Time to Make a Difference

Does my life make a difference? What am I here for? What is my purpose? What does God want from me? As we continue to look at the Book of Acts this weekend, we are going to try and answer some of these questions.

See Jesus was the original Difference Maker. He came 2,000 years ago and He made a difference. He changed the world. Why did He do that? Why did He come and live and teach and die and rise again? Because the world was broken. Because it was wrong. The world wasn’t what God created it to be. Jesus came and He willingly gave Himself, the Bible says, and He became a difference maker, and then He established the church. I’m so excited about this series. We’re going to study the church because it began with Jesus. Then it began with just a ragtag group of people.

Here is God’s plan. I’m going to tell you upfront what my desire is... We have about 45 people that attend church here off and on. What if we could mobilize every one of us? What if we all would go wherever God has called us to...in the place we live in out towns and the workplaces and the schools, whatever? What if Jesus could live through us, and we could be difference makers, and He could change the world through us? See I’m just radical enough to believe that if you’re a Christian, if you’re a Christ follower, then your family should be better off because of it. If you’re a Christ follower, the school you go to should be better off because you’re in it. If you’re a Christ follower, the place where you work should be a better environment to work because Jesus is living through you by the power of the Holy Spirit. If you’re a Christ follower, your neighbors should be glad you live there.

Randolph ought to be glad that this church is here because the church makes a difference in the lives of those who matter to God...which is everybody. See that’s the vision and that’s what happened in Acts, chapter 1. Acts 1:1–3 (ESV)

Acts 1:1–3 ESV

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.

1In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach,

2until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.

3He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

Why did He appear to them from time to time? It says,

Acts 1:3 (NLT)

Acts 1:3 NLT

3 During the forty days after he suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God.

3… he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive…

What difference did that make? That meant He was God. He was who He said He was, and He appeared to hundreds of them from time to time...as many as 500 at one time. appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

What we’re going to do today is we’re going to study one of these occasions when He sat down with a group of believers and He talked to them about the kingdom of God. "This is what your life is going to look like in the next few days and weeks," He says. "You’re going to be a world changer. You’re going to make a difference. You’re not going to believe the difference your life is going to make." Well, I want to be a world-changer. I trust that you do too. God has called every one of us to it. I hope by the end of the message you will realize that. How do you change your world? The first thing is kind of surprising. The first instruction that He gave them and that is this...you take a timeout.

Take a Timeout

You don’t get started right away. You take a timeout. Look at the next verse, verse 4.

Acts 1:4 (NLT)

Acts 1:4 NLT

4 Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before.

4Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before.

He had a mission for them that was going to reach, not only Jerusalem, but the surrounding area and the entire world. And He said, " Don’t get started too quickly. You need to take a timeout." Timeouts are good, aren’t they? When do you need a timeout? You need a timeout when the world is coming at you too fast. You need a timeout when you don’t understand things. You need a timeout when things are changing quickly. You need a timeout just to stop and to think.

Every once in a while, we need a timeout. Jesus says to the new church, "Don’t get started yet. Things are crazy right now. Take a timeout." See timeouts were important to Jesus. Jesus took timeouts before every major challenge He had. When He first went into ministry, He took a 40-day timeout in the desert...a time of fasting and prayer. Then He started His ministry. When He chose His first disciples, He took a timeout. He went away by Himself, and He prayed, all through the night it said, before He did it. Before He went to the Cross, you know what He did. He went to the Garden of Gethsemane, and He took a timeout to get perspective. Timeouts are important. Some of the best things I’ve received from God have been during timeouts. I try to have little bitty mini timeouts every day. Do you do that? I try to have a timeout before I go to work, before I face the world...pray just a little bit, listen to my audio Bible just a little bit because I don’t know what’s going to be coming at me that day. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s challenging. Do you guys have those kinds of days? So, I take a mini timeout, try to take a mini timeout.

Then during the day sometimes when life is going fast or you know, I don’t know what to do. I take a mini timeout and I’ll just whisper a prayer. A lot of times, for me, it’s just claiming Scripture in the Bible...James, chapter 1, verse 5, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask." God will give it... and I claim it, have a mini timeout. It just gives me a sense of perspective and a sense of God’s power flowing through my life. Then every week I try to take a kind of a Sabbath timeout on a day I don’t have to work, where I don’t think about the things I normally think about...just kind of reflect, meditate, veg, kind of just take a timeout so that God can reenergize and refill. There have been several instances in my life when I was getting ready for kind of the next season of my life and timeouts really helped me to hear God. Before Moved to Saipan to start a church, my family and I took a few weeks off for a time out. Before I went to Whiting, Vermont to minister at that church, I took a time out the April before. Just a week to pray and search God and His will. Before I went to minister out in California, I took a time out. I had nothing else going on so I went to the beach with my family and talked to God while I fished! From time to time, before we start any big new thing here in Randolph, I will take a time out to search God and His will. So timeouts are important. Jesus said, "You know what? You’re going to change the world, Church, but before you do, don’t leave. Don’t leave. Take a timeout. Stop."

Take a Timeout So, the first thing that a world changer does is they take a timeout. Now the second thing. Look at what he says in verse 4. Get all that God has for you. He says,

Get all that God has for you.

Acts 1:4 (ESV)

Acts 1:4 ESV

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;

4And 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;

Do Not “Depart from Jerusalem...wait..." Circle wait. He has a specific thing that was going to happen. You’re going to know. You’re going to leave Jerusalem when this happens. He says, " wait for the gift, wait for the promise. Wait for what my Father promised." He says, "Don’t get started on the work I’ve called you to until you have the right stuff, the right tools." Have you ever gotten started on a project and you didn’t have the right tools so you had to improvise and it became harder than it needed to be? Example...how many of you have ever used a fingernail to screw in a screw? Okay...three of us. The rest of you are liars. Okay.

How about a butter knife...you’ve used a butter knife? Okay, there we go. I’ve been to people’s houses. I see the way it’s twisting in the end. You try to hide it, but you used it for a screwdriver, and it didn’t work well because you didn’t have the right tools. Because life works easier when you have the right tools. Jesus said, "Listen, I have a work for you. Church, I have world-changing stuff for you to do, but you need to wait until you get it." In fact, in the next part of the verse He says,

Acts 1:5 (ESV)

Acts 1:5 ESV

5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

5for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

Now, what does it mean to be baptized with the Holy Spirit? Well we’re going to have to wait to find that out because that happened in Acts 2. That’s not Acts 1. You’ll want to be here for that. That will be TNT week...Power. I mean it’s going to be explosive and somewhat controversial. You’ll want to be here. We’re going to talk about it. But before we do, let’s get some background. He says, "You will be baptized." Let’s see how this happened in Jesus’ life. In Luke, chapter 3, before Jesus goes into public ministry, He goes to be baptized. Remember His cousin John the...who? Baptist. You guys are quick. John the Baptist was baptizing. John was like this radical guy. He was a prophet. He was weird. He wears these clothes...he wears like really rough clothes and he wears them inside out. He eats locust and honey, and he doesn’t comb his hair. He would be an embarrassment. We wouldn’t use him as a greeter. But anyway, he preaches repentance, and he tells people, "You need to repent of your sin, and you need to be baptized." And when he does, people are convicted of their sin, and they go on and get baptized. Sometimes whole cities do. One day he was baptizing, and Jesus came. Jesus is his cousin, and John suddenly realizes who Jesus really is. Jesus says, "I want you to baptize Me," and John says, "Man, I shouldn’t be baptizing You. You should be baptizing me." Jesus says, "No, this is according to Scripture. You need to do it." So, John baptized Him. Then something really wild happens. It’s like heaven opens. The Holy Spirit comes on Jesus like a dove, it says, and then they hear the voice of God saying, "This is My Son, in whom I’m well pleased." What it was...it was validating Jesus’ public ministry. It says He came up out of the water full of the Holy Spirit. Something happened to Him. Then immediately after that in Luke 4, it says He was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert for a timeout, and it wasn’t a nice place to be. In fact, He was tempted. Now let me just make one little point here. Sometimes we feel like when things aren’t going right in our lives and things are hard and maybe we’re being tempted, sometimes we think...Well I must not be where God wants me to be. Well, you know what? Sometimes you’re right in the middle of where God wants you to be. The important thing is to listen to the Holy Spirit, to get to such a point that you’re led by the Holy Spirit and then to overcome where you are. You don’t run. You walk through. You overcome. Jesus overcame the temptation of the Devil. Then it says He went back to the city, and it says specifically...full of the Holy Spirit, full of the Holy Spirit’s power. Then He goes back to His original church where He grew up.

So He goes back to the home church. He takes up a scroll...Isaiah, the Word...and He reads from Isaiah, and He says this, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, for He has appointed Me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come."

Then He takes the scroll, and He rolls it up and He sets it down and He goes and sits down and everybody just kind of stares at Him. What’s up with that? Then He goes out and He does the stuff. Let me just make this point...most of the world-changing "stuff" does not happen in the church. Okay? This is not the most important thing that happens. We come together. We worship. We celebrate. We receive teaching. It ought to be a time of encouragement for one another, but it’s just building us up to go out where we do the stuff. Jesus got up and He went out and He did the stuff. What did He do? He healed the blind. He set captives free. Some of them were bound by demons they couldn’t overcome. He preached the good news to the poor, and then He said, "The Day of the Lord’s favor is on you. This is good news." And He began to change the world. He showed the disciples, and He brought them along with Him. He said, "Okay guys. Watch this." Then in His last talk to them, just before He was crucified, He sat down with them and He said this...He said, "But when the Father sends the Counselor as My representative--and by the Counselor I mean the Holy Spirit--He will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I Myself have told you." He said, "There is going to come a day. You need to remember this. There is going to come a day when the Father is going to send you the Holy Spirit, and you’re not going to be alone. I’ve called you to change the world and do things that you would never dream that you could do. But you’re not going to do them in your own power. You’re going to do them in the same power that I did. You’re going to be baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit." "The Holy Spirit is going to be like a coach for you. There are going to be times when you’re going to be out there and you’re going to need to know a word I said. And all of a sudden it’s going to pop into your mind and the reason it’s going to pop into your mind is because the Holy Spirit brought it because of the power that is inside of you." There are going to be times when you’re going to need to pray for people and you won’t know how to pray, and the Holy Spirit is going to pray through you. There are going to be times you’re going to stand before people, and you won’t know what to say. When people are opposed to the message, when people are criticizing you, you won’t know what to say. And in that moment the Coach, the Holy Spirit will come on you and you’ll say the right things. There will be times when you will be so sad because life doesn’t always work the way that you want it to. And there will be grief because the world is broken, and in those moments, the Holy Spirit will come, and He will minister to you a peace that you will not understand. And when He does, you’re going to impact everybody around you and they’re going to be changed. And do you know what? That’s exactly what God wants to do through you. It’s exactly the same thing. He says we’re to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Then we’re to be filled again and again and again with the Holy Spirit so He can work through us and in us and that the world would be changed. So, take a timeout.

Take a Timeout The second thing you do if you’re going to change the world...get everything that God has for you...everything.

Get all that God has for you.

Refuse to be Distracted.

Then the third thing you do is this...you refuse to be distracted. If we’re going to accomplish anything significant in life, you must be focused. You must be... Do you get distracted easily or is it just me? You must stay focused. You must stay focused. You get going on the right track and then all kinds of things happen. It happened to the disciples. They had been called. They’d been trained to change the world. Jesus had been with them for three years. He gave them a last-minute pep talk before He died and now, He’s saying it again. He said, "Okay, you go wait because it’s going to happen. We’re going to change the world. Don’t go until you’re full of the Holy Spirit. Don’t go until the gift from the Father comes." Look at their next question. When the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking Him,

Acts 1:6 (ESV)

Acts 1:6 ESV

6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

6So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

Now this is a big deal to them because they’re under Roman domination. Life is hard, okay? Life is really hard for them right now. They’re pumped up. Jesus is alive. They had been depressed because they thought He was dead and now He is alive. He is God and He is going to use them, and they said, "Is now the time that you get rid of the Romans?" They say, "Is now the time you set Israel free and make our lives easier?" God has a bigger vision. God has a vision not just to free Israel but to free the world. Our agendas, even our big ones, are shortsighted considering God’s vision. As a church it is so easy to get sidetracked with the trivial and off the mission that God has.

The church has progressed. I think God is doing great things. But you know what? The church gets distracted off the mission. In fact, today I think most of the church is distracted. I think we get distracted sometimes. Churches get distracted. Churches fight over worship styles...and the world is broken. Churches fight over the color of the carpet...and people are blind. Churches fight over the volume of the music...and there are captives that are bound. Churches fight over whether the preacher should be live or on video...and there are people dying and families broken apart and people without God. Churches fight over whether the pastor should wear jeans or khakis or ties. Jesus says there are poor who need to hear the good news. Blind eyes need to be opened. Captives need to be set free in Randolph, Bethel, Braintree, Royalton, Montpelier, Burlington and Vermont, the USA, and all over the world. They need to know the time of the Lord’s favor has come, and you’re arguing about whether the gifts of the Spirit should be used in the church or whether they’re used enough and whether we’re Spirit-filled enough or whether people should speak in tongues or shouldn’t speak in tongues. The church gets distracted. That’s just stuff. Our agendas are shortsighted in light of God’s vision. Lord, are you going to free Israel now? Notice Jesus didn’t respond by saying, "Hey, great question. One day, I’ll send my servant Tim LaHaye to write a bunch of books to explain everything and then Kirk Cameron will act it all out for you." No, here is what He said. He said,

Acts 1:7 (ESV)

Acts 1:7 ESV

7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.

7He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.

Can I say to you church...don’t get distracted by the trivial. When is Jesus coming? When is the world going to end? Will it happen in 2022? I’m not on the date-and-time committee. I’m on the change-the-world-until-He-comes committee. That’s what I know. Do what you know to do and don’t worry about it.

You’ve been called to change your world.

Take a Timeout.

Get all God has for You.

Don’t get Distracted.

The fourth thing you do is...expect to be used by God.

Expect to be Used by God.

Expect to be used by God. This is the key verse, and I want you to read it out loud.

Acts 1:8 (ESV)

Acts 1:8 ESV

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.”

8But 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.”

He says, "When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will..." Circle the word will. You will receive power. "You will be My witnesses in Jerusalem [which was the local area], Judea [which was kind of the county around there], Samaria [which was not very far but totally cross-cultural...different group of people], and to the ends of the earth." Fortunately, they followed the instructions, and a small ragtag group of ordinary people started a revolution that continues to change the world. And trust me...these were normal, ordinary people. Some of them were fisherman, just normal fisherman. One of them was a tax collector who was despised. One of them was way overconfident. Two of them craved social recognition for all the wrong reasons. They wanted to be first. One was a skeptic who had problems believing. Yet they took a timeout. They received all God had for them. They continued to focus on the mission. And God used them beyond imagination. We’re going to study how God used them...unbelievable! Some of them received miraculous gifts from God. Gifts where they would walk through, and touch people and they would be healed. Even their shadow would touch people and they would be healed. Others didn’t receive that miraculous gift, but they got into healing. In fact, did you know the hospitals were first created by the church...Christians? Nursing associations were created by Christians because the Greek and Roman societies of the time cared very little about the weak. It was all about the strong. And here were Christians...countercultural who went, and they changed their world. In fact, they did so many things. During that time there was very little value of life. Children were often abandoned if they were not totally healthy or if they were girls because women had very little value in the society. If you had more than one girl in your family most generally you would either abandon the next one or drown them at birth. You say, "How can mothers do that?" Because they were so saturated in the culture. It’s just what they did. Is it very different from killing a baby who is still in the womb? People who wrote in the first century about the first century church who weren’t even Christians said, "One of the most amazing things about these people is that they take orphans in. They practice the kind of hospitality that’s not just, "Let’s go out to eat together. It’s...why don’t you come live with me if you don’t have a place?" They changed the world. They lived in a culture of death. Violence was premium. The Coliseum is a great, architectural wonder...60,000 people could fit in it. It was built 80 AD, not long after Acts was written. And the specific use of the Coliseum was so that gladiators, slaves, people who were captured from other cultures, people who didn’t matter in that culture that never could matter, were placed in there to fight against one another, or animals, to the death. What is the difference between NFL Football and gladiators? It was a fight to the death. It was a different thing. They gloried in it, and it was the Christians who eliminated it. First, they boycotted the games. They wouldn’t go. Then some of them got involved in politics because that’s what God had called them to do and be. Ultimately, a Christian emperor eliminated the blood sport of Rome. In fact, if you study down through history, you’ll see that where there has been a Christian... Oh, there have been bad things happen through the name of Christianity, but when there has been a real Christian influence, it has been life-giving and world changing. In fact, in Acts, chapter 17, verse 6, it said about this ragtag group a few years later, "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also." William Carey, who is the father of modern missionary movement, said this. He said it like this, and I love it. He said, "Here is what you need to do. If you’re going to be a world changer you need to expect great things from God and then attempt great things for God." Do you like that? Expect great things from God and then attempt great things for God. Now if you try to do that, you’ll have critics who will rise up and tell you it can’t be done. There is not enough money. Who are you? It can’t be done. They have the ministry of discouragement, the gift of criticism. But you know what? God wants you to do it anyway and to ignore them! God has a calling on this church. He has a calling on you. Take a timeout, Get everything Godhas for you, Stay focused, and Expect great things from God. I’m praying that God will grace some of you with those gifts. Gifts of mercy and compassion. Some of you will have tremendous gifts of encouragement and gifts of teaching, and you’re going to change the world through that. Some will be drawn to the poor, to the forgotten, to the undeserved. Some will be moved by injustices, and ultimately, you’ll discover...You know what? I think God is calling me to politics to help change that. We need people, Christians who will change the world in every arena that is out there...as doctors and teachers and mothers and lawyers and politicians and service industry people. Some will do acts of kindness. Some of you will write music and books that draw people to the majesty of God. Some will teach children. Where will you do it? You’ll do it in the church, in Jerusalem. You’ll do it in the community, which is Judea. You’ll do it cross-culturally, which might be in another culture from you. And you’ll do it around the world. But God has called us to change the world.