A Church of Power

Acts 1:1-8

I want to thank all of you for your involvement with Step-Up. I was overwhelmed by the response. I know that there are some that were not here and may need a card to sign up for those areas that you are interested in. Please see me or any of the ushers or the pastors and they will get a card for you. We are in the process now of putting this all together. It will take us about two weeks to start getting this all done. In about two weeks, you will begin to be contacted by the area leaders and they will begin having meetings to get step-up fully launched in the church. I am excited about what God is doing; I am excited about what God in going to do in this church, this community and the world from Great Harvest Church. As I was reflecting this week on all that the Lord has done, my mind went back to the early church in the book of Acts. Why were they so successful, why were they so vibrant? Why were they so alive? Was it because they were nearer the events of the cross? Was it because they nearer to the savior. At first I thought so but then I realized that you are never as close to the savior as the day you give your heart to him. The church is new to you as it was new to them. No, it was not being closer to the events of the day that made them successful. What made the church successful was power. You see, the New Testament church was a church of power. It was a force to be reckoned with in the world.

They went from a scattered, frightened group of people to a force that literally changed the world.

I. Acts 1 tells us that Jesus told the disciples to not leave Jerusalem without receiving the promise from the Father.

A. You see, they asked Jesus, if at this time He would restore the kingdom to Israel. Even after all that they had seen, after all that they had witnessed, they were still thinking of Messiah as conquering king rather than suffering servant.

1. They wanted to know about the establishment of a physical kingdom rather than a spiritual kingdom. They still did not get it.

2. Jesus said it is not for you to know the times or the epochs. This is translated seasons in some Bibles and the Hebrew means Moadim-the set times.

3. Yet, in the gospels Jesus says when asked about his return that no man can know the day or the hour but he can know the seasons. These seasons are the feasts.

4. When he told them in Acts that they could not know the Epochs-he was telling them that they could not know the exact timing of the Epochs, in other words the day or the hour.

B. At this time they were more interested in the coming physical kingdom than having the promise of the father fulfilled in their lives.

C. All they had to do was look at the feasts.

II. When Jesus told them to tarry, to wait in Jerusalem until the promise of the Father was fulfilled-did they know how long they would be waiting?

A. The answer is found in the feasts

1. Passover-the lamb was selected on the 10th of Nissan and sacrificed on the 14th of Nissan-Passover-throughout Israel’s history it pointed toward a Messiah that would free them from their sin.-Passover is about redemption.

2. Unleavened Bread-Pointed toward the sinless life of Messiah-Unleavened Bread took place on the 15th of Nissan. Unleavened Bread was about sanctification. He did not decay in the grave. For you it is still about sanctification. You see, you are Kodesh; you are set aside for the work and the use of God.

3. First Fruits-It pointed to the Messiah being the first fruits of God. He is the firstborn of many brethren. He holds the birthright-he holds the 2/3 share and it is you that he takes care of. First Fruits is about resurrection.

4. The first three feasts occurred within three days… It lines up to the day and the hour of the events of the last days of Jesus life on earth and it lines us to the day and the hour of the events that took place at Sinai.

III. Pentacost (The Feast of Weeks)(Shavuot)-points to the giving of the Spirit of God without measure. It speaks to us about the birth of the church; it speaks to us about origination. It should speak to us about power.

A. Pentecost took place 7 weeks and one day after First Fruits. This is 50 days. So from the point of the resurrection, the promise of the Father would talk place in 50 days.

1. Jesus, according to Acts 1:3 that he presented himself to be seen for a period of 40 days and then he ascended.

2. So, if my math is correct 50-40=10 days.

3. After the ascension of Jesus, the disciples would have to wait for 10 days for the promise to be fulfilled.

B. Did they see this, did they know this?

1. They knew the Feasts because they were Jews and they were trained in them.

2. Did they see Jesus in the feasts?

3. He explained to them the sacrifice that was about to take place

4. He explained to them that he would be bruised and broken, in the breaking of the bread at the last supper

5. He explained to them that he had to sacrifice his life to establish the covenant that was “new”.

6. We know that this is not a new covenant but a total fulfillment of what God held in his mind before the foundations of the world and what God spoke all the way through the Old Covenant.

C. We see this covenant when God is speaking to the serpent following the sin.

1. Genesis 3:15-“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed, He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heal.”

D. We see the promise again in Genesis 15:1-17-Read

1. Cutting the covenant-not just a covenant of land, but a covenant that through Abraham, the entire world would be blessed.

2. Explain-two men enter covenant, split the animals, both walk through

3. May the same thing happen to either one of us if we break covenant.

4. God walked through the pieces, he holds both ends of the covenant. He would pay with his own life if He broke the covenant, and he paid with his own life when you broke the covenant.

IV. Did the disciples understand the feasts and what was about to happen. Did they know how long they had to wait?

A. Probably to some extent but circumstances blinded them.

1. They were scattered, they were afraid.

2. Even though they had seen Jesus, they were confused about what all was going on. He was resurrected, it is time for the physical kingdom, not time for some promise from the Father.

3. I guess that they did not remember that Jesus told them, “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you, but if I go I will send him to you.”

4. Every good Jew knew what this word helper in Hebrew was-Chamash-the helper

5. In the construction of the tzitzit-the Chamash-the helper strand was the long strand that you used to wrap the tzitzit together, it was the strand that held it all together, it was with this strand that the knots and wrappings were made.

6. On the Menorah, the center candle was always bigger, taller, on a higher platform-it was the chamash candle, the helper candle. It was the candle that you used to light all the other candles.

7. Jesus said that he had to go away so the chamash-the helper would come.

8. The Holy Spirit had to come or there would never have been a church.

I. Acts 1:8-

A. Power-dunimos-dynamite-explosive power-enablement

B. Witnesses-martius-martyr-the power, the explosive power to die to self and become a witness. A lifestyle evangelist.

C. You see, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, should make you different. It should give you power to be a witness. It needs to do more than just give you an ability to operate in the gifts. It should give you the power to operate in those gifts in Holiness.

1. It should give you the power to die to self and walk in the Spirit of God all through the week.

2. The baptism of the Holy Spirit should give you power on Monday, Tues, Weds, Thurs, Friday, Saturday.

II. When I look at the Early New Testament Church, I see a church of power.

A. When I look at the Early Church and the Church today, the difference I see is one of power

B. The greatest event in human history was the coming of Jesus into the world to live and die for a lost world. That was his heart, that was what was at the heart of his message-to save a lost and dying world-Because God loved the world, He gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life.

C. The second greatest event in human history was the giving of the Spirit of God without measure so we could have the power to accomplish His goals.

D. The third greatest event in human history was the going forth of the Church into an ugly, ungodly, and corrupt world.

1. It was not an easy task that the church faced when it came down from the upper room

2. They were asked to carry on the work of a man who was known to have died a criminals death.

3. They had to persuade others that even though this man died, he had arisen.

4. They had to convince people that he had not only arisen, he was the promised Messiah

5. They had to convince men that Jesus was the Messiah that had been fortold and that no man could come to the father except through him.

III. To the natural eye, the church was doomed from the very beginning. Who would put faith in one whom society had convicted, condemned, and crucified.

A. We often think that the Early church had our mindset-they did not. They were Hebraic, they were Jewish, they did not have 2000 years of church history from scratch.

1. Left to herself, the church was doomed to die.

2. Left to herself, she would become no more than 100 other sects that came and went and left nothing for future generations.

B. That the church did not die, did not perish, was due entirely to the MIRACULOUS ELEMENT THAT WAS WITHIN HER .

1. That element was of course, the Holy Spirit-that giving of the dunimas of God to make a church that was martias.

2. You see, when that power came, it came at the dictate of God and never at the dictate of men.

3. The church was not and is not merely an organization, a movement, but it is the WALKING INCARNATION OF SPRITUAL ENERGY.

4. Without the aid of the Holy Spirit, the church would surely die.

C. The church began in power, moved in power, and continued to move as long as she had power.

1. When she no longer had power, she dug in for safety and tried to conserve her gains.

2. Her blessings, her gains, were like manna. They were only for that day and when they tied to hold it overnight, they found that it breed worms and stank.

D. If this evalutation is correct, and I think it is, then today, the church is a point of very low spiritual energy.

1. No one can deny that the Modern Church and I am not talking about Great Harvest, the modern church has dug in for safety.

2. She is trying to hold the little ground that she holds.

3. She lacks the spiritual insight to realize that the best defence is a good offence.

4. The church must, MUST, realize that if she turns inward, she would very well wither and die.

5. We see this happening to churches everywhere.

E. If the church is going to change, going to be the powerhouse that it was in the Book of Acts, If the church is going to once again be a force to reckon with, if the church is to regain her lost position of spiritual ascendancy, then she must have power.

F. That power can only come through the Holy Spirit.

PROBLEM- The church must have power. Today, the church is hardly discernable from the world. This power can only come through the Holy Spirit. The power dunamas of God to produce witnesses, martyias. We need power, we need power in three areas.

I. The church needs spiritual power to produce great saints of God once again.

A. In todays world we need believers who are strong and mature and not believers who are weak and immature to do battle against the enemy.

B. We need great saints of God who know how to pray-not just praying on Sunday but saints of God who are prayer warriors and know what it is like to thunderously roar against the forces of darkness.

C. We need great saints of God who know how to reach out and touch a dying world that will not let the business of life keep them from reaching every heart with the news of the gospel.

D. We need believers of power, full of the Holy Spirit, that are not all mouth but whose lives demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit, every moment of every day.

II. The second type of power that the church needs is the type of power that will give a heavenly unction to our worship, that will make our meeting place sweet with the Divine presence of God and strong with the power of the Holy Spirit.

A. I don’t know about you but I feel the power of the Holy Spirit in this place.

B. I love it when you sing loud, when you clap, when you get caught up in worship. I know when you do that you have been doing that during the week.

C. You see, in such a place there is no room or place for flashy sermons and evaluations.

D. In such a place the personalitites of men would decrease and the emphasis would fall on the right place and that is on the Lord himself and his message to mankind.

E. In such a place we would see the Holy Spirit flow in his pattern, no men’s pattern, according to the will of the father.

F. We must have that form of power because it is that type of power that makes the church a Divine thing

G. The church has rubbed shoulders with the world long enough.

III. Thirdly, we need that power which God gives, both in Biblical and Post Biblical times to be released in the church and into the circumstances surrounding her, which will make her fruitful in labor and inviceable before her foes.

A. We must have this power because right now it cannot be said that the church is invincible to her foes.

B. Rest assured of one thing, with everything being equal, we shall have as much success in our Christian lives and Christian work as we have power in our hearts. No More, No Less.

a. Lack of fruit over a period of time shows lace of spiritual power-both in the individual and in the church.

b. Outward circumstances may hinder for a time, but nothing can stand against the power of God.

c. God is looking for a church in this area to take that step-will it be you?

C. We need the power of God to:

a. Produce great saints of god

b. Give us heavenly unction in our worship

c. Make us fruitful in labor and invincible to our foes.

D. You shall receive power, that is God’s promise and God’s provision. The rest waits on us.