"The Beginning"
Notes
Transcript
I. “Preparing to Leave”
I. “Preparing to Leave”
The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
Historical: The eternal Son of God was returning to His glorified state with the Father, and accommodated the doubts of His disciples.
Practical: The world, the flesh, and the Devil provide us with distractions that take our focus off the things of God.
Spiritually: We must commit our hearts to the truths of Scripture to stave off unbelief.
II. “Preparing to Stay”
Acts: 1:4,5
Historical: Though Jesus is glorified with the Father, He is with us through the Person of The Holy Spirit. The disciples were commanded to tarry at Jerusalem, the ordained seat of the Presence of God on Earth, until they recieved the power for witness of the spiritual kingdom.
Practical: In our lives as Christians, it is not a mental determination that changes us into new creatures, but by obedience to the Spirit of God operating in the world, our lives become different.
Spiritually: You know you’re different from your old nature, when the things of the Spirit begin to transform your old nature. A key indicator is that you acquire a forgiving spirit, which leads to peace, joy, patience, and endurance in trials.
III. “You Can’t Hurry God”
When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Historically: Their sense of being a nation had been stripped from them by the many years of rebellion against God, and nothing else. They were anxious for a return of their glorious kingdom, it wasn’t to be in the manner they desired. They were given the power to show forth the presence of God’s kingdom in its invisible state. They were able to perform many miraculous deeds as proof of God’s power residing in them.
Practically: It’s not for us to try and duplicate the miracles of the Apostles. We are to show through our belief, how God is working in our lives.
Spiritually: The Spirit brings back to our memories Scriptural truths that we hide in our hearts when they are needed the most. We have no control over how God uses His Word through us to communicate messages of comfort and healing to those He has chosen.
Conclusion:
1. Jesus was God manifested in the flesh, to substitute Himself as an offering for our sins. This is how He shows us His ability to live among us.
2. He had to go away, but though the world can’t see Him, we know He’s with us.
3. His greatest gift to us, is His being resurrected from the dead, as the first-fruit of our resurrection.