Grace Christian Fellowship: Christian Teachings from Acts

Acts 1:1-11 "Last Words"

"The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God."

Today we start the book of Acts. I am very excited to learn from this book. I am excited because through this book we are going to learn more about the Holy Spirit. I am excited because through this book we are going to learn more about missions. I am excited because through this book we are going to learn what it means to be the church of Jesus Christ. I think Luke was excited to write this book as well. Because Luke knew something tremendous. You see, Luke had already written of the life of Jesus Christ, His birth, His ministry, His death and His resurrection.

He writes to Theophilus, "The former account I made, of all Jesus began both to do and teach. The gospel of Luke is what Jesus began to do! But Jesus is not finished. Luke's tremendous news is that Jesus is still working, still loving, still healing the sick and setting the captives free. Jesus is doing all of this and more through His people the church!

Do you all know of the Salvation Army? This evangelistic mission has been showing the love of Jesus Christ in practical ways. In the United States we always see them ringing bells in the shopping malls around Christmas time collecting donations for the poor. In 1878, when William Booth's Salvation Army was beginning to make its mark, men and women from all over the world began to enlist. One man, who had once dreamed of becoming a bishop, crossed the Atlantic from America to England to enlist. Samuel Brengle left a fine pastorate to join Booth's Army. But at first General Booth accepted his services reluctantly and grudgingly. Booth said to Brengle, "You've been your own boss too long." And in order to instill humility in Brengle, he set him to work cleaning the boots of other trainees. Discouraged, Brengle said
to himself, "Have I followed my own fancy across the Atlantic in order to black boots?" And then, as in a vision, he saw Jesus bending over the feet of rough, uneducated fishermen. "Lord," he whispered, "you washed their feet; I will black their shoes." Samuel Brengle went on to establish the Salvation Army in America. By the time of his death the Salvation Army was thriving in the U.S. and Canada. Right before his death Brengle sent out a short memo to all of his top leaders. This memo had one single word written on it. Knowing that this man had inspired thousands to serve Jesus Christ and their fellow men, wouldn't you want to know what that word was that he thought so important for his leaders to know? When his leaders opened the memo, the word that they saw was "Others".

Today we will take a look at the last words of Jesus Christ to His disciples before He ascended to the Father. Of all the words of Jesus Christ these are the most important. These are the ones that we should listen to the most. These are the words that we should build our lives around. Because these words are directed not only to the disciples but to us. We are the church! Let's look carefully at these words. There were two things that Jesus wanted the disciples to know. Two things that Jesus wants us to know.

The Promise of the Father

"And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."

The first thing that Jesus wanted them to know was that the promise of the Father was about to come to pass. The promise that was made to the Jews was about to be fulfilled in them. Let us look at Joel 2:28-29.Joel 2:28 "And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. And also on [My] menservants and on [My] maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days." God's promise was that He would give the Holy Spirit to everyone. The experience that the Jews had had with the Holy Spirit before Jesus Christ was usually limited to kings like David, or prophets. And even in these people the Spirit did not stay, but came upon them for a brief time and passed away again. But God promised through Joel, that there would come a time when not just kings and prophets but normal people would have the Holy Spirit. God promised that sons and daughters would prophesy, old men would dream dreams, and young men would see visions. The Holy Spirit would annoint everybody, not just special people. Isaiah also spoke about this, in 32:15 "Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, And the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is counted a forest." Imagine that God has a garden hose. My hose at home has a nozzle on it that I can adjust. When I am washing the car I make the water a thin stream that I can direct to hit the spot I want. This is what God was doing in the Old Testament. Whoosh! Moses. Whoosh! David Whoosh! Elijah. But God promised through Isaiah that He would pour out the Spirit from on high. This is like a rain or if I turn my nozzle to mist. The mist is gentle but gets everything wet. This is what God promised. And when this happens, the wilderness becomes a fruitful field. Lives are changed, fruit appears, miracles take place. In fact there is such a difference with the Spirit, that those people who seemed to be fruitful before will look bad in comparison.

The first thing that Jesus wanted the apostles to know was that they were not alone. Although He was leaving He was sending to them the Holy Spirit, and not just to them alone, but for everyone who calls on the name of Jesus Christ. This is the first thing that Jesus wants you to know as well. Once you know the love of Christ, once you have received that love, Jesus wants you to know that you are not alone. He has sent you a counselor, comforter, a source of power and guidance, called the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not something that you have to get from anyone. It doesn't belong to an annointed teacher or healer or prophet to give away. God is fulfilling His promise of sending down a rain of the Spirit on everyone that knows Jesus as their Lord.

The Mission

The second thing that Jesus wanted the disciples to know was their mission. I was surprised that He did not say this first. In fact this was kind of an afterthought. He only said it after they had asked Him a rather stupid question. You see after He told them of the promise of the Spirit, they jumped to the conclusion right away that this would be the time when Jesus would start His kingdom in Israel. Calvin said that there were as many mistakes in their question as there were words! They were thinking of a physical kingdom, a racial kingdom, and were expecting it right away. Jesus takes their misguided idea and starts to expand it.

"Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

At first He stresses again that the Holy Spirit is coming and then He assures them that they will be witnesses to Him in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. This is the mission that God has for the church. We are witnesses to Jesus Christ. Jesus does not say, "You should be my witnesses". He says, "You shall be witnesses!" Wherever we go, whatever we do, because we are the church, people will judge Jesus Christ by what they see in us. For some we will be their first look at the Savior, for others we might be what is keeping them away from Jesus Christ.

Many people get all excited about vision. What is the vision of your church? What is your goal? How many people has God showed you to reach? How many churches has God told you to plant? I know what God's mission for our church is. He made it very plain on the day that He left and He hasn't changed it since. God wants us to be witnesses! Loving as Jesus loves. Showing people who Jesus is by continuing to serve and heal, and set people free like Jesus did. And we are supposed to continue doing this until everyone in the world knows who Jesus really is. The mission is simple folks. It is the same one that the apostles got, and that God wants every one of His churches to have. Do you want to know what I get very excited about? I am excited about the promises of God. I don't get very worked up about what I am supposed to do for God. Because, frankly it is not that spectacular. I do a pretty poor job of it. But what God does for me! Wow! It knocks me out every time. Vision is what we are supposed to be doing for God. Promise is what we can count on God doing for us.

"Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of the their sight. and while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven , will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven."

Jesus left the disciples with two words. The one was promise! God was going to give them a wonderful gift, rained down from on high, the Holy Spirit. The second was mission. You will be my witnesses! Both of these words should shape who you are as a Christian. Have you received the gift of the Holy Spirit? If you are not sure, then you are still in the waiting stage. You haven't yet left Jerusalem, or if you have, you are feeling pretty worn out, trying to do it all in your own strength. What kind of witness are you? What kind of Jesus do people see in you?

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