Learning from the Book of Acts

March 24th 2024

Series: The Book of Acts HIStory

Sermon Title: Learning from the Book of Acts

Topic: Journey through the book of Acts.

Key Passages: Various

Sermon Blurb: In today’s message, we will look back over our journey through the book of Acts to see what God has taught us and to see how God has moved at Family Church.

Sermon:

Hello Family Church!

Family Moment –

Start with something personal from your family life recently to help people get to know you.

PAUSE

Those of you who are new, or newer, to Family Church we are SUPER happy you are with us today!

Today, we have reached the end of our study in the book of Acts.

We began this journey on May 1st, 2022, which means we have invested almost two years into learning about the church Jesus launched right after his resurrection.

PAUSE

And I am really excited for today….

Because today, we will not only look back over what we learned from the Book of Acts…

We will look back at what God has done in our midst and see how we have experienced some of what we learned about in the book of Acts in our own church!!!!

I know we have a LOT of people that have started attending Family Church over the last two years….

And I think you will be excited to hear about what God has been doing here over the last two years!!!!

PAUSE

But let me also remind you that NEXT Sunday is Easter!!!!!!

You need to be thinking about who you could invite to church with you because Easter is one of those times when, IF you invite people, they are VERY likely to come with you to church!

Think about your friends, family members, neighbors, and co-workers that you could invite to come to church with you!

Step out and ask someone to join you next week!

PAUSE

Grab your Bibles….

I hope you all brought your Bible to church!

Either paper version or electronic!

Open it up to the book of

Acts

New Person Bible Connection:

And if you do not have a Bible, that is ok!

After service, we will give you an AMAZING leather-bound study Bible!

Just go to ADD YOUR CAMPUS PLACE and get one for FREE!!!

PAUSE

As you are getting to the book of Acts let me explain how we tend to approach preaching and teaching here at Family Church….

When Pastor Adam felt called to come here and go after this church plant he felt God was calling him to begin that journey by preaching through the life of Jesus.

That call started our church on a journey in 2017 and continued into 2021!

As a church, we walked through the life of Jesus chronologically….

Chronologically meaning….we started with the birth announcement of Jesus and then walked through Jesus’ life as he grew up and all the way to Jesus death, resurrection, and ascension.

We spend years investing in growing as a church in our knowledge of Jesus.

Pastor Adam felt God wanted us to know who Jesus really was not based on what we remembered as a kid.

Or what we learned about in college.

Or what our parents told us.

BUT based on what the Word of God, the Bible taught us.

And the reason why we parked there for 4+ years is because of the mission statement of our church.

Family Church’s Mission Statement: Love God, Love People, Make Disciples

That first part…. Love God…

That is why we spent 4+ years diving deep into who our savior, our God, Jesus, is.

PAUSE

As we wrapped up the life of Jesus….

We picked up in the book of Acts…

Why the Book of Acts, you might ask????

Well…. because the book of Acts is all about how the early church lived out this call to Love God, Love People, and Make Disciples.

The Book of Acts is all about how the first church that ever existed lived out the vision of Jesus….

And let me be SUPER clear…..

Our vision here at Family Church is NOT to create some new creative church movement….

NOT to be the hip new church…

NOT to be the new culturally relevant church…

NOT to be the new socially relevant church…

NOT to be the biggest church in town…

Our goal is quite simple….

Our goal is to be a church that lives and operates like the church in the book of Acts.

That is it.

We want to just get back to the basics that worked for the first church.

We just want to teach the Bible like they did.

We want to just teach people to live like Jesus like they did.

We want to just operate under the power of the Holy Spirit like they did.

PAUSE

And speaking of the Holy Spirit, make sure you come back after Easter because we are staring a whole new series after Easter dedicated to help us all learn about Who the Holy Spirit is!

And it is going to be a Fun journey you are NOT going to want to miss!!!!

PAUSE

But let’s jump back to Acts chapter 1….

It begins with this….

Acts 1: 1-3 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to 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 presented himself to them 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.

Pause there….

For those of you who are newer to church the guy who wrote his book is Dr. Paul.

Dr. Paul in verse 1 is referencing his prior book in the Bible called Luke.

Dr. Luke is one of my favorite writers in the Bible because I think he was like a lot of us in the room…..

Dr. Luke was a SUPER logical guy who just wanted to know the truth.

Dr. Luke in his first book says this

Luke 1: 1-4 Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us,

2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word.

3 With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning,

I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,

4 so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

So, Dr. Luke was commissioned by a guy called Theophilus, who was a prominent Roman, to go find out what really happened with this guy Jesus.

Dr. Luke wrote this letter to Theophilus to let him know after in his own words, that HE CAREFULLY INVESTIGATED EVERYTHING

Everything they had heard about Jesus.

All the crazy claims about the stuff Jesus did.

All the crazy stories about who Jesus was.

Dr. Luke did NOT just take the rumor mill as his evidence.

Dr. Luke went and PERSONALLY interviewed, cross-examined, and so forth the EYE-WITNESSES.

Eye-witnesses are the people who SAW with their own two eyes all the claims made about Jesus…..

Luke likely spent YEARS….interviewing….. studying…. Analyzing… EVERYTHING claimed about Jesus….

And then Dr. Luke wrote the book of Luke with all his findings….

It is an amazing book, if you have not read it please do so later today….

PAUSE

Dr. Luke ended his prior book with this:

Luke 24: 50-53 The Ascension of Jesus

50 When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them.

51 While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven.

52 Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.

53 And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.

Jesus raised Himself from the dead!

Everyone is happy!

Everyone is praising God!

Everyone is staying at church…the temple….praising God….

But….

But write this down…..

This is something you are going to see come to life in the book of Acts….

Disciples (Christians) naturally want to stay in the church. Jesus wants His disciples to get OUT of the church!

Repeat

That is literally what you see here!

The disciples are so excited that Jesus is raised and they want to stay with their church friends and hang out!!!

BUT

BUT….that is not what Jesus designed disciples to do….

And we will see this struggle in the book of Acts.

This struggle was the….internal church focus…..and God’s re-focusing the church on the external….

Re-focusing us church people, om serving others, and NOT just doing things to serve themselves, within the church…

The same struggle many churches have today.

So…..

Dr. Luke then went on to write a second volume to the same Roman benefactor….

That second volume is the book of Acts!

The Book of Acts shows is all about how these new “Christians” who were powerless in their culture and society could suddenly do the impossible through God’s power.

Acts gives us a theological vision of the power of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection and how it should manifest itself in the life of the church.

We are going to see that the book of Acts teaches a theology that says this….write this down.

Disciples (Christians) are obligated to always proclaim Jesus, in all places, until Jesus returns.

Repeat

Let’s keep reading…verse 4

Acts 1: 4-6 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command:

“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.

5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

I love this part of Acts 1…

Jesus makes them this promise!

Jesus says I am going to send you My Spirit, the Holy Spirit!

And instead of getting excited about that!

Instead of asking what that means.

They do what a lot of us do….

We ignore people who aren’t talking about what we want them to talk about and try to change the subject to something we care about.

This is where you see them try to get Jesus to shift talk about something MORE important to them!

Political freedom…

Israel’s freedom….

Their freedom….

And listen to how Jesus responds:

7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.

One sentence….

Jesus says STOP thinking about YOUR agenda and trust God’s timing….

This one point alone could be a whole sermon by itself!

So let’s write this down:

God wants us to STOP pushing our agenda and instead TRUST God’s agenda for our lives.

Repeat

PAUSE

Far too often we want it to be all about what WE want and not what God is offering us in this moment….

They did not like the political climate of their day, just like some of you do not today or some of you did not under the last president.

They did not like the direction their nation was heading, just like some of you do not today or some of you did not under the last president.

They did not like what the culture was doing to their kids, just like some of you do not today or some of you did not under the last president.

We ALL have our pet issues.

We ALL have things we think are SUPER important.

We ALL have things we wish were different.

We ALL have things in our life that are a BIG priority….

Just like the disciples of Jesus did.

And what we will see OVER and OVER again in the book of Acts.

Is this call by God for us to LAY DOWN our priorities and PICK UP God’s instead.

This call to lay down our agenda….

And follow God’s agenda.

To trust what God says should happen next OVER what we think should happen next….

PAUSE

And I know how hard that is.

It is hard to trust God’s timing with your career.

It is hard to trust God’s timing with your relationships.

It is hard to trust God’s timing with your health or the health of someone you love.

It is HARD to follow God….

BUT

But I can promise you…..

Following God will result in the best version of your life!

PAUSE

Let me say one last thing here…

The power they are going to receive from Jesus in the next verse is NOT a power the enables them to conquer or dominate others.

It is NOT a power to build empires or companies.

It IS a power to confront the empires around them with the TRUTH of the Gospel that Jesus is King!

They will receive this power ONLY to spread the gospel of Jesus….

Don’t miss that! In their lives or in your life today…..

Jesus says…Verse 8

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Right here is one of my favorite Bible verses!!!!

Let me explain what this means….

Jerusalem is where they lived…

So, God is saying it is important to reach those in your everyday life.

Judea was a town that was far enough away to not be home…

but still close….

So, God is saying it is important to reach those in your everyday life.

Samaria was filled with people from a VERY different culture…

So, God is saying it is important to reach those who are different than us.

The end of the earth is the rest of the world….

So, God is saying it is important to reach everyone on the planet.

PAUSE

Do you see what we talked about earlier today?

Jesus shifts them right back to what matters….

Not an earthly kingdom for Israel….

But God’s kingdom spreading through the entire world!

And how does Jesus say it will happen….

Look in your Bibles….…..

There is ONE word that is repeated over and over in verse 8….

Does anyone see that KEY word?

Anyone see it?

The word YOU……Next slide…..

8 But YOU will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on YOU; and YOU will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Look in your sermon notes…..

Next you will notice this verse is there with blanks where the “YOU” should be….

I want you to write your name in those blanks right now.

For real….write you name in there right now….

Then we are going to read it aloud and I want you to read it with your name in the blank.

Ready…. Lets read it….

8 But _______________will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on ________________; and _____________ will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

PAUSE

Church…..hear me in this….

You and I are powerless without the Holy Spirit.

If the Spirit of God does not reside in you….you will not be successful…

But if you are following God’s direction and His Spirit is living inside you!!!

LOOK OUT!!!

You are going to do things you would NEVER have imagine were possible!!!!

We are going to see that OVER and OVER again in the book of Acts!

We are going to see REGULAR, every day, ordinary, people just like YOU..

Do miracles through the power of the Holy Spirit!

PAUSE

And that is EXACTLY why our NEXT series is all about the Holy Spirit because so many of us do not PERSONALLY know the power of the Holy Spirit!!!

PAUSE

Stop and think about this….

Verse 8 contains the FINAL words of Jesus before he returned to heaven…..

So we really should pay attention to them.

Look at that verse with your name in it….

That was the final call Jesus gave to you before he returned to heaven….

How are you doing at following that call?

Have you ever led someone to Jesus from your hometown?

Have you ever led someone to Jesus from another town?

Have you ever led someone to Jesus that comes from a very different culture that you?

Have you ever led someone to Jesus from another nation?

If not….why?

LONG PAUSE

The book of Act is all about the people of the church in action…

Not the pastors in action.

Not the church staff in action.

ALL the people of God….

Living for God.

Following God’s will.

Fearlessly proclaiming salvation through Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone.

PAUSE

Family Church….

Let me close with something interesting…

Acts 1:15 In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering a hundred and twenty).

When Family Church began this journey in 2017…our average attendance was……drum roll….161!

The rest of the book of Acts details the growth of the first church….

28 times in the book of Acts it talks about the church growing…

And it grows from 120 to thousands and from one location to multiple and in multiple countries….

Family Church has grown from 161 to thousands in multiple locations and multiple countries as we have done nothing more than stive to live like the early church!!!

PAUSE

Family Church, I honestly cannot imagine what God is going to do in and through us in the years ahead as we learn how to live under the leading the Holy Spirit.

We saw God move in such amazing ways as we walked through the life of Jesus…..

We saw God move in such amazing ways as we walked though the Book of Acts…

I cannot wait to reflect back on this next journey for our church!

Let’s commit to being here weekly and grow together as we learn how the early church lived out what we should be living out today!

PAUSE

Let me share your life application with you today….

For those of you who are new, or newer, to Family Church.

We end our messages with a Life Application.

It is simply something to help you go home and process this message with someone else.

Something to help you continue to ponder how you can applies todays message into your life.

So here is what I want you all to spend some time processing and talking with someone about.

Life Application: Jesus said the purpose of His followers was to share His message with others. How could you make that a greater priority in your life starting today?

As a result of today’s message I will _________________________.

Prayer:

Make sure to do salvation call!

Offering:

Thank you all for being here today!

****REMINDER ON EASTER NEXT WEEK AND INVITE A FRIEND