after the resurrection had been recorded, but we don’t have them. I think that was between Jesus and those 11 disciples… But what we do know is that Jesus, after the resurrection, He spent 40 days with these guys
Now we also know that during this time, around 500 people saw Jesus alive – we get that from the book of 1st Corinthians chapter 15. And just for the record… there is no court of law that would say Jesus wasn’t alive if 500 eye witnesses were brought forward and all of their testimonies agreed on what they saw. To deny the resurrection, is one of the most foolish and intellectually dishonest things that atheists do. And again… this is important. If Jesus is dead, our hope is dead. If Jesus is dead, our faith is in vain and useless. If Jesus is dead, we’re still in our sins. But He’s alive! He’s alive, and He’s just spent 40 days with His disciples, and right before He ascends into heaven, He tells them to wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit.
Now why does Jesus do that? Well… I don’t know about you, but if I had just spent 40 days with the resurrected Lord, I would want to run back to town and tell everyone I knew about this. I’d want to rush out, let everyone know… maybe get a book deal, and get a jump on the movie rights or something like that. But Jesus tells them, “No… you need to wait. You can’t do the mission I’m calling you to without the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. If you try to go out and do this in your own strength, you’re going to fail. You need the Holy Spirit.”
And then… as if to prove Jesus’ point that they needed the Holy Spirit, in verse 6 they ask Him, “Lord will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” Do you see what they’re asking here? This was one of the biggest misconceptions the disciples had about Jesus being the Anointed One, the Messiah… they though that He had come to defeat Rome, set on a throne in Jerusalem, and bring back a golden age to the nation of Israel. So they still don’t quite get it fully. They’re like, “Ok… wow Jesus, can we go and kick some Roman behinds now? Can we hang out and gets lots of milk and honey? Is that what’s going to happen now Jesus?”
And notice what Jesus says, “It’s not for you to know the times or the seasons.” In other words, Jesus is going to one day rule and reign on the earth. He will set on His throne… but no man knows the day or the hour. So He says to them, “It’s not for you to know when that will be… BUT… you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.”
Does anyone know what the fastest growing religion is in the United States? If you said Christianity, you’re way off… If you said Islam… you’re closer, but it’s not Islam… even though it’s growing faster than Christianity is… The fastest growing religion in the US is Wicca – Witchcraft. It’s doubling in size every 2 years. And do you know why so many people are converting to Wicca? Overwhelmingly when interviewed, Wiccan’s say they are looking for power. Of course they’re deceived. They’re believing a lie directly from Satan. It’s the same lie that he told Adam and Eve… “You want to be like God… eat the fruit.” But what people don’t understand is that all the powers of hell combined don’t even register when compared to the power of God. We’re talking about the God who created all things… We’re talking about the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. The Greek word there is “Dynamis” it’s where we get our modern word “Dynamite.”
And here’s the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian: A non-Christian can know things about the life of Jesus… they can even maybe admire Him and His teachings… but they can’t experience His power. But a Christian can! We can experience God’s power through the Holy Spirit when He comes to indwell you. And that happens the very instant you got saved. He came and set up residence inside you. The Bible tells us that we as Christians are the temple of the Holy Spirit. He lives in us. He indwells us. And what that means is that we as Christians are connected to the power of God because God the Holy Spirit lives within us.
Let me give you an example of how this works… Let’s say you were driving north through Iowa on your way to Minnesota. Maybe the Sooners or the Cowboys were playing the Golden Gophers and you were headed up to watch the game. And as you go through Iowa, the further north you go, you’ll notice something. You’ll drive through some small farming communities and they’re pretty nice. The lights will be on in the evening, you’ll see people watering their lawns and the streets have street lamps lit up… but then you hit Amish country… and it’s dark because they’re not connected to the power grid. Now they’re good Christian people, but they’ve chosen to live without any connection to the grid
They might be outside licking the harvest moon lolly or something like that… but there’s no electricity, they aren’t using a sprinkler system to water their lawns, there’s no street lamps.
And that electricity could be made available to them, but they’ve chosen not to be connected to it.
Some people live like that.
Now let me take just a second to explain something to you because there’s a lot of confusion here about something. In our text, Jesus has told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Later on in Acts chapter 4:8, and 4:31 Luke speaks of the disciples being “filled” with the Holy Spirit. Now really quickly… turn with me to John 20:19 – 22 (READ). So in the Gospel of John, we see Jesus saying “Receive the Holy Spirit” as He breathes on the disciples… in the Gospels and in Acts we see Jesus telling the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they are “baptized” with the Holy Spirit, and later on in Acts we see that the disciples are “filled” with the Holy Spirit. Now I’m not going to get into semantics here, because it doesn’t matter if you’re a full blown charismatic, or a full blown cessationist (meaning you believe the gifts of the Spirit have ceased with the death of the apostles), of if you’re somewhere in between. The point is that the disciples were told they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit… and there was a reason for this. Look at vs. 8 (READ).
They would be baptized with the Holy Spirit. They would receive power… So that they could be witnesses. The point is: If we are going to do the mission that Jesus has given to us as the Church, then we need the Holy Spirit! We need to be transformed and empowered by the Holy Spirit. We need the Holy Spirit to help us love Jesus, to live like Jesus, to be faithful and obedient to Him. We need the Holy Spirit to change us, through God’s Word, from the wretches that we were into a new creation. You see; that’s what the Bible teaches… it teaches that when you come to Christ, you’re not just a better version of what you were before, you’re a new creation!
Jesus tells them, they need this power, so that they can be witnesses for Him. That’s what the Holy Spirit does in the life of the Church right now. He comes, He empowers us to be witnesses for Jesus. And He does this in a lot of different ways. He convicts us of sin and righteousness. He brings us into all truth. He leads us. He guides us. He gives us strength to resist temptation. Paul says if we’re walking in the Spirit then we’re not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh. He gives us boldness to share the Gospel with the lost. He brings to our minds the Word of God that we’ve hidden in our hearts. Everything the Holy Spirit does, including the miracles, the signs, the wonders… they’re all for the purpose of glorifying God, building up the saints, and pointing the lost to Jesus Christ.
And if you’re a Christian, He is living inside of you right now. The problem is that we aren’t full of the Holy Spirit… we might be full of something else… but we’ve crowded out the Holy Spirit with other things in our lives. Just like we place other things on the throne of our heart where Jesus should be… we crowd our lives and our schedules, and our thoughts and minds, with all sorts of things and we’re not full of the Holy Spirit.
Let me show you real quickly how it all ties together. Turn with me over to Mark 12:30 (READ).
So we’re to love God with ALL our heart, soul, mind, and strength. How am I supposed to do that? Be filled with the Spirit… If the Holy Spirit is filling my heart, I don’t have room to love other things with my heart, and I can love God with ALL of my heart. If the Holy Spirit is filling my soul, then I don’t have time to let my soul be overwhelmed by the deceitfulness of riches and the cares of this world, and I can love God with all my soul… and if the Holy Spirit is filling my mind, I don’t have room to fill my mind with all the worldly garbage, and I can love God with ALL my mind. And If I’m a man who is full of the Holy Spirit… in my heart, soul, and mind… then I will love God with all my strength, because it’s all going to be directed at loving God, and serving God, and doing His will. Ok… so how are we filled with the Spirit? Well the Bible tells us… it tells us not to be drunk with wine, but to be filled with the Spirit, singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. We are to renew our minds with the Word…we’re to build one another up, and encourage one another… Basically what the Bible teaches over and over and over again is this: The “Spirit filled” Christian isn’t the one who has some mountain top experience and has this boost of Spiritual power that seeps out over time… No… the “Spirit filled” Christian is the one who is faithful in God’s Word, faithful in God’s Church, and faithfully witnessing about Jesus. Because remember – the purpose of the power – is to be a witness. If you’re not seeing God’s power in your life… if you’re not seeing God move in your life… ask yourself, “When is the last time I actually shared the Gospel with someone?” And understand, we’re not saying, “When was the last time I was nice to someone.” Or, “When was the last time I showed kindness to someone.” Or, “When was the last time I helped someone.” No… “When was the last time I shared the Gospel message with someone?”
We need the Holy Spirit, because THAT’S HOW Jesus builds His Church.
Closing
