The Dependent Community
Notes
Transcript
INTRODUCTION
One of the most frustrating things in life is losing power. Our lives are so dependent on electricity and electronic things. When a storm hits and knocks the power out—that’s a huge inconvenience, isn’t it? We’re so dependent on electronics. Last Sunday night, Kristy and I were driving into downtown Indianapolis for the Southern Baptist Convention. We had been traveling all day and neither one of us have good cell phone chargers for the car. So, I had been listening to music the whole ride up there on my phone and as we’re getting closer to Indianapolis, I plugged the hotel address into my phone GPS. Well, I only had about 4% battery left.
Thank the Lord we made it!
I invite you to open your Bible to Acts chapter one.
Last week, I said that we are going to close out this series by focusing in on FIVE WORDS in Acts 1:8—“you will be my witnesses…”
Acts 1:1–8 (ESV)
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. 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.
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.”
So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 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.”
Last week—the community of disciples is to be a WITNESSING COMMUNITY. This is what Jesus has called his followers to be. If we’re going to be what Jesus has called us to be, though, we can’t do it in our own strength or in our own power.
If we’re going to live this out as the disciples of Jesus, we’ve got to start…MEN—if we’re going to be husbands & fathers—we need the power of the Holy Spirit. We need the supernatural strength of God in our lives.
And, you know what? God promises to give it to us. This morning, we’re going to dive into four words that Jesus says, here, in Acts 1:8:
“You will receive POWER.”
What power is Jesus talking about? Where does this power come from? Why do we need this power in order to be his witnesses?
Let’s take those first two questions and then we’ll unpack that third question a little more in depth.
So, what power is Jesus talking about and where does it come from?
In verse 4, Jesus tells his disciples to go back to Jerusalem and wait. Now, at this point, you would think that Jesus is ready to turn them loose on the world. Well, the reality is…THEY weren’t ready for that. It sounds kind of counterintuitive, though, doesn’t it? He gives them this pregame speech…tells them what they’re supposed to do…they even see angels. This is the resurrected Jesus! I mean…my goodness what could stop them?!?!
But, Jesus is saying to his disciples—“You can’t do this yet. You are powerless right now.”
They had 3.5 years of ministry training. They had even been given authority over demons! But they didn’t have POWER. They didn’t have the supernatural strength of God that would work in them and through them.
You can see how quickly this could have gone wrong, too—they were already experiencing missional drift.
So, he tells them to go back to Jerusalem and wait. “Wait for the promise of the Father.” Jesus says, in verse 5, that the disciples will be “baptized with the Holy Spirit” and, then, in verse 8, he says that they will “receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon” them.
In chapter two, these same disciples are gathered in a room in Jerusalem praying and on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes in the form of flames of fire and empowers them (go read it!) And, what we see in the book of Acts is the power of the Holy Spirit working through the followers of Jesus.
So…is this power available to you and to me or was it just something for the original disciples?
And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
If you’re saved, you’re only saved because you heard the gospel and the Holy Spirit of God opened the eyes of your heart to see your sin and your need for a Savior. The power of the Holy Spirit raises us from spiritual death to spiritual life. The power of the Holy Spirit gives us victory over sin and temptation. The power of the Holy Spirit equips us to live the Christian life—live in obedience to God.
You and I are to live in dependence on the Holy Spirit in every area of our lives.
Maybe you’re struggling as a husband/father today.
MAIN POINT
The witnessing community is completely dependent on the POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
The Holy Spirit is God in us and working through us to accomplish His purposes.
The Holy Spirit is given to the Church to empower it to witness to Christ. The Spirit actually testifies about Christ through us to the unsaved world. We join the Spirit’s testimony with our lives: our actions and our words.
Without the Spirit’s work in us, we will never be witnesses for Christ now.
What is the power of the Holy Spirit? How does He empower us to be Jesus’s witnesses?
The power to give UTTERANCE
Jesus—“you will be my witnesses.”
Pentecost (chapter 2) — we see Peter standing on the steps of the temple in chapter 3.
The community of disciples is a witnessing community.
for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
Acts 4:8 "Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: 'Rulers and elders of the people!…'”
Acts 4:31 "After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly."
Acts 5:32 “We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
How else do you explain the fact that 12 ordinary men—fishermen, tax collectors, a murderer…were used?
God wants to use you. God uses normal everyday people for His kingdom and mission (?). You have the same Holy Spirit dwelling in you as the disciples had.
“I don’t know what to say.” You know who it is that God is leading you to witness to.
Dads—as you’re discipling/leading your family.
Few men have had an impact on the world for the gospel like Dwight L. Moody. At his funeral in 1899, it was said, “Though he made no inventions and had no discoveries, though he wrote no poems, painted no pictures, and led no triumphant armies, this unlettered son of a poor woman in New England … made an impression on the world that this dying century has seldom seen.”
He was born in 1837, into a poverty-stricken Massachusetts home to a devout Christian mother and alcoholic father. He was led to faith in Christ by a faithful Sunday school teacher, Edward Kimball, when he was 17 years old. He moved to Chicago with the intention of becoming a wealthy businessman, but also began a Sunday school in the poorest, most crime-ridden area of the city. In that needy environment he discovered that leading children to faith in Christ was more rewarding than making money.
Moody, building on the foundation of evangelists such as George Whitfield and Charles Finney, held great crusades and passionately preached the Gospel. Newspaper writers were puzzled as to why this man, whose bad grammar reflected his 4th grade education, could fill great halls with tens of thousands of people night after night. Nevertheless, the front pages of their morning newspapers often carried his sermon delivered the night before.
His life illustrates the necessity of completely yielding to God. While in England he heard evangelist Henry Varley say, “The world has yet to see what God can do through a man who is totally yielded to Him.” Moody was captivated by these words and resolved, “By the Grace of God, I will be that man!”
Listen to me—what could God do…if our church will filled with men like Moody—completely surrendered to the power of the Holy Spirit? What would your marriage look like? Your home? This church? This city?
He will give you the words…When you obediently open your mouth to witness about the Lord Jesus to someone that doesn’t know him, don’t worry about “messing up” or “not knowing” what to say.
The power to give UNCTION
What does “unction” mean? It’s an old-fashioned word that means “anointing.” It means to be set apart and used for God’s purposes. Now, what does this have to do with the Holy Spirit empowering his witnesses?
It means this—the burden doesn’t rest on you. It means that God is looking for your AVAILABILITY and your SURRENDER.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
He gives power to the words. A hair dryer is useless if it isn’t plugged in. There’s an electric current flowing through it to do what it’s supposed to do!
because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.
Emma—my representative
The power to give UNDERSTANDING
1 Corinthians 2 — Paul writes about his own preaching and the un-flashiness of it…
1 Corinthians 2:14 (ESV)
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
You can’t save anybody!
Paul—1 Corinthians 3 — he planted, Apollos watered, God gave the growth.
When I preach—the Holy Spirit empowers the words and the hearers. When you witness…you are completely dependent on the Holy Spirit to give understanding!
As you’re sharing the gospel…be praying that the Holy Spirit open the eyes of their hearts…their spiritual ears.
What is my next step?
Without the power of the Holy Spirit, our efforts will be fruitless.
VBS // Mission Builders
Pray for understanding in the lives of the children.
1. Last week's challenge – who are my "top 5"?
2. Am I seeking the power of the Holy Spirit?
To draw them to Christ?
3. Am I sensitive to the working of the Holy Spirit?