Acts 1:1-11 - Anticipating the Promises

When we first set out to start church planting in July 2021, I had an idea of how I thought it would go.

I thought we were going to find a spot in Madison, Indiana, start preaching, and people were going to come by the thousands.

I learned rather quickly that is a stupid expectation for starting a church.

I knew God had called to start a church, but in my imagination, I had no clue what the Lord had in store.

Then the Lord called us to Dearborn.

We delayed launch three times, and had gone through three core groups by the time we got to launch.

That’s not how I saw this going.

Through all of that, the Lord was revealing to me that this isn’t my work.

This is His work that He has already been doing.

He’s just letting me in on it.

What we have here is so much better than what I could’ve dreamed for us.

We’re starting the book of Acts, which is commonly known to be the record of what happen when Jesus started the Church.

What we’re going to find in our text:

Big Idea: Anticipating the promises of God

Stand to read

Acts 1:1–5 ESV

1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 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. 4 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; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

Leader: This is God’s Word

Everyone: Thanks be to God.

Context

This is part two of Luke’s letters to Theophilus.

In the Gospel of Luke, Luke writes about what Jesus began to do and teach (v. 1)

He gives a brief summary of Jesus’s ministry and then he turns our attention to what happens after the Resurrection!

He’s implying that the risen Jesus will continue to act and to teach through the promised Holy Spirit!

Jesus rose from the dead and gave them the assurance that they needed that He was truly alive.

He spent 40 days with His disciples and he was telling them about the Kingdom of God.

This is a significant detail, because much of the preaching through Acts focuses on the coming of God’s Kingdom in the person of Jesus Christ.

But He tells His disciples, do not leave Jersualem until the Holy Spirit comes.

Just like John baptized with water, they were to going to be baptized with the Holy Spirit (v. 5)

To baptize means immersed, fully engulfed or plunged into something.

This baptism was to be a spiritual baptism, where the Holy Spirit would come and live in the believers.

They would have the presence of God living within them!

This is true of every person who puts their faith in Jesus

They Holy Spirit dwells within us right now.

This shows us a great detail, that God isn’t building His church through programs or marketing strategies.

In their own ability, they would make a mockery of the Kingdom.

These guys need the Holy Spirit of God to dwell within them in order for them to do anything of eternal value.

Church

We need the promised Holy Spirit

We were not created to be self-sustaining or independent from God.

We need the strength of God to hold us and to sustain us.

When we live outside of God’s plan for our lives, the weight of the world begins to slowly come down on us.

This is very challenging for me.

If I think I can do something, I don’t like the idea that I can’t.

Over spring break, we went to visit Hilary’s uncle Greg in Nashville.

On our way, we stopped in Louisville.

I didn’t know what this rock was supposed to look like.

I was only told that there was a rock

I couldn’t pick it up in my own strength.

A rock made me feel really small.

Simply because I wouldn’t wait or ask for help or seek the right rock.

Gospel presentation

We need the Holy Spirit to move in our lives.

We cannot manage the weight of our sin. We’re sinners.

The weight of godliness is too much for our weak arms.

We can’t even hold the weight of our sin on the bar.

We are crushed under the weight of it.

But God has provided Jesus, His Son, to be our sin-bearer.

He comes and takes our sin off of us and gives us His righteousness through His death and resurrection

Then He gives us His Spirit to lead us back to Him!

Jesus said that the Holy Spirit’s job was to

Convict us of our sins

Remind and guide us into the truth.

The Holy Spirit reveals to us the beauties of the gospel and Jesus Christ and gives us the faith to believe!

This is how you and I are brought to life in Christ—Through the power of His Spirit!

If you’re a Christian, this is how you were saved!

If you’re not a Christian, this is how you can be saved!

Acknowledge that you are a sinner in need of a Savior and believe that Jesus died for your sins!

What if I can’t live up to it?

We were never supposed to make ourselves more like Jesus on our own power.

The Holy Spirit is our guide, and He makes us more like Jesus.

We need the Holy Spirit to make us more like Jesus.

It’s the Holy Spirit, over time, cutting away the darkness and leading us into the Light.

This is the Christian life.

One of our values here are Graceland is that we Walk by the Spirit.

We live openhandedly with what we receive from God.

Being led by the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, living in the Spirit.

So even in our own lives as Christians, as we seek to be changed to be more like Jesus, we must turn to God’s Word and ask God’s Spirit to make it affective in our lives as we trust in the gospel.

Acts 1:6–7 ESV

6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.

They still don’t get it—They have the risen Jesus telling them about the Kingdom of God, but they still have these preconceived ideas of the kind of Savior Jesus is.

They’re essentially asking if the end has come.

He essentially says, “That’s none of your business.”

But then He proceeds to tell them what is their business.

Acts 1:8 ESV

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.”

They are to be witnesses to what they have seen throughout the world!

The risen Jesus came to them and now their responsibility is to proclaim the message of the gospel and see people saved through the power of the Holy Spirit!

He just revealed the Mission of the Kingdom!

Notice what Luke wrote a bit ago:

“He ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait…” (v. 4)

For the Holy Spirit!

With the power of the Holy Spirit, the gospel is going to invade Jerusalem, then go throughout all Judea, then Samaria, then the world.

We were never designed to do any ministry apart from the Holy Spirit.

We are never told to go out on our own power/understanding

We are desperately dependent on the Holy Spirit for everything, including telling people about Jesus.

I like to have permission to do things. That means someone else is in on it.

Send Network Assessment, Larry Riley was my CP coach.

We were talking about our personalities and I said, “I can’t decide if I’m type A or B.”

Larry walks up and Amy asks his input and he says, “He’s type A. Just look at him. All this time, people in his past have tried to put him in a box. He’ll figure out there isn’t a lid on it soon.”

That word of affirmation changed the way I do ministry.

Larry taught me it isn’t because someone says I can or the gave me the power, it’s because the Holy Spirit has called me into what He is doing here!

It’s not based on my skill or ability, but the power and the mission of the Holy Spirit!

Likewise, He’s called you to witness to the power of the cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

How do we do that?

Church, this means

We witness through the power of the Holy Spirit

Here at Graceland, another value is that we Share the Hope of Jesus

Jesus commanded them to be witnesses in Jerusalem, all Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

Graceland exists today because the disciples understood their assignment.

At Graceland, we’re taking this responsibility seriously.

We’re hyper-focusing on southern Indiana through church planting

We have partnerships in Napal, Ireland, Scotland and Ukraine

In fact, Pastors Nate and Tony are leaving for Ukraine today.

Pray for Nate and Tony

We are to share the hope of Jesus with our families, friends, neighbors, coworkers.

Those of us who have been changed by Jesus must tell others what Jesus did in our lives!

This can be frightening, but Jesus told them, as He tells us, that it isn’t based on our ability or success!

Do you ever feel it’s hard to talk about Jesus?

Fear of rejection/being labeled as that guy

Fear of not knowing what to say?

This is because we put all the pressure onto ourselves and think we have to have the right string of words and have all the answers to all the questions.

That is another weight that is too heavy for us.

Jesus promised that He was going to build His Church through the power of His Spirit!

The Holy Spirit empowers us to share the gospel!

On top of that, we are reliant on the Holy Spirit to bring people from spiritual death to spiritual life in Christ!

We cannot save anyone, but we trust that through hearing the gospel, Jesus will call people to Himself and give them the faith to believe!

When we share the gospel, we pray that God would use that to save someone!

How do we know that it would work?

He gave the disciples a promise.

You will receive the Holy Spirit

You will receive power when you receive the Spirit.

But that isn’t all. He gave them motivation.

Acts 1:9–11 ESV

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. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 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.”

“What are you guys looking at?” “What do you think we’re looking at!?”

The angels tell the disciples that Jesus will return the same way they saw Him leave.

This isn’t a prediction, it’s a spoiler! (WWE Paul Heyman quote out of it’s context)

He WILL come back!

And they never got over it.

They never got over the promise that they will see the Lord return as the King of kings and bring the Kingdom with Him.

This spoiler was enough motivation to accomplish the mission.

They clung to this through persecutions, celebration, sorrow, and every other aspect of their lives.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the foundation for the life of the believer!

Everything is built on this!

Believer, do you devote your life to walk in the Spirit?

Do you resolve that you will live for Christ through the power of His Spirit?

Non Believer, will you believe that through the gospel of Jesus Christ you can be saved from your sins?

Will you become a believer today and receive the free gift of God’s grace for you? Will you receive the Holy Spirit by faith today?

I’d love to invite you to come pray with me or someone with a “How can I help you” lanyard and simply tell one of us, “I don’t know what it looks like, but I want to follow Jesus.”