So over the last 3 weeks, we’ve looked at the Good News of the Gospel. We started with John 3: 16-17 and we looked at the reality of that place called Hell, and how it’s not Gods plan for any of us to go there. But we also looked at how some of us choose hell over heaven and how some people choose Satan’s temptations over Gods promises'
Now, here’s the thing: once you’ve responded to the message on a personal basis, once you’ve accepted Jesus into your life it doesn’t stop there. See John 3 16 was not intended just for you and me - its for you and me to share with the people all around us. And that’s why I’m excited, because Acts is one of the most exciting books in the NT
See, the whole key to the Book of Acts is taking the Gospel to where the people are really at. It's all about taking the Gospel to the streets. Acts teaches us how the early Christians lived out the teachings of Jesus and what they did with the Great Commission and with the baptism of the holy spirit
So, Acts shows us how to:
• Evangelize people.
• How to get them Established in churches.
• And Extend the church by reaching out to people and telling them about Jesus
The Book of Acts is the fulfillment of the great commission found in matt 28
GO ye therefore, and teach all nations...teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you...”
It is not the “Great Suggestion.” It is not a wish but a command. The first word of the job we’ve been give is “Go!” Just like the first two letters in the word “Gospel” are also “Go!” The two major activities of the Great Commission are “Going” and “Making Disciples.”
Now, there are 3 types of unconverted people in the world today (John 3:16-17):
1: Those who reject the Gospel.
2: Those who neglect (put off) the Gospel. (the 'let me think about it brigade)
3. Those who have never heard the Gospel.
Each of these groups of people will be lost and condemned. Why? because they chose not to believe in the Good News the Gospel. Because they didn’t want to know when someone said to them Jesus Loves You
The first two groups of people had the opportunity to hear the Gospel, but they rejected it or just plain neglected it. The third group of people will be lost because they didn’t hear the Gospel, they couldn’t respond to the message - because no one bothered to tell them…. See, God wants a church that includes people from every tribe and nation on the face of the earth. God’s plan to get the word out – to tell everyone Jesus loves You - is really very simple. He uses people like me and he uses people like you to take the message from one place to another and from one person to another, sharing the Gospel, one person at a time. And , we’ve already started doing just that. The reason most of you are here tonight is because someone else invited you. So that’s brings us back to Acts Chapter 1 verses 3-4
3 During the forty days after his crucifixion, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God.
Now watch this – here’s one of the ways He proved He was alive: v4 says he was eating with them. Have you ever heard of a ghost chowing down on a Big Mac and fries?...Only the living bother to eat dinner….
4 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.
Have you ever heard of the modern American prayer? It goes this way: “Lord, give me patience, and I want it right now.”
Patience is not a virtue that too many are big on today. We live in a world of frozen dinners, instant coffee,
instant cameras, freeway express lanes, cell phones, pagers, and beepers. Not many of us like to wait for stuff because when we’re busy waiting for something it reminds us we’re out of control.
So, we don’t like waiting in traffic, in line at the supermarket, at the airport, or especially when our computers don’t work fast enough.
People who hate to wait suffer from what I call “Hurry Sickness,” and hurry sickness is defined as having “an increased sensitivity to the passage of time.”
I believe that people suffering from Hurry Sickness die before their time.Here’s an experiment. You’ll need another person to help you with this. Give your helper a watch with a second hand. Sit down. Have your helper blindfold you. While blindfolded, try to guess how long a minute is.A person suffering from Hurry Sickness will call a minute in 20 seconds or less.
But people today have been in a hurry for so long they can’t remember when they wern’t . In my counseling sessions people talk to me about their plates being too full, about living in the fast lane, about not having enough hours in the day, and running a race even a rat couldn’t win.
They want to slow down. We all do but we’re afraid that if we do – our whole world will fall apart. The funny thing is, one day we’ll all slow down—permanently. And the world will go right on without us.
Hurry Sickness is especially prevalent among highly motivated, achievement-oriented people. It sets in by the age of 30 and gets worse with teach passing year!
So what happens if we don’t get our Hurry sickness treated? Well, we start to see the physical symptoms:we get ulcers, high blood pressure, tension headaches, high cholesterol, and a lowered resistance to disease. Until the day comes when we get the big pay off and we suffer our first heart attack.
Then there’s all the less obvious symptoms: anxiety, the frustrated spouse, the neglected children, the deteriorating spiritual life, and that bad temper.
You do more, work harder, run faster and wind up in an early grave.
Here’s the paradox: most of life is about waiting. Now most of us would rather do anything than wait. Some of us would even rather do the wrong thing than wait. But in reality we wait for all sorts of stuff – and it drivers us nuts
• Waiting for an appointment to see the doctor.
• Waiting to graduate.
• Waiting to be accepted in college.
• Waiting for your first job offer.
• How about waiting for the right time to start a family.
Or what about waiting for your loved ones to come to Christ.
• Or waiting for the Lord to bring the right man or the right woman into your life.
Waiting to find out what God wants you to do. Waiting for your prayers to be answered.
Waiting is one of the hardest parts of the Christian life. If you would like a fascinating Bible study, take your concordance this week and look up the word “wait.” Over and over again God’s people were told to wait.
Here’s just a few
Psalm 27:14, “Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.”
Psalm 37:7, “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him.”
When we are tempted to take things into our own hands,
Proverbs 20:22 says: “Do not say, ‘’I’ll pay you back for this wrong!’ Wait for the LORD, and he will deliver you.”
Isaiah 30:18 goes a bit further: “For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!”
Perhaps the most famous verse on waiting in all the Bible is Isaiah 40:31, “They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
So, with that as background lets go back to our text in —Acts 1:4.
“Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised
Here we're watching the last few days Jesus spent on earth. We are in that 40-day period between Christ’s resurrection and his ascension into heaven. Luke tells us that while Jesus and his guys were eating dinner the conversation turned to the future, to the time when Jesus would return to heaven and the disciples would be left with orders to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth.
It’s easy to imagine the excitement around the table.
• What do you want us to do, Lord?
• When do we get started?
• Let’s draft a master-plan and hit the road.
Jim, you and John get started on the mission statement.
Pete, work out a 10-year strategy and business plan
Matt - you’re an accountant, aren’t you? Run some numbers, let’s see how much money we’re going to need.
We’ve got to get the ball rolling.
Lord, where do you want us to begin?
His answer is shocking in its simplicity
“Don’t do anything yet.Go back to Jerusalem and wait there until the Holy Spirit comes.”
Here’s the thing I want you to see and understand. Since the apostles had to wait to receive the Holy Spirit before they could do the Lord's work, that shows us it's impossible to carry on His work in our own power.
You can make all the elaborate plans for ministry you want, you can preach all the sermons you want, you can raise all the money you want but without the power of the Holy Spirit behind you - you’ll be blowing smoke. And your work will be fruitless.
The apostles knew they needed the Spirit's power.When Jesus first commissioned them to spread the gospel,
He said, "It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaketh in you" (Matt. 10:20).
In Luke 12:12 the apostles were told there would come a day when the Spirit would speak through them.
John 14:17 says that the Holy Spirit was already with the disciples, but that later on He would be in them. See, there’s a word of difference between having the power of the Holy spirit with you and having his power IN you. Before the day of penetecost in Acts 2, people weren't indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Instead, God sent the Spirit on specific occasions to do a special work through someone. For example, the Holy Spirit descended on King Saul [1 Sam. 11:6] and departed from him when the job was done
Here’s the promise in v 5 "For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."
Before Jesus began His public ministry, John the Baptist said of Him,
"I baptize with water; but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not.... he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is he who baptizeth with the Holy Spirit. And I saw, and bore witness that this is the Son of God" (John 1:26, 33-34).
Jesus is the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit,and the disciples had to wait in Jerusalem until He sent the Spirit from heaven.
"Ye shall receive power, after the Holy Spirit is come upon you."
Before receiving the Holy Spirit, the apostles were powerless to carry out Christ's unfinished work. The Greek word translated "power" (dunamis) is where we get the English word dynamite. Every spirit filled Christian is packed with power for the Holy Spirit is like dynamite! Some Christians feel they are lacking in power and if you feel like that, it's not God's fault. The power is within you. All you need to do is turn on the ignition switch'
How is that done? Ephesians 5:18 says, "Be not drunk with wine, in which is excess, but be filled with the Spirit."
A simple way to illustrate the filling of the Spirit is with Alka-Seltzer tablets. Within each tablet is a concentrated form of medication that gets released when put into a glass of water. Likewise, the Person of the Holy Spirit is like a concentrated form of energy within you. The power is in you, but you need to release it and allow it to permeate your life.To live a Spirit-filled life means to yield yourself to the control of the Spirit.
In the Bible, the word filled is primarily used in connection with a particular attitude. It is used to speak of being filled with rage, anger, sorrow, or faith. Whatever the person is filled with overrides all their other emotions or attitudes. Someone filled with sorrow is overwhelmed with sorrow. Someone filled with the Spirit is allowing the Spirit to control his life. It's one thing to possess the Spirit, yet another to be filled by it.
If you want it – just call out and ask for it!
Now, I’m sure this must be catching some of you on the blind side and that’s OK – we haven’t got to chapter 2 yet….
Back to the disciples at dinner. Jesus instruction must have come as a major surprise to them too .
Here’s a crucial insight: when God wants to reach the world, his first step is to tell his people to slow down and wait for him. When the time comes, he’ll give them the signal to move out. Until then, go back home and wait on the Lord.
This raises a question. Why did the disciples have to wait for what God had already promised them Why couldn’t they just “name it and claim it?” From this text—and from the Bible as a whole—we discover some reasons why God often tells his people to wait on him.
#1 To rearrange our priorities
Acts 1:4 says that Jesus commanded the disciples to stay in Jerusalem. I imagine that was the last place many of them wanted to be. After all, this was the city where Jesus had been crucified. The men who put him death a few weeks earlier were still in power. Jerusalem was no longer a safe city. If you were a follower of Jesus,
anyplace on earth was safer than Jerusalem. Getting out of town was not a bad idea.
But Jesus commanded them to stay.
See, here’s the thing: when you’re serving Jesus timing is everything. Rushing off into the fray gets you nowhere if Jesus isn’t leading. Their duty was to follow, not to lead.
By staying in Jerusalem Jesus forces them to confront their fears and quells their budding enthusiasm. Waiting is hard for any of us who want to make things happen.
There are times in life when God says,“Slow down. You’re going too fast. I don’t want you in the fast lane right now. Get off at the next exit and let’s talk it over.” When that happens our response is usually, “Go ahead and talk, Lord, while I drive down the road.” Suddenly another hand takes the wheel
and we find ourselves heading toward the exit. It is the hand of God using the circumstances of life to get our full and undivided attention.
Have you ever wondered why God doesn’t speak to you more clearly? Could it be because you’re going so fast that you can’t hear his voice?
Waiting rearranges our priorities, slows down our schedule, and forces us to listen to God.
#2 To test our faith
Jesus gave specific instructions in three areas:
• He told them what to do—Wait.
• He told them where to do it—in Jerusalem.
• He told them what to wait for—the coming of the Holy Spirit.
But he didn’t tell them how long to wait. They had no idea whether they should wait a week, a month or a year, Some of you are in the same place right now. You’re waiting and you don’t know how much longer you can hold out. You feel like giving up and walking away from your dreams. You wonder if prayer is a waste of time because God has not answered your petitions. Maybe you’ve been waiting for months or years already and deep inside you feel like giving up.
Remember Abraham and Sarah who waited 25 years after the promise for the birth of Isaac. Remember also what happened when in a moment of weakness they took matters into their own hands and Ishmael was born (see Genesis 16).
Pastor Ed there waited 30 years before he got to teach bible School. Know what people call him now?
The Bible Man – or the Bible teacher
God makes us wait so that our faith will be put to the test. Very soon the disciples would be asked to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. They would get given great responsibilities. Great things would be expected of them and even great things would be required of them. See, they didn’t know that in just a few days 3000 people would be converted at one time (Acts 2). So, just to make sure that they didn’t think that everything depended on them, God makes them wait.
As the days go on, the disciples learn that the Holy Spirit cant be bought or sold,cant be manipulated, and cant be commanded by human will. Jesus knew that without the power of the Spirit everything else they did would be in vain
“Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty” (Zechariah 4:6).
But with the Spirit all things were possible. The Holy Spirit would show them the truth, anoint their preaching,
and through them - draw people to Jesus
Now, we all have to get to that same place of utter helplessness. But before we can experience the fullness of the Spirit, God wants to bring you to the place where you know that you don’t know. He arranges your life
so that you understand that you don’t understand. He wants to bring you to the end of your resources, your abilities and your ropeso that you have to put your trust in Him and in Him alone.
Waiting purifies our motives because in the long hours while we wait, our pride crumbles and we realize that everything depends on God.
one reason your prayers are not always answered the first time you pray. You have to learn to stop have to taking God for granted and treating him like a celestial slot machine where we insert a prayer and out comes an answer.Or – if we line up all the cherries – a blessing
Because God is our Heavenly Father he makes us wait so that our gratitude has time to increase. Here’s a thought you may never have considered. When God puts you in a position of waiting on him, the answer almost always surprises us.
In Acts 1 the Lord Jesus told the disciples to wait for the promise of the Father—the coming of the Holy Spirit.
For days on end they prayed, “O Lord, send the Holy Spirit.” They prayed in small groups—"O Lord, send the Holy Spirit.” They probably lifted their hands and prayed, “O Lord, send the Holy Spirit.”
Now they knew something about the Holy Spirit from the Old Testament—and they knew a bit more from the words of Jesus but they really didn’t know what they were praying for. The had no idea of what was about to happen on the Day of Pentecost.
I can imagine a conversation.
“How much longer do we have to pray?”
• “I don’t know.”
“Well, how are we going to know when the Holy Spirit comes?”
• “I don’t know.” “
What if the Holy Spirit comes and we don’t know it?” “
• Stop talking and start praying.”
So there they were on the Day of Pentecost—praying, no doubt—not knowing when the Holy Spirit would be sent.
One disciples says to another, “Hey, there’s fire coming out of the top of your head.”
• “What?
Hey, your head’s on fire too.”
Then came a noise like a mighty rushing wind. Suddenly one of them started talking in Greek, another in Median, another in Parthian,another in Egyptian, another in the dialect of Cappadocia—and none of them knew any of those languages (See Acts 2:1-13)
It was a wild scene in that room as the Holy Spirit came . Their prayers were answered—but not in a manner that they expected
The people who saw it thought the disciples were drunk.
They weren’t drunk at all, they were filled with the Holy Spirit of God.
He’s the God of great surprises. He makes us wait so that He can surprise us in the future and increase our gratitude when the answer finally comes.
Jesus told those assembled disciples two things that must have been hard to hear: Stay in Jerusalem, and wait for the promise of the Father.
Luke tells us he “commanded” them to do these things. This isn’t a suggestion or a negotiating ploy. This is God telling his servants what to do.
Because God is God and we’re not, he often does things that make little sense to us.There are times in the Christian life when God’s only command is to wait. When those moments come, God rarely explains himself
or makes the big picture clear.
All of this reminds us that in the end our God is the Boss of our lives and he chooses the times and places of life. He sets out a path for each of his children and he doesn’t consult us in advance.
So, if you’re waiting on God for something right now Don’t Fret and Dont panic. Dont take matters into your own hands. Do your duty each day as God shows it to you. Surrender your life to the Lord—"Thy will be done.”
But what should you do while you wait? Ah, what a perfectly American question that is. We want to do something, not just sit in silence.
Very well, before you get out bed in the morning, pray this prayer: “Lord, help me to do my tasks today with joy. Amen.”
Just do your job and do it with a smile while you wait on God. That will glorify your Father and will prepare you for whatever is to come. The best way to get ready for tomorrow is to do God’s will today.At it’s core waiting is about becoming more like Christ and relying on God. It’s not that waiting is easy or enjoyable. Often it is very difficult. But It’s been said that we serve an on-time God. He’s never early, he’s never late, he’s always right on time–which means that our waiting serves his purposes in ways we don’t understand.
Here is my final piece of advice. Do the best you can, and then sleep like a baby. Which is another way of saying, Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.
As a way of applying this message let’s change the prayer
“Lord, I’m willing to wait for you—even if it takes forever. Amen.”
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