The Power To Witness Is Ours Today, The Time to Witness Is Now

JULY 25, 2021 STUDY NOTES ACTS 1:8-11 BIBLE TEACHER: CLIFTON JONES THE POWER TO WITNESS IS OURS TODAY, THE TIME TO WITNESS IS NOW INTRODUCTION In the previous verses Luke told us that following the resurrection Jesus instructed the Apostles Jesus had revealed himself alive and proved beyond doubt that He had risen from the dead For 40 days He had commanded them and spoke to them concerning the kingdom of God He commanded them to wait in Jerusalem, Act 1:4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. The promise of the father was the coming of the Holy Spirit, who would baptize them, Act 1:5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. The ministry of the Spirit’s baptism had its beginning with the coming of the Spirit in Acts 2 Every believer experiences the baptism of the Spirit at the time of salvation, 1Co 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. The baptism with the Holy Spirit is that which unites us into Christ and into the true church Believers are united together in Christ (Jew and Gentile) by the Spirit’s Baptism The Apostles thought that the promise of the Father might be the restoration of Israel, Act 1:6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? A promise found many times in the OT and will literally be fulfilled one day, but not yet The coming Kingdom of God will be established at the time of the return of Christ When Jesus returns as “King of Kings” and “Lord of Lords” In verse 7, Jesus did not tell the Apostles to be unconcerned about the return of Christ, Act 1:7 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. He simply said that the timing of the return of Christ to establish the Kingdom was God’s timing We are not to be date setters concerning the return of Jesus, God is in control, God knows God will set the date, the timetable of all prophesied events is in the hands of God He is not telling us to be unconcerned or ignorant concerning the truths of Jesus’ return Throughout the NT, verse after verse identifies with the return of Christ And in those verses, or within the context of those verses, we find our instructions Jesus is going to return some day and we must live for Him today God will fulfill His promises, and now there is a promise from God that must be fulfilled A promise that must be fulfilled in our day through us and we are promised that we can fulfill it Act 1:8 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. “But” presents a contrast to the previous verse Instead of knowing about the exact time of future events, take care of the present mission “But you,” who are they? First the Apostles, then all-of the disciples, now all followers of Christ Today every Christian is identified and to be made known as a follower of Christ Page 1 of 5 Our earthly mission is to tell the world that we are a follower of Christ by the way we live And by mouth we are to tell the world how that they can become a follower of Christ We are promised the power to do that, we are told when that power will become real to us “You shall receive power,” when we realize our mission, we see the need of that power It is not the power of a religious education or the power of a well-organized program Throughout the years, churches have had soul winning courses to educate us And programs to follow that teach us how to be a witness to the world for Christ Jesus said that the power to witness comes from the Holy Spirit who comes upon us When did the Holy Spirit come upon the Apostles as promised by Jesus? On the Day of Pentecost found in Acts 2 The promise of the Father to send the Holy Spirit was fulfilled, as Jesus had promised From the time of the coming of the Holy Spirit every believer receives the Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit comes to indwell us at the time of our salvation So, from the time that we are saved we have the power within us to be a witness for Christ From the time that we are saved we must continually learn the truths related to salvation But we don’t have to wait until we might be called a Bible Scholar to tell others about Jesus If you are convinced that Jesus saved you, you can tell others that Jesus will save them “You shall be witnesses unto me” is a command and a promise Christians are the only ones commanded by God to go into the world to tell them about Jesus Christians are the only ones who have the God-given power to do that It is important that we receive mission offerings to send others out to witness to the world But that does not fulfill our personal obligation to witness to the lost where we live We must accept our command and believe in the promise of Jesus to empower us as we go Can you imagine the mind of the disciples of Jesus when Jesus gave them the great commission? Mat 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Mat 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. A group of ordinary men from different walks of life, some uneducated None of them had been to Bible College, none of them had a seminary degree But they had a promise, Jesus said I am with you even unto the end of the world At that time, they did not understand how Jesus was going to be with them as they went In the world’s point of view, they had nothing with which to begin their world-wide mission But now in Acts 1:8, they are told they have everything they need, the power of the Holy Spirit This power and the Holy Spirit cannot be separated, the power comes with the Holy Spirit Without the Holy Spirit there is no such power, did the Apostles receive the Spirit’s power? The Apostles would soon be tested, tried, and threatened because they lived for Christ They would be beaten, stoned, and cast into prison because they preached Jesus Christ They must be empowered with the Holy Spirit in-order to be a witness for Christ Peter and John preached that Jesus was alive and the religious leaders were upset, Act 4:2 Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. They asked about their power, Act 4:7 And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this? Peter answered them with power, Act 4:8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, The rulers gave them a command, Act 4:18 And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Jesus had given them a command, so listen to their prayer, Act 4:29 And now, Lord, behold their Page 2 of 5 threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, Jesus said, you will receive power to be a witness unto me, you must be a witness for me The power that we receive through the Holy Spirit is for a specific purpose We are to be a witness for Jesus Christ, we have been entrusted to be a witness for Jesus A witness is someone who has information or knowledge of something or someone One who can give information, bring to light, or confirm something Christians are those who give testimony to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christians have been commissioned by Jesus and we must tell what we know about Jesus Jesus told the disciples to go to Jerusalem, our Jerusalem is where we live, our community We are to witness for Jesus in our local area Jesus told the disciples to go to Judea and Samaria, that represents our Home Mission effort Jesus told the disciples to go to the uttermost part of the earth, today that is Foreign Missions So, what are we doing on-a daily basis to be a witness for Jesus Christ? Angels were sent from heaven to instruct us Act 1:9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. The ascension was a gradual departure, the disciples “beheld” Jesus as He departed from them As they beheld Him, He was slowly and visibly taken up from them, they see it with their eyes There are many reasons why Jesus must ascend back to the Father: It signaled that He had completed the purpose of His earthly ministry His ascension proved that He had offered the one perfect sacrifice for our redemption He had paid the price for sin and had defeated the devil He must now ascend to heaven in-order to send the Holy Spirit from the Father He must be seated at the right hand of God to fulfill His present ministry He is our Faithful High Priest interceding for all believers Jesus is the Head of the Church and gives spiritual gifts to all believers Jesus had instructed His followers and is now preparing a place for us in heaven He will one day come from heaven and receive us unto Himself But before He comes, we have a mission to fulfill The cloud that received Him was most likely the Shekinah Glory Cloud The same cloud that had filled the Tabernacle Which was the visible manifestation of the divine presence of God Here it is the visible manifestation of God’s glory and approval of His Son When Jesus descended to the earth through Mary, he was wrapped in swaddling clothes When He ascended back to Heaven, He was wrapped in clouds of Glory When Jesus returns to the earth, He will descend bodily and visibly, every eye will see Him He will come in the clouds of Glory and with a manifestation of power All believers will be caught up together to meet Him in the clouds (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) The cloud hid him from their sight, they were left staring up into heaven Act 1:10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; These disciples had followed Jesus for three years, they now saw Him go back into heaven We can only imagine what was on their minds, they could do nothing but stare into heaven They probably thought we will just keep looking toward heaven until we see Him again Page 3 of 5 And then, “behold,” that means “wow”, look at this, their attention turned to 2 angels Two heavenly beings who appeared as men stood beside them, they had to be angels Angels had appeared at His birth, His temptation, in Gethsemane, at the tomb, and now here We need to hear the question that the angels asked the disciples Act 1:11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Galileans were not a popular class of people they were considered of low esteem by the Jews The angels have a question for us and a promise to share with us First, their question, why are you just standing there looking toward heaven? As Christians, we are looking forward to Heaven, that is where we will go when we die But what about those who are not going to go to Heaven? We don’t have time to just think about ourselves, there is no time to be wasted Today is our day of opportunity, Col 4:5 Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Our witness for today is extremely important because we live in an evil day, Eph 5:16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. (Watch the news) The angels had a good question, they also had another promise that is of utmost importance How wonderful are the words, “this same Jesus,” the same one who died for our sins The same Jesus who still has the same scars in His hands and feet The same Jesus who arose from the dead and is now at the right hand of God the Father He is the one who is going to come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven: He physically ascended, He will physically return They saw Him ascend into heaven, He will be seen as He returns from heaven He left from the Mount of Olives, He will return to the Mount of Olives They gave no date as to when Jesus would return But they gave the day for the disciples to go to work Jesus is coming soon, Rev 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. Our blessed hope is that we will see Him coming in the clouds of heaven Our work of this day is to be a witness for Christ Today is the day of God’s Grace, today is the day of salvation, 2Co 6:2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) We must be a witness before the return of Jesus to the earth Have we witnessed to our family, friends, neighbors? What about strangers or even our enemies? We have been given the power to witness to “all,” we must witness to “all” Page 4 of 5 CONCLUSION Let me share with you a brief basic theology class: Jesus came to the earth born of a virgin He came to go to the cross to die as the substitutionary sacrifice for our sins He arose from the grave and lives forever, He ascended back to the Father He sent the Holy Spirit to the earth to empower the church The church now must go into the world to share the good news of the gospel Jesus will come again, just as sure as He went “up,” He is going to come “down” The next time you see Jesus in the clouds He is going to be coming down from Heaven We long for the return of Christ, our soul burns as we study the return of Christ It is time for our soul to be set on fire, a burning desire to tell others about Jesus Page 5 of 5