You will receive power

Joke

Hey everyone good morning and welcome to WestPointe! I once heard about a wealthy Texan who had an impressive ranch in Texas. On his ranch, he had a HUGE floodlit swimming pool and in this swimming pool he kept a SHARK. The rich Texan loved to throw lavish dinner parties and would invite his guests up around the pool afterwards.  Then he would say to them, “If any of you will swim a length of this pool then I will give you one of three things: $10 million, or half of my estate, or the hand of my daughter in marriage.”

Well one evening as he was saying this....and he always said before he finished, “but I must warn you before you do so, there is a shark in the pool.”....

Well one evening as he was saying this, there was a splash, and a man, very nicely dressed, swam the entire length of the pool chased by the shark.  He got out of the pool just in time as the shark thudded into the wall.

The Texan said, “Congratulations you are the first person who has ever done that!!

Now what would you like?  Would you like $10 million?”  The man gasped, “No thank you.”  He said, “Would you like half of my estate?”  The man said, “No thank you.”   He said, “Ahh, you want the hand of my daughter in marriage?”  The exasperated man said, “No thank you!”

So the Texan said to him, “Well what do you want?”  He said, “I want the name of the man who pushed me in.”

Introduction

We are so excited this morning to transition out of the book of Luke and into the book of Acts! After this message, we are going to take a little time to worship together, then we want to hear from you and have some engagement this morning as we discuss this topic. I want to start by sharing a little bit of background information on this incredible book but in order to do that let’s start in Chapter 1, verse 1.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

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.

Acts was written by a guy named Luke. He was a medical doctor who worked and traveled with the apostle Paul. He was commissioned by a guy name Theophilus to write a history of the life of Jesus and apparently decided to continue the story. Acts is also written to Theophilus and it’s the story of the early church. It starts overlapping a few sentences with the book of Luke, from the moment Jesus ascended to heaven, to the end of the Apostle Paul’s time as a missionary, shortly before he was executed.

Two Ditches

Now, I already said, it’s the “story” of the early church and there has been a debate about how to interpret this book and what it means for us today. I believe there are two ditches when it comes to interpreting this book and I heard it described by another pastor this way. The first group says that Acts is prescriptive. In other words, the book of acts is designed to be a model of how we are to do church today. People in this camp would say, if we want to be a biblical church, than our church should look like the book of acts. Many in the “house church” movement would use this as their argument. The early church met in homes, not worship centers. They ate meals together and shared their possessions. If we want to be Biblical and have God’s blessing, that is how we need to be.

Then the second group of people would say that the book of Acts is descriptive, not prescriptive. It describes or tells the story of how God moved then, not what he wants to do today. If we want God’s favor then we need to see what he wants to do in our church today.

And the truth is no matter which ditch you find yourself in, you are still in the ditch. I want to make the argument this morning that the book of Acts is both prescriptive and descriptive and the truth lies somewhere in the middle of those two ideas.

As we go through this book together, you will marvel at everything that happened with the apostles as they built the kingdom of God, but I don’t want us to get hung up on the models of how God built his church then. The prescriptive model will lead us to some wrong conclusions. Let’s just think about the reasons why they did some of the things they did. They met in houses because they were under great persecution. If they met in a building, they would all be arrested. They shared their possessions because many were poor and cast out from society. They didn’t have jobs and it was a matter of survival.

But to just say it’s descriptive is a ditch too. Let me ask you a question, does the nature, character, and heart of God ever change? No, he’s the same yesterday today and forever. So God, knowing our circumstances and culture perfectly, designs a way for us to be most effective in the mission that he given us, but the principles behind why he does what he does do not change! He’s the same but his methods are always changing. If we could just read the book of Acts, get the model, and follow it, we wouldn’t need the Holy Spirit, but as we are about to read, the thing that is consistent is the power and the work of the Holy Spirit so that we can effectively adapt to our situation and use what we have to minister the gospel.

Let me give you a few examples. Two months ago, the idea of meeting in homes and watching church online was absurd. we had absolutely no intention of lives streaming our services. We had explored it in the past but wrote it off due to internet challenges at our facility, we wrote it off. Necessity is the mother of invention, and through some creativity, we’ve figured out a way to broadcast live and now people are hearing about the love of Jesus and being taught and ministered to in their home. And we are likely going to continue to do this moving forward as well. Nobody had ever done a drive in church service before, but next week we will gather in the parking lot and honk our horns and worship together.

Here’s another one. We aren’t necessarily about communal living here, but right now, we are seeing this church step up in uncommon ways to meet the needs of people and demonstrate the heart of caring for others. I can think of several examples during this time of people giving way above and beyond with generosity during this time in caring for those in need. People have been faithful in their giving too! I just had someone leave me a voicemail the other day asking if I knew someone with a financial need! Not a wealthy person, just a person who cares about the family of God.

You want to talk miracles? Can I tell you something, every time this church has taken a leap of faith, God has blessed it. A couple years ago, our leadership team decided to take a crazy leap of faith and not only make our monthly missions support part of our general fund, but to increase our budget. Last year we gave well over 130,000 to missions!

Here’s the common thread. God’s heart remains the same through this all. He wants us to share the message of Christ effectively, walk in crazy faith, and care for the broken, and the hurting, and the poor.

How do we do that? By engaging the power of the Holy Spirit and listening to what he tells us to do! Then he will give us creativity to do what he’s called us to effectively.

Let’s get into the rest of this chapter.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

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.”

So he’s telling them what is coming at that they are to wait for the Holy Spirit. What does the Holy Spirit do. Jesus taught his disciples this too in John 14. So 3 things he does for us

The Holy Spirit empowers us.

English Standard Version Chapter 14

12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

I’ve seen miracles and experience the supernatural. How will we ever experience the power of God unless we begin to pray for the sick and to call on God for the miraculous . He’s promised that with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can do even greater works than what Jesus did!

English Standard Version Chapter 14

25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

He is our teacher when we study God’s word. He’s our navigator as we walk through life. He’s our counselor when we don’t know what to do.

The Holy Spirit brings us peace

English Standard Version Chapter 14

27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Why do we need this? Well that’s obvious, Pastor Paul, he wants us to have peace, and understanding and he wants us to do great works in his name, yeah but why. The next verses tell us. Let’s go back to Acts 1 vs 6.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

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. 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.”

Even in that moment, after everything they had been through, the disciples still were focused on the wrong thing. They were worried about the restoration of Israel. They were obsessed with knowing what was coming. Jesus said, no that’s not the point. Israel is not the objective here. We are building the kingdom of God. You need the Holy Spirit to be your teacher because you are called to be witnesses and you’ll need his wisdom to do that creatively and effectively. You need his power because the miracles you perform will cause others to believe. You need peace because a call to follow me is not an easy one and without the peace of the Holy Spirit, you are going to lose your mind.

He didn’t give you the Holy Spirit so you could feel better about yourself and have warm fuzzies and feel good about your relationship with God. He gave you the Holy spirit so you could be an effective witness of what Christ has done for you and for the world.

Then after that incredible command, Jesus flies away…what! vs 9.

English Standard Version Chapter 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. 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.”

So the angels are standing there with him saying, ok guys what are you doing looking up there. He’s gone, get to work! Seems kind of abrupt right. The resurrection, 40 more days on this earth, a big challenge and then he’s gone. There’s actually a little more to the story. Let’s go to the 4 verses from Luke that overlap with Acts.

English Standard Version Chapter 24

50 And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. 51 While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple blessing God.

Isn’t that good. He blessed them as he floated up into the sky. I don’t know about you but I picture him singing the Kari Jobe song as he disappears into the clouds. I know that song was written 2000 years later but let’s not let facts get in the way of a good story.

May my favor be upon you And a thousand generations And your family and your children And their children and their children

And my presence goes before you And behind you and beside you All around you and within you I am with you I am with you

In the morning, in the evening In your coming and your going in your weeping and rejoicing I am for you.

And he’s singing that blessing over you right now! How powerful is that truth, that Jesus as he left this earth, his last act on this earth was to giving a blessing! I want to pray a prayer of blessing for you this morning from the book of Numbers, chapter 6 vs 24.

English Standard Version Chapter 6

24  The LORD bless you and keep you;

25  the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;

26  the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Now would you join us in worship this morning!