The Greatest Story EVER Told

Good morning! I am excited and grateful to be with you this morning!

Today is the first Sunday after Easter. The greatest event in the history of mankind has taken place. Jesus - the God-man who died on a shameful cross and was buried - has been raised from the dead!

Hopelessness has been replaced with hope!

Emptiness has been replaced with fulfillment!

Fear has been replaced with boldness!

Jesus - the King of kings and the Lord of lords - is ALIVE! And that means that today is a GREAT DAY, amen?!

As we dig into God’s Word this morning, please...

DON’T MISS THIS!

If you are a follower of Christ, Jesus wants you to be part of the greatest story ever told!

The story of Jesus isn’t over, and He wants you to be part of His story.

Today, we will hone in on Acts 1:1-14, a powerful passage of Scripture following the resurrection of Jesus, and a passage with some great reminders for everyone who follows Jesus!

Are you ready to dive in? AMEN!

ACTS 1:1-6

Acts 1:1–6 NASB95

The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen. To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of 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 were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”

Part of what I love about the disciples is how REAL they are. Here, Jesus tells them that they are about to get baptized by the Holy Spirit. Clearly that must be important! (Spoiler alert - it IS important!)

But the disciples seem to ignore what Jesus was talking about - they wanted to jump right to the ending!

Yet, just like it was important for the disciples to remember, it’s important for us to remember as well:

Jesus’ story is still UNFOLDING, and He has a PART for each of us to FILL.

Of course, because we have the Bible, and because we can trust what it says to be true, we know what’s happened in the story already, AMEN?!

We also know how God’s story will ultimately end - Jesus will return & those who have trusted in Him will spend forever with Him. But what happens between now and His return is only known to God - and it’s much grander and much more epic than any of us can imagine!

As a kid, when I would be reading a story and something was happening to one of the main characters, I would sometimes turn to the last chapter of the story and try to figure out if the character would be OK. But every time I would do that, it would leave me with more questions than answers, and I would come to realize that I still needed to read the story to begin to understand how everything played out.

Likewise, in our walk with Jesus, it’s so important that we not try to jump to the end and bypass any of the story God has in store for us. Why? Because, not only is there joy in the journey, but God has a purpose for the journey He intends to take us on!

Let’s not worry about what’s happening tomorrow…or next month…or next year…let’s just focus on getting to know our Savior more and more each day and on playing the part He has for each of us…AMEN?

Clearly that’s Jesus’ focus as He responds to His followers in the next couple of verses.

ACTS 1:7-8

Acts 1:7–8 NASB95

He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

As we consider these two verses, a truth emerges that we can take to heart…it’s important that we

Embrace the JOURNEY, for there’s a GRAND ADVENTURE that awaits!

Jesus has an incredible journey ahead for each of us! And Jesus shares some important reminders we should latch onto:

How and when God will bring the story to an end isn’t for us to know. - Have you ever heard the phrase, “That’s on a need-to-know basis, and you don’t need to know”? So here’s the truth - this is God’s story. He is the author. He’s the one in charge. How it all plays out is up to Him, and He’s already figured it all out. We need to stop worrying about what’s coming and how the story will unfold and simply live the story God has for us today.

We can’t fulfill our part in God’s storyline in our own strength and power…and God never intends for you to try. - I love what Jesus says to His followers in verse 8 - “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you...” Jesus is telling us “You will need supernatural power to do what I am calling you to do, and I will give you all the power you need!” That’s a pretty incredible promise, AMEN?!

We are called to be His witnesses, to be part of telling the world about the Good News of Jesus Christ! - God cares about every single person on the planet. Every. Single. One. And the part of the story that is still unfolding is the fulfillment of this Great Commission that Jesus has extended to us. We are still carrying the gospel message to our Jerusalem, to our Judea and Samaria, and to the remotest parts of the earth. (SHARE IMB SLIDES)

We have an EPIC JOURNEY ahead of us, AMEN?! Let’s embrace it - there is eternity in the balance for billions of people around the globe!

ACTS 1:9-14

Acts 1:9–14 NASB95

And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James 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 with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

Jesus commissioned His followers, then ascended to Heaven. The angels assured the disciples that Jesus would come back again one day, and He would do so just as He left them. It was their way of saying, “Don’t worry about whether you will miss Jesus’ return. He’s coming back - it’s a promise! For now, just focus on living out His calling on your lives.”

And you can tell that something changed within the disciples and those who followed Jesus so closely. There was no more anxiousness about what was to come. There was no nervousness or uncertainty. They simply did as Jesus told them to do - they went and waited for the Holy Spirit to come upon them.

But they did so together, unified in their focus on the calling of Jesus on their lives, and devoting themselves continually to prayer.

As we consider how the disciples responded, it’s important that we remember, for the part of the story we are in, we can...

Turn each page with the expectation that Jesus will FULFILL His PROMISES.

There is something calming and reassuring to the soul when we know that we know that Jesus is who He says He is, that He will do what He says He will do, and that He is sovereignly in control of everything.

The truth is that Jesus is faithful. He will always, always fulfill His promises. He always has, and He always will.

When we follow Him by faith, He promises that we will be adopted into God’s family permanently. He promises that all of our sins will be forgiven. He promises that He will always be with us. And He promises to equip and empower us for the journey ahead.

He simply calls on us to trust Him and - in that trust - to surrender the care and control of our lives to Him.

Will you do that today? Will you truly surrender everything to Him and embrace the journey He has prepared for you?