Freedom of Speech
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And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”
Jesus is calling his children, his church to a place of living unhindered. A place of freedom.
To ditch their graveclothes or those things from their pasts and move forward into His future.
To be free to worship him
To be free to walk in His Way
Being Salt and Light in the places where we live and work and play so that others might experience that same freedom in their lives.
We spent several weeks looking at the way that Jesus told us to live free. The Beatitudes
A progression of the spiritual life.
We have to see, first, who we really are:
We are spiritually impoverished without Him
Our status outside of Him is sorrowful
This leads us to his goodness that we can’t buy or deserve
Along with that we discover great joy in his forgiveness
We experience what it means to be wanted and loved and our spirit becomes meek and willing in the light of who He is.
As this takes place, we develop a strong hunger in our hearts - we want more. We want to give out from what we have experienced and Jesus continues to pour greater measures into our lives.
This mercy works within us a pure heart - a heart that seeks to glorify God
A sanctified heart
A regenerated heart by the power of God’s Holy spirit
Which puts within us a desire to be peaceful people
To live at peace with God and all men
And to be people who bring peace into chaotic situations
And soon we begin to look like and act like the children of God.
We become like his own son, Jesus Christ
We think like him
We love like him
and we are about our Father’s business like him
And then last week we looked it means to become like our Heavenly Father. It means we open our lives up for attack.
It means persecution
yet in the midst of that to be blessed
Understanding that it’s not about us at all, but about the Kingdom of Heaven
Today I want to continue that thought of doing the business of the Kingdom by speaking this message entitled “ “
Turn with me to
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.
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.” 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.”
Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of 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.”
Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey. And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.
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.
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.” 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.”
Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of 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.”
Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey. And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.
And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples (altogether the number of names was about a hundred and twenty), and said, “Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus; for he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry.”
(Now this man purchased a field with the wages of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out. And it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem; so that field is called in their own language, Akel Dama, that is, Field of Blood.)
“For it is written in the Book of Psalms:
‘Let his dwelling place be desolate,
And let no one live in it’;
and,
‘Let another take his office.’
“Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.”
And they proposed two: Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed and said, “You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.” And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. And he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
Acts 1:1-26
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.
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.” 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.”
Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of 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.”
Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey. And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.
The church unhindered
Acts 1:
Terrorism hinders
September 11, 2001
Terrorists strike out at the might of our country - our bank and trading system and our government
To strike fear in the hearts of Americans
It did the opposite - It brought us together, it gave us the anger and resolution to defeat the evil that was against us
That’ s the way Terrorists work - fear
Jesus on the cross - satan’s attempt to disband the church
chop off the head and the body will slump and die
Again, that’s not what happened - yes the disciples run and hide for a bit
But here in we see the reorganization into something powerful that will change their world at that time.
The church receives their call in the death of their Lord and Savior
They react to that call and go forth
In the midst of great persecution and death they travel to the ends of their earth preaching him and living for him
And you and I are gathered in this building today because of their bravery and their sacrifice
And you and I should be doing the same.
I want to talk today, in this message called “Freedom of Speech,” about being Unhindered to witness.
We see in Acts chapter 1 that the church was founded for one reason - to be a witness for their Lord and savior Jesus Christ
This is what we are called to do brothers and sisters
It’s our primary reason for being here today
And if you are visiting today, than we hope that you are sensing one things - That we love Jesus and that we are doing what we are doing today to celebrate what He has done in our lives and to let you know that He is real, That He is Alive, That He loves you and because of that, so do we
Be My Witnesses
Be My Witnesses
And so Jesus says, “Be My Witnesses”
In the midst of situations and circumstances - Be My Witnesses
In the midst of persecution - Be My witnesses
In the midst of Political correctness - Be My Witnesses
In everything that you do - Be My Witnesses
And all the time, the enemy is coming against us.
He is trying to strike terror in our hearts and keep us from living and witnessing for Christ.
He is trying to keep us busy so we cannot witness for Christ
He is trying to get us to compromise so that we won’t be a witness for Christ
You know another weird trap of his? He tries to keep us together so we will not witness for Christ.
You see, as we look at the church, we see that they were dispersed by the death of Christ for a reason
The persecution that followed sent them even further
And all the time they are living for Christ, being examples of his love and mercy in the world that they are sent out to.
But I want you to know why the enemy cannot stop this.
I want you to know why you need to be about being a witness for Jesus Christ.
And how you know that you can be successful in it.
4 Things:
Jesus chose you to be His Witness
You Were Chosen to Be a Witness
You Were Chosen to Be a Witness
We see in verse 2 that the Apostles were chosen
The Word Apostles = Greek Word Apostolos = Envoy, ambassador, or messenger commissioned to carry out the instructions of the commissioning agent.
So if you are a believer in Christ, If you have committed your life to Him and accepted him as your savior
Then you are a messenger or a witness for Jesus Christ. He has picked you and chosen you to be such.
And still many might say, but we picked him. We came to him. We came to the altar, we bowed to our knees, we said the prayer of acceptance and we make the declaration of faith in Him today.
That is true, but you could not have done that without His Holy Spirit calling to you.
No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.
And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”
John 6:
Three baptisms:
John in water
Holy Spirit into Jesus
And then
So Jesus has chosen you and called you. You are not here today because of your own choice, but there was a gentle persuasion of the Holy Spirit that led you here today. Thank God for that.
We also read in
You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
There you have it. If you still aren’t believing what I’m saying, Jesus says it himself. You did not chose me, but I chose you for what?
To bring forth Fruit that remains
What is that fruit? Souls - the harvest - which is done by witnessing.
What is witnessing, living in a way that speaks of who Jesus is and what He does.
And of course it involves using words from time to time.
So you have been chosen.
2. Jesus Commissioned you to be His Witness
You Were Commissioned to Be a Witness
You Were Commissioned to Be a Witness
To be commissioned is to be sent.
So let’s look at this in word pictures.
Jesus said you are chosen - I could have used another Word for that - I could have said you were called.
Jesus says, come over here, I want to use you. I have plans for your life.
In our illustration of the Apostles or disciples - they spent three years with him.
He taught them
He modeled what he taught before them
He prepared them
And then he sent them. He commissioned them
He sent them out into the World. in verse 8 he says to go to the local neighborhood then to the region and finally to the ends of the earth.
My brother and sister, you have been commissioned.
You have your papers
You have your orders - be my witnesses to the world
That means in your work place
That means in your home
That means in your community
That means in your region
That means in your bowling alley and knitting class and children’s play time
That means on your football and baseball and soccer field
That means wherever.
As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
Peace to you my brothers and sisters, Jesus sends you out as sheeps among the wolves, but don’t worry, He has provided for you.
3. Jesus qualified you to His Witness
You Were Qualified to be a Witness
You Were Qualified to be a Witness
There were to qualifications for being an apostle.
They must have been with Jesus when he was alive and ministered - experienced his teaching and his miracles
They must have seen him after he was resurrected. Actually laid eyes upon him
Some would use this today to say that there are no real apostles today. Because there is nobody here alive who could have done either of these things.
But think about it. Why would this be important? Because these were the men who were doing the writing the preaching in the early church
They were the men who set the doctrinal teachings by which we stand upon today
And I want you to know that because of those things and especially because of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit - You get to experience these things as well.
Through the Holy Spirit, we get to read the God breathed scriptures of authority and hear the words of Jesus echo in our hearts
We get to be touched by his healing hand and know the wholeness of a healed heart
And we live in the power of his resurrection every day.
Yes, none of us could be apostles today in the physical sense, but we most certainly do have spiritual apostles among us today
One of my closes friends in ministry moves in the apostle gifting and ministry.
You have been qualified brother. You have been qualified sister
Don’t let the enemy tell you any different.
You have all that you need. A testimony fired up by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
That you know that you know that you know - that Jesus is alive. He has resurrected and through that same Holy Spirit He is living deep inside of your life.
That you can know this very day that if you were to cease to exist on this earth that you would be in heaven with him today
And as comforting as that is, that’s not the most important thing
But that you can know that if on this very day, you continue to exist on this earth, then God has a plan to use you to win someone to Jesus Christ
To bring someone to Him and show them the love and mercy and compassion that Jesus would show them if he was here on earth today
Because He is. He is here through you. A Qualified witness of Jesus Christ.
Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.
And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
And if you are still making excuses then you need to hear this last one
4. Jesus empowered you to be his witness
You ARE Empowered to be a Witness
You ARE Empowered to be a Witness
I said in the earlier that there are three baptisms. The last one is the one that Jesus performs on us and it is the baptism in the power of the Holy Spirit
It would seem from our reading today that Jesus tells his disciples not to depart. But that’s not what it says.
Look at
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;
He understood that they and we would not be witnesses to an overly friendly audiance
He understood that we would not always know what to say
He understood that like Moses we would have every excuse in the book
He understood that we would have an enemy that would be out to stop us and hinder us and he gave us the power to go and be witnesses unhindered.
This is the power or baptism in the Holy Spirit
So you are chosen
You are commissioned
You are qualified and you are empowered
With those four things going on, you are unhindered as a witness for Jesus
Don’t let the enemy tie you up and hinder you again.
Why is this important?
Because as witnesses
Our lives speak of Jesus - His life, his death and his resurrection
Our lives exalt the King of Kings
through our living, God manifests the Kingdom of Heaven on earth
And we prepare the world for his return.
Let’s Pray