The Journey Of Church Series

The Adventure of Church

Acts 1:1-11

© 2007 Eric Bain

NOTE: This sermon is available in audio format @ www.sanctuary-church.com

Big Idea - The journey of Church is an adventure into the known… unknown.

Open up your Bibles to the book of Acts.

• It’s the first book after the 4 Gospels

• It’s found on page ______

A little BACKGROUND:

The book of Acts was written by Luke.

• Now, we studied a good chunk of the book of Luke last fall

• And you may remember that the Gospel of Luke was actually written to a guy named Theophilus

• Luke wrote to Theophilus so that he could know for certain… that what he had been taught about Jesus was true.

• You may also remember, that Luke never actually knew Jesus, personally.

• Rather, Luke had to go about the process of investigating the facts… and interviewing the eye witnesses… so that Theophilus could trust what he wrote. And that’s why I think the Gospel of Luke is one of the best Gospels for us to read today.

o Cause none of us knew Jesus personally

o And we want to know the facts

o And so Luke can kind of be trusted as our own personal historian

Nonetheless, in the Gospel of Luke… Luke wrote about the story of Jesus…

o And it covered that story from before Jesus was actually born, until after...

o He died on the cross

o Rose again

o Presented himself to his followers… convincing them that he really was alive…

o And then he was taken up into heaven

… and that’s where the story left off.

But now, we’re reading Luke’s second book… The book of Acts

*** PRAY ***

ACTS 1:1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.

So, as we begin this second book, it’s almost as if we’re watching the introduction… to the sequel of movie.

• Think… Indiana Jones…

• Or maybe think of the introduction to the next season of Jack Bauer (24)!

Either way, Luke let’s us know that once again, he’s writing to Theophilus. And we see that the story picks up pretty much where the previous story left off… only there’s a bit of overlap….

• But note this, he builds up some anticipation. And he does that by letting us know that what Jesus did during his life on earth… well, that was just the beginning!

In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and teach

o There’s a whole new adventure ahead.

o I mean, you thought that first story that climaxed with Jesus dieing on a cross… and then coming back to life… You thought that story was great! That was just the beginning!!!

o Because Jesus is alive and well…

• He’s still doing something!

But another interesting detail…

• Luke tells us… that it took a lot of convincing for Jesus to prove that he was alive!

o We forget… the disciples weren’t expecting Jesus to die (in the first place)!

o But then, when he did… There was no doubt that he was dead! I mean trust me, the Romans knew how to kill people!

o So you can imagine, when Jesus comes back to life… it took a lot of convincing for Jesus to demonstrate that it was really him… and that he was really alive!

And then the final thing that Luke tells us…

• Is that Jesus spent the next forty days… teaching his followers about the Kingdom of God

o Why did he do that? I mean, he had just got done spending roughly 3 years with these people… teaching them about the Kingdom of God… So, what’s the point of these forty days?

o Well, apparently, even though the Apostles had spent years with Jesus, there were some things that they just didn’t understand.

Let me read to you a portion from the very last chapter of the Gospel of Luke. Here Luke tells us about the first time that Jesus appeared to the Apostles…

LK 24:36 While the Apostles were standing around talking, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."

LK 24:37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 Jesus said to them, "Why are you troubled?... Why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It’s me! Touch me!... A ghost doesn’t have flesh and bones."