Power in the Pulpit | Acts 1:1–11

Introduction: Good evening everybody. If you have your bible with you tonight, I invite you to turn with me to Acts 1. We are going to be looking at verses 1-11 tonight. While you do that, let me take a second to introduce myself to those of you that don’t know me. My name is Gabe Thomas. I work for the Centennial Baptist Association as a campus minister on the campus of Gordon State College. I also serve as youth minister at Maynard Baptist Church in Forsyth, GA.

This past Sunday we celebrated Easter, or as more people are appropriately calling it these days, Resurrection Sunday. It is the day we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the grave. Most historians tend to believe Jesus rose from the grave between the years of 30 and 33 ad. We know that he died on a hill on the outskirts of Jerusalem. But this leads us to what I think it a pretty important question. How did the story of Jesus get from Jerusalem to Barnesville, GA about 1993 years later? The book of Acts shows us that, and this passage tonight lays the groundwork for that. In fact, the main idea of tonight’s text is that after rising from the grave, Jesus commanded his disciples to speak of what had happened with an eye towards what was coming in the future. And if you would, please stand with me as we honor the reading of God’s Word.

Exposition: Luke starts the book out in verse 1 by saying Acts 1:1 “In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach,” The author of Acts is the same person who wrote the gospel of Luke. Church tradition tells us that is Luke, the physician mentioned by Paul in some of the letters he wrote from prison. Both start with a greeting to a person named Theophilus. It seems this was a specific person because in the greeting in the book of Luke, he refers to him as “your excellency.” Now, the name Theophilus means “lover of God.” Now, it could have been a person whose name was Theophilus as this was not an uncommon name during this time. Or it could have just been a pseudonym used by Luke, we don’t know. But what we do know, is that by using this phrase in both books, Luke makes it appear that Acts is just the second volume to what he wrote when telling the story of Jesus in the gospel of Luke. Luke is the book about what Jesus did and taught and then Acts is the book about the founding of God’s church and the spread of the gospel. We see this because verse one says Acts 1:1-2 “In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.” What we see in verse 2 is that Jesus was indeed taken up to heaven, he gave the disciples commands through the Holy Spirit.

Explanation: What we see here is is really important. Because we see here that the members of the trinity are separate. As Christians we believe in one God that exist in three persons. That is something extremely confusing. If there are three isn’t that three Gods? No, the best explanation I have is a triangle. One triangle has three points. That’s just what a triangle is. It is a shape with three points. God is one God, but He exists in the form of three persons. We see this at Jesus Baptism accounts. Remember, Jesus was baptized, the Father’s voice was heard, and the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus. We see that the Holy Spirit worked through Jesus. Now how all that works that The Son is God but was empowered by the Holy Spirit who is God, we cannot understand on this side of heaven. But we see it happened.

Exposition: We see that Jesus gave his disciples commands, but he also gave them proof of who He was. Verse three says Acts 1:3 “He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.” Luke tells us that Jesus presented himself after suffering many proofs. This phrase “by many proofs” means to prove beyond a doubt. So Luke is saying that Jesus presented himself alive to the disciples after he died on the cross and he proved it was really him and through many proofs.

Application: I think one of the biggest mistakes we can make about the resurrection is to not act like it defies all scientific possibilities. Dead people do not come back to life. Especially not after being in the grave for three days. Dead people are dead. The disciples needed to see proof that Jesus had risen from the grave for that very reason. But they believed because they saw the proof. Maybe some of you wouldn’t admit, but maybe you have a hard time believing that the resurrection is real. Maybe you just can’t get on board with easter because you can’t believe that a dead man would come back to life. But let’s look at the evidence. The tomb is empty. This story would have never spread the way it did if they could have just gone to the tomb and seen his body. The apostles said they saw him and 10 of the 11 disciples that saw him alive would die because they wouldn’t quit saying they saw him alive. They had no incentive to say it if it weren’t true. Paul tells us in 1 Cor. that Jesus appeared to over 500 witnesses. We have the change that was made in the life of Saul of Tarsus. We have accounts from his own letters and from the writer of the book of Acts speaking to this. We have the fact that the day of worship was changed from Saturday to Sunday by early Christians, many of whom were Jewish. The evidence points to a risen Christ. We can trust that there is forgiveness of sins and eternal life because we can trust that Jesus has risen again. We do not have blind faith. Instead, our faith is based on evidence.

Exposition: The last part of verse 3 then tells us what happened in the period after the resurrection until Jesus returned to heaven. The original Greek for this phrase appearing to them for 40 days tells us it was not continuous. He would appear, go away, reappear. We see this in the book of John. But Luke also tells us he talked about the Kingdom of God.

Explanation: This word for Kingdom means a reign more than a realm. It’s not so much a location, but authority. And this is something I want you to file away and remember.

Transition: So, Luke gives us the quick recap of what happened in the last episode. He closes this about with his emphasis that we can believe the resurrection. He does this, because that validates everything else. So after that, he goes on to talk about what is to happen now.

Exposition: We see in the book of John that at least a few of the disciples had earlier departed Jerusalem for Galilee. They at some point have returned and Jesus is telling them not to leave. But he tells them to wait on what he has told them is coming. He says that is the Holy Spirit. Verses 4 and 5 say Acts 1:4-5 “And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”” In the gospels John the Baptist said he was baptizing people with water, but the one who would baptist them with the Holy Spirit. Jesus himself said that he must leave so he could send the helper or advocate. This is the Holy Spirit.

Explanation: We see this promise fulfilled in the next chapter of the book of Acts. The Holy Spirit descends upon the believers and throughout the book of Acts we see that when people become followers of Christ, they receive the Spirit. The same thing happens to us. When you become a believer in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within you. God Himself is with you. Believing in Jesus isn’t just a religion, it’s a transformation. And we will see shortly, it’s an empowerment.

Transition:So Jesus tells them about how they are going to receive the Holy Spirit. But then they ask a question that shows what their plan is, But Jesus reveals to them that God has a different one.

Exposition: So the disciples ask Jesus a question. In verse 6 we read Acts 1:6 “So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”” This question was a natural question because the Jews had been waiting for a long time for God to restore the soverignty of their nation. They were Roman subjects that were waiting on God to free them from that. And Jesus had been talking about the kingdom of God. But there’s a problem. Remember, the kingdom Jesus spoke of involved authority. Before Jesus died they had heard him speak words like we read in Luke 17:20-21 when he said Luke 17:20-21 “Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”” Not to mention that Luke told us in verse three that over the course of the 40 days Jesus had been speaking about the kingdom of God. Involving this topic they had only heard what they wanted to hear.

Application: We do this don’t we? Do you ever nit pick certain things from scripture and take them out of context so what you want to be true to be true. It’s like this. Say there is somebody that is going to college for the first time. And he is trying to decide if he is going to be a party boy that goes out and gets drunk all the time. When I was a college student there were students that did that. Maybe that’s not the case anymore. But he decides he wants to check the Bible and make sure that is ok. So he goes to John 2 and reads the story of Jesus turning water into wine. And he says, well Jesus was at a party where they ran out of wine. So, I must be good. He is completely ignoring the context of that passage and other passages that talk about obeying the laws of the land and avoiding drunkeness. We must make sure that we are not just studying the scriptures we like. We need to make sure we are studying and learning the entirety of God’s Word so that we don’t try and make scripture say what we want it to say.

Exposition: So the disciples ask Jesus this question. And Jesus responds with about as big of non-answer as you can find. He says in verse 7 Acts 1:7 “He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.” Jesus basically tells them, “Eh, that’s The Father’s business to decide when he wants to do that. That’s not for you to know.” The disciples were so focused on that one thing and God told them that’s not what they really need to be worrying about.

Application: Do you ever get fixed that something has to be a certain way. Do you ever get set on how your future is going to go? These men were waiting on Israel to return to it’s former glory. This is what they wanted, and Jesus told them that’s not what he wanted right then. Can we be patient when God doesn’t give us what we want. Can we trust that God has a plan for how he wants things to go? Maybe you, like the disciples, have surrendered most desires to God, but you still have one that you are holding on to. Maybe it’s a dream or a plan that you can’t seem to let go of. Are you willing to turn control of the future completely over to God or are you still hanging on?

Exposition: Jesus responds to their question by saying he will do something else instead for the time being. He says in verse 8 Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”” He starts by telling them that when they receive the Holy Spirit, they will have power.

Application: If we are believers in Jesus Christ, we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. If we have the Holy Spirit, then we have power. Romans 6:10 says Romans 8:11 “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” The same Spirit that lives in us raised Jesus from the dead. Why wouldn’t we have power. But what do we have power to do?

Exposition: Jesus says that through that power they will be witnesses. What does a witness do at a court trial. A witness testifies to what they have observed or experienced. The disciples had walked with Jesus throughout his ministry and had seen him alive after he rose from the grave. Jesus told them they were their witnesses which means they would testify of these things.

Application: How many of you would say the idea of trying to tell somebody about Jesus makes your nervous? Probably most of us. But you don’t have to go and tell some elaborate story and be an expert on everything. what Jesus has told us to do is be witnesses? What difference has Jesus made in your life? Do you have a story you can tell of the hope you have in Jesus and how you have been changed. And you aren’t doing this alone, remember, you have power in the person of the Holy Spirit. You do not go alone and if you have been saved by the blood of Jesus, then you have a story to tell.

Exposition: But Jesus gave a very clear instruction. He told them to go to Jerusalem. That was pretty self-explanatory, they were in Jerusalem and everybody there was Jewish. He told them to go to Judea. That would be like telling somebody in Barnesville to go somewhere else in Georgia. Judea was the region Jerusalem was in. But then Jesus started getting crazy. He said Samaria. Jews and Samaritans hated each other. The samaritans were descendants of the Jewish people that married and had children with the people from other lands that were bought in when the Assyrians sacked the northern kingdom of Israel. Their ancestors had forsaken their heritage and religion. And now Jesus wanted them to go and be witnesses there. Not only in Samaria, to the ends of the earth. This was the Gentile world. Jews didn’t associate with Gentiles. But Jesus was saying to go and be witnesses there. In our multicultural society, we have a hard time really understanding how big of a deal it was that Jesus told them that instead of giving them the Jewish state he was telling them to proclaim to all nations of what Jesus had done. But that’s what he did.

Application: This command gives us an outline for the book of Acts in how the gospel would spread. It started in Jerusalem, but would end with the apostle Paul in Rome, which would have been considered the ends of the world. It’s how almost 2,000 years later a group of young people in a completely different part of the world can sit here and talk about Jesus, because the message was taken. But the work isn’t finished. We are surrounded by people every day who do not know the hope of Jesus. There are people in our state who have never heard. There are people that we may not even like very much in places where people are different than us, that are in need of the gospel. And there are billions of people all across the world who have not heard. The gospel is only good news if it get there in time. And if your first reaction is, “I could never,” that’s ok, because God has given you power in the person of the Holy Spirit. It is not about what you are capable of, it is about what God is capable of.

Transistion: So they get this commandment that will end up changing the course of world history, but just like that Jesus is gone again.

Exposition: We read in verse 9 Acts 1:9 “And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.” So just like that he is gone. This time they seem to know it’s different. He has gone back to heaven. A cloud in scripture is used to indicate the presence of God. If you remember, God travelled in a cloud in front of the Israelites in the Exodus. But while the disciples are looking into heaven, something happens. We read in verse 10 Acts 1:10-11 “And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”” So two men, that Luke describes in the same way he described the angels in his telling of the resurrection appear. And the angels ask them why they’re looking into heaven. Jesus would would return in the same way they saw him leave You see, when they asked about Jesus restoring the earthly kingdom, Jesus told them not to worry about when, but he gave them a present mission, to take the gospel to all people. But he didn’t leave them without a proimse.

Application: You see, Jesus is going to return one day. Scripture is very clear about that. We don’t know when, but he will. Until then we have a responsibility to live a life faithful to God. This includes taking the gospel to those who have not heard. But we do this knowing that one day Jesus will return and he will establish a new heaven and a new earth and everything will be back the way it is suppose to be. We can hope in that. No matter how lost we may feel at times or how reminded we are that things are not the way they are suppose to be. We can trust that Jesus will return. But if we don’t believe that, if we don’t trust that, it will impact how we live now. How we live in this life is completely dictated by what we believe about the next. We should not live as people whose hope is only as far as what is seen right now. Instead, we should live as people whose hope is in a savior who will return and restore things back to the way they were created. Jesus is coming back, do you believe it and does it have an impact on your life now? The disciples did. And because of that, people like you and me have the hope of Jesus.

Conclusion: As we close tonight, I want to ask you, have you truly believed in the resurrection of Jesus. Have you truly believed that he defeated death and brought the forgiveness of sins? Are you ready for the first time to commit to that? Maybe you realize that you have trying to fit God into your own little box and you know you haven’t been obedient to scripture because you have tried to make scripture fit what you want. Maybe you realize that you haven’t been faithful in telling of what God has done in your life because you haven’t trusted in the power of the Holy Spirit. Whatever it is, let it not go on any longer. Allow Yourself to be where God wants you to be.