Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:16] Amen. All right, so today's going to be just a bit of an introduction to the Book of Acts.
[00:00:23] Before we planted Redemption Hill, I had the opportunity to go through a. What was called a church planting residency that was about a year long.
[00:00:32] It was me and four other guys from around the country. We would all meet somewhere outside of Texas, usually once a month for five days out of the month. We would come together, different pastors, different denominations, different networks. And it was a really profoundly simple concept, but one that just God used to forever change my life.
[00:00:51] That when you put pastors in a room together that are not a part of one another's ministerial sphere, friendships are forged. And friendship is often one of the things that keeps guys in ministry. So it's. It was a massively impactful thing for me. And one of those sessions, Sydney was actually invited to come as the other wives, and we all met together in. Do you remember where it was?
[00:01:13] Ohio. We were all in Ohio.
[00:01:15] And one of the sessions was with an older couple who came in, and they kind of gave us this illustration that Sydney and I have always found to be very helpful. And it was the illustration of a courtroom. And here was kind of the basic idea was that as Christians, we all kind of live in a courtroom of sorts. Okay. In the sense that much of our life, we go before the judgment seat of somebody. So whether that's the judgment seat of ourself, we're our own judge, or whether it's we're submitting ourselves to the judgment of another person. And what they determine about you is what's most true about you, whatever the case. Or if it's Satan. Right. Like scripture says that Satan is the accuser of the brothers and sisters.
[00:01:58] That that's what he does. He's about accusing you and reminding you of your condemnation under the law. Always omitting the reality that Jesus came to fulfill the law and is actually rescued from that. Right. Rescued you from that. So whatever courtroom you and I live in, she said this. She said, if you were to think of it like a box and you were to cut the corners of that box like you would a cardboard box with a box cutter, and all of the walls fell down, you would realize that all the while you've been in the courtroom of God and in the courtroom of God because of Christ and what Christ has accomplished on our behalf, you and I, for those who have faith in Jesus, are declared righteous before God. Not because of anything you've done, but because of what Jesus accomplished on your behalf.
[00:02:47] You and I Live in the courtroom of God. Regardless of what you think and how you feel and how much you struggle to believe, God really loves you or has accepted you fully. If you're a believer in Jesus, the reality is you are righteous before God because of Jesus. And the reason I bring this up to you is I think we could take a similar analogy in the Book of Acts in the sense of story.
[00:03:12] You and I all live within a story.
[00:03:15] We live within our many of us. The way that we think about this is our individual story.
[00:03:21] What's God's will for my life? What does God want of me? What does he want me to do? What kind of job does he want me to take? Who does he want me to marry? Does he want me to have kids?
[00:03:30] All of these kinds of things are things that we think about on a day by day basis. We live within the framework of our story.
[00:03:37] And if we're not careful, we will miss the forest for the trees, if you know what I mean.
[00:03:43] We'll miss the reality that although you and I, I mean, they're a collective, you know, 120 people in the room, stories in the room, that all of these are micro stories that fit within the grand story of God.
[00:03:58] Okay, so the Book of Acts, in other words, is not just a book about the Acts of the Apostles, which is what our Bibles typically label it as. It's not just about the Acts of the Holy Spirit.
[00:04:13] The Book of Acts is a continuation of the story of God.
[00:04:19] This is what the Book of Acts is about. It's about the rule and reign of Jesus following his ascension to heaven.
[00:04:26] Jesus dies on the cross for the sins of his people. He lives a perfect life. He dies on the cross, becoming sin on our behalf. He's resurrected. Three days later, he appears to the disciples, which is what we're going to talk about today. He ascends back up to the right hand of God where he now and starting in Acts, but where he now currently rules and reigns as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This is who Jesus is.
[00:04:49] And so the Book of Acts is a continuation of this macro story of God. And so I want to, I want to ask you to consider this question this morning. Okay? Which story or whose story are you most mindful of on a day by day basis?
[00:05:07] A. Whose story are you most mindful of on a day by day basis?
[00:05:16] Is it, Is it most. Is it the thought of your own life, your own job, your own family, your own ambition, your own desires, all of which are good things?
[00:05:28] Your own Dreams and goals is this? Are these the things that fill your mind most of the time?
[00:05:39] Or how often, if ever, are you even cognizant of the reality that you live within God's story?
[00:05:48] That all of life, your family, your job, or the family you desire to have your ministry in the church are all a part of God's grand story?
[00:06:04] Whose story do you live most mindful of? Yours or God's?
[00:06:11] And so, again, by means of introduction, the Book of Acts is a continuation of the story of God that begins in the Book of Genesis.
[00:06:21] This is, if you think about maybe, and I should have put a diagram up on the screen so you guys could see this, but it's a simple enough one for you to picture in your minds. If you think about an arrow pointing in a continuum, then here's how you can think about the Book of Acts. Old Testament Gospel of Luke Book of Acts Old Testament Gospel of Luke Book of Acts There are lots and lots of theological concepts in the Book of Acts that we could get caught up on. Like, what do tongues look like today? Is there a subsequent baptism of the Holy Spirit in the life of Christ? Like, all these kinds of things the church has debated over 2000 years. And again, we need not miss the forest or the trees. We'll talk about all of those things through the Book of Acts. But far above and beyond all of those things, we have to see the Book of Acts as a continuation of the story of God. Old Testament Book of Luke Book of Acts Luke writes both the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts. Acts could be considered part two of the Gospel of Luke. It's like the sequel to the Gospel of Luke. So if Luke accounts the birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, then the Book of Acts details the rule and reign of the risen Jesus as he is today.
[00:07:40] And so, as one author said, the Book of Acts could be renamed not the Acts of the Apostles or the Acts of the Holy Spirit, but could be renamed the Acts of the risen Lord Jesus.
[00:07:49] It is Jesus ruling and reigning over all things through the person of the Holy Spirit, accomplishing all the things that we see in the church and in the Book of Acts. And it is as it is today as well.
[00:08:04] So let's just break down the text in kind of two to three sections. Okay. We're just going to walk through the text together. So number one, why did Luke write the Book of Acts? Let's look at verses one through five.
[00:08:18] He says, in the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. So he states in the first couple of verses that this is part two of his Gospel. He writes to the same person, Theophilus. He's not just writing to Theophilus. However, the Holy Spirit inspires Luke to write these books for both Jew and Gentile audience. For a Jew and Gentile audience, says in verse three, he that being Jesus, presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during the 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
[00:09:08] And while staying with them, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father. And which he said, you heard from me, for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. So the. The phrase that I really want to lock in on as we're answering this question of why did the Holy Spirit inspire Luke to write both the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts? Is this phrase many proofs.
[00:09:39] The phrase many proofs. If you turn back to Luke chapter one, you don't have to do it. I'll read it for you. But Luke, chapter one, verses one through four, Luke says a very similar thing as he's giving the reason behind why he decided to write the Gospel of Luke. He says, inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word had have delivered them to us.
[00:10:06] It seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you. Most excellent, Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. Many proofs and certainty. Luke's driving desire in writing both the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts is that you and I, by the grace of God, might have certainty as it pertains to who Jesus is and what he came to do.
[00:10:37] And we might have certainty through many proofs, meaning that Christianity is not a religion of blind faith.
[00:10:45] Christianity isn't just about, hey, we hope it's true, because we really like these ideas and concepts. Christianity is a religion based off facts, eyewitness accounts, orderly accounts, many proofs.
[00:11:02] Jesus is either alive or he isn't alive.
[00:11:06] He's either still dead somewhere in the world, in the Middle east, we haven't found his body yet, or after three days of death by crucifixion by the power of God, he was raised to life. And he appeared to many who heard what Jesus said, saw his body, touched his hands, embraced him and wrote it down.
[00:11:27] And so Luke says, I'm writing these things to you that you might have certainty. We talk about assurance a lot at Redemption Hill. Many Christians struggle with assurance.
[00:11:38] How do I know? How do I know God loves me? How do I know he's real? How do I know he really did what he said he did in the Bible and that he would do what he promised to do? How do I know these things? And here's the good news. Assurance is not necessary for salvation.
[00:11:53] Salvation being right with God, being forgiven of your sins is only by grace through faith in Jesus.
[00:12:00] There's nothing else by grace, through faith in Jesus. And out of the overflow of genuine faith by a person who's filled with the Holy Spirit comes works. So it's not faith plus works, it's faith. And true saving faith always leads to a changed life.
[00:12:16] So by grace through faith, that is what saves us. So assurance is not necessary for salvation, but assurance is necessary for joy and it's necessary for comfort. And it's necessary for confidence and courage and all of what's needed for you and I to live as followers of Jesus as we await his return or the day that we go home.
[00:12:37] And so he writes these things that you and I, as Christians in the midst of a dark and twisted culture, might have certainty.
[00:12:46] To be assured of this rock solid truth, Jesus is alive.
[00:12:52] He's no longer in the grave. He wasn't just a good moral teacher. He wasn't just a revolutionary. Jesus is God. And he proved that he was God when he rose from the grave.
[00:13:04] Death doesn't have the final say. Christ has the final say. He's defeated the greatest enemy, death.
[00:13:10] He's alive.
[00:13:12] And we can have certainty of these things. Luke says, this is why I'm writing this book to you, so that you'd have certainty. And here's one of the reasons you and I can have certainty is after he rose from the grave, he appeared for 40 days.
[00:13:24] He didn't have to do that.
[00:13:26] Like Jesus could have appeared to his 12 and gone up to heaven and that would have been, well, sufficient enough. But he didn't do it for 40 days. He sticks around and he hangs out and we don't know all of what he did in those days. We know that he probably, I mean, certainly he didn't probably he ate with his disciples.
[00:13:44] He does that with Peter on the beach. That's amazing.
[00:13:48] And for 40 days, he sticks around and he hangs out with his friends and he tells him about the kingdom of God.
[00:13:57] So for 40 days, Jesus hangs out and he's teaching them about the kingdom of God.
[00:14:08] I want you to consider, friends, how it might, how your life might change this year in 2026, if by the grace of God, you believed just a little bit more that Jesus really was alive.
[00:14:22] None of us are going to experience perfect faith on this side of heaven.
[00:14:26] So stop thinking that that's what the Christian life is, that you believe perfectly and never have doubts. You're going to have doubts.
[00:14:34] But if by the grace of God, as Paul prays in Ephesians 3, he says, I pray that the eyes of your heart would be enlightened or opened, that you would know just a little bit more, that you would know the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of God for you.
[00:14:54] Like, if you believed just a little bit more, that because of Christ's death and resurrection, your sin really has been taken care of, completely put behind his back, as one author says. The Bible says this cast into the heart of the sea, an author says, and in that sea, there's a sign on the outside saying, no fishing allowed. It's kind of cheesy, but it helps me.
[00:15:17] Right, like, you can't go into that sea and retrieve your sin. Your sin has been cast away.
[00:15:24] There's no retrieving it anymore.
[00:15:27] It's been cast away. And not just cast away as if being forgiven by God was enough, but you've actually been clothed with the very righteousness of Christ himself.
[00:15:38] If you just believe that a little bit more by the grace of God, like, what would change in life? What would change in our church?
[00:15:48] How might we sing different if we believed that Christ really was alive? How would you sing if Christ stood on the stage bodily in front of you, how would you sing to him?
[00:16:00] Would you sing with your hands in your pockets? No shade. I do that.
[00:16:05] Like, how might you sing if you really believe just a little bit more that Jesus was alive, would you leave service on a Sunday morning mad at your spouse? If you really believed a little bit more that Jesus was alive, would you leave feeling hopeless and sorrowful because of your continued sin? If you really believe just a little bit more that Jesus was alive, what might change? Luke writes, that you and I might have certainty concerning the things that Jesus did, said, and accomplished on our behalf, that we might have certainty as it pertains to Jesus.
[00:16:51] So that's verses one through Five, he writes the book. And we'll come back to this week in and week out so that you and I might have certainty by the grace of God pertaining to who Jesus is. And then the second and last question I want to answer today, we'll spend some time on this is, what's the theme of the book? So what's the book of Acts about if he writes this book? That you and I might have certainty as followers of Jesus, because difficult times will come, tragedy will come, cancer will come, loss will come in a variety of ways, opposition will come, persecution might come, who knows? And in the midst of all of these kinds of things, it is necessary for you and I, by the grace of God, to have more and more and more certainty as it pertains to who Christ is.
[00:17:35] But why did he write the book? So what's the theme of the book?
[00:17:39] I'm sorry, that's why he wrote the book. What's the theme of the book? Look at verse six.
[00:17:44] Verse six says, so when they had come together, they asked him, lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?
[00:17:54] Okay, now there's a whole lot of conversation going on today about Israel and how Christians ought to think about the nation of Israel. And I'm not really gonna get into that today.
[00:18:05] So maybe in the coming weeks we'll talk a little bit more about that. We're going to go very high level this morning. But here's the question that they have. Will you, at this time Jesus, restore the kingdom of God to Israel? Some authors think that that question was motivated out of a reductionistic, nationalistic mindset from Jesus followers at this Are you going to restore the kingdom to us? Because this is really about us.
[00:18:31] But I think if we read the text, it's possible. Like that's possible that that's what they're doing. But the text doesn't necessarily say that. And by the way Jesus responds, we can't necessarily conclude that.
[00:18:44] So what what I think, and what other authors, some other authors believe as well, just given what we see in the text, is that this particular topic probably was something that Jesus had talked about over the last 40 days.
[00:18:58] So Jesus had risen from the grave, he's teaching about the kingdom of God, and at some point he's talking about the kingdom of God being restored to Israel. And that's why they ask, hey, at what point? And so Jesus doesn't rebuke the question.
[00:19:10] He clarifies the issue of timing.
[00:19:15] He doesn't tell him not to ask that, but he responds in this way. In verse seven, he said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.
[00:19:31] It's not for you to know.
[00:19:33] It's not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.
[00:19:43] Jesus does not rebuke or correct their question about the kingdom being restored to Israel. He only reinforces the reality that the timing of God's plans are not for them to know.
[00:19:54] And this is true on a macro level as it pertains to the consummated kingdom of God. So I'll talk about this a little bit more in just a few minutes. So in other words, it's not for you and I or for them to know when Christ will return to make all things new. That's not for us to know. The Father has fixed that time by his own authority.
[00:20:17] But on a micro level as well, it's not for you and I to know the plans of God as it pertains to all sorts of things.
[00:20:27] The Father has fixed all things according to his will, for his glory and for our good and joy by his own authority. It's not for them to know the details of all of that. That's it belongs to God alone.
[00:20:44] But what does Jesus do in verse 8? He says this as it pertains to their question, when will you restore the kingdom of God to Israel?
[00:20:55] Says in verse eight, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.
[00:21:13] And so in verse 8, Jesus is going to show that what's happening in their time is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, primarily using texts in the book of Isaiah, chapter 32, chapter 43, chapter 44, chapter 49, all speak to this idea that there's coming a day in Isaiah's prophecy time. There's coming a day by which God is going to establish a new covenant with his people.
[00:21:42] He's going to take the law written on stone, and he's going to take that good law, and he's going to write it on the human hearts of his people by the power of His Spirit. There's coming a day when the removal of sin is not going to be a temporary thing that's mediated by a human priest, by an exclusively human priest at a temple or a tabernacle. There's coming a day by which the greater high priest, the final high priest, the greater prophet, is going to come and lay down his life and shed his blood for the complete remission of sin once for all.
[00:22:19] This is the new covenant by which God's people wouldn't just experience God when they traveled to a place, but that the presence and person of God would indwell them permanently through the person of the Holy Spirit.
[00:22:33] And so Jesus is saying that this prophecy from long, long ago is being fulfilled in part right now. In this time when God's new covenant people would be empowered by His Spirit and would live as his witnesses to people in Israel. Jerusalem, the capital city, Judea, Samaria. But that it wouldn't just end with Israel. It would also be to the ends of the ear.
[00:23:04] So they're going to be his witnesses, empowered by His Spirit. First in Jerusalem, where they were.
[00:23:12] It's going to extend out mostly by persecution into Judea, into Samaria. And it's not going to end there. It's going to be for all peoples everywhere, to the ends of the earth. What are they to be witnesses of? They're not merely to be witnesses of the wonderful acts of God, though those are great things to talk about. They're not merely to be witnesses of their testimony of how they were personally transformed by the Gospel of Jesus. They were to be eyewitnesses of Christ's resurrection and reign.
[00:23:42] This was the message they were to proclaim in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the very ends of the earth. Jesus Christ is alive and he's the king. Now, Caesar's not the king, not the true king of kings. Jesus is the king of kings. You're to follow him.
[00:23:59] He's the king. This was their message. It's not that sharing their testimony was bad. It wasn't. It's not that talking about the wonderful things God does in life is bad. It's a wonderful thing to do. It's just not the central message.
[00:24:12] The central message is resurrection.
[00:24:16] Christ's life, his death on the cross for sin. His resurrection from the grave, defeating sin, death, Satan and hell. And his ascension to heaven, where he now rules and reigns as king. This is proclamation.
[00:24:30] This is what they're to be witnesses of. Be a witness of all that you've seen. I'm alive. Tell everybody about it.
[00:24:37] Jesus is alive. And they're not just to go out and be his witnesses. They're to go out empowered by the spirit of Christ himself to be their witnesses. To be his witnesses.
[00:24:49] Jesus Christ is the risen King of kings.
[00:24:53] In the first coming of Jesus, the kingdom of God has come. In one sense, it's been inaugurated. Jesus inaugurated the kingdom of God when He came the first time in the incarnation, lived, died, rose.
[00:25:08] And because of his life, death and resurrection, the blessings of the kingdom of God may now be received by anyone, anywhere.
[00:25:17] Not just people in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, but to the ends of the earth, anyone, everywhere. Now, because the curtain has been torn from top to bottom that once separated sinners from God. When Christ died, the curtain was torn. When he rose, he solidified the salvation of his people. And now this good news that you can get in on these kingdom blessings. You can be a part of a kingdom that will not and cannot be shaken. You can be a part of a kingdom that is governed by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, not a corrupt politician. You can be a part of this kingdom and you can receive eternal blessings and life eternal forevermore with God. It's available to you, it's available to anyone, anywhere. And it's not on the basis of what you do, but on who you trust.
[00:26:03] Kingdom blessings are available to anyone, anywhere. Through faith in Jesus alone, Jesus has paid the price for sinners and sufferers to be forgiven of sin and reconciled to God. And so question for you is, have you.
[00:26:20] Have you received Him?
[00:26:24] Have you received this King?
[00:26:30] Have you received these kingdom blessings?
[00:26:34] Has your sin been forgiven?
[00:26:37] You're like, well, I don't know.
[00:26:39] I'm not that bad of a person.
[00:26:42] I'm not as bad as these people over here.
[00:26:45] I've never killed anybody. I've never cheated on my spouse. I've never. Et cetera. However you want to fill in the blank.
[00:26:54] We're not forgiven of our sin. We're not made right with God.
[00:27:00] We're not welcomed into the kingdom of God on the basis of anything that we do.
[00:27:06] Have you received Jesus?
[00:27:08] Have you trusted Jesus?
[00:27:12] Have you rested in his perfect life?
[00:27:17] Have you trusted in his death on the cross in your place for your sin?
[00:27:24] Do you believe that he rose from the grave? Paul says in Romans 10, one of my favorite verses.
[00:27:30] If we.
[00:27:31] If we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
[00:27:43] So if you're a Christian and you struggle with assurance, find your assurance there in the promise of God.
[00:27:50] He promised it. If that's not true, then God's a liar.
[00:27:57] You confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. The blessings of the kingdom and the King himself become yours.
[00:28:13] And for those who have so, for those in the room who are Christians.
[00:28:19] We can walk away with this. This morning, you are a witness for Christ as the first century disciples, followers of Jesus were called by Jesus himself. You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, empowered by my spirit.
[00:28:40] So it is with you. You and I are not eyewitnesses in the same way. We've never seen Jesus face to face. We will.
[00:28:47] It's going to be amazing. It'll be the greatest day ever when we see Jesus face to face.
[00:28:52] And all of your sorrows just melt away. All the sad things that you and I experience on this side of heaven are gone forever as we gaze upon the beauty of beauty himself.
[00:29:03] We changed, John says, because we'll see him as he is.
[00:29:08] So we're not eyewitnesses in that way, but we are eyewitnesses in the sense that if the Spirit of God has unveiled your eyes and you've put your trust in Christ and what Christ has done, you're an eyewitness to the resurrected Christ.
[00:29:22] Our theme over the next six weeks is chosen and called, called and chosen.
[00:29:32] And I think that's so significant as we start the Book of Acts, because it reminds us that really all of life or much of life flows out of who you believe you are.
[00:29:44] It flows out of identity.
[00:29:51] We are witnesses to the risen Jesus.
[00:29:54] Chosen in Christ, adopted in Christ, loved by God, in Christ, forgiven in Christ, cleansed in Christ, righteous in Christ, saints in Christ, and witnesses for Christ by the power of the Spirit.
[00:30:13] This is who you are? This is who I am. And I was reflecting on this earlier this week in my own life.
[00:30:22] It's interesting. Yeah. So I became a Christian. Okay, quick backstory. I did not grow up in the church. When I was 13 years old, my grandparents adopted me. Okay. So I was living in a very abusive home with my stepdad. My mom died when I was 7. Lived with my stepdad from 7 to 13.
[00:30:37] Super abusive home. And so my grandparents in many ways rescued me. They adopted me when I was 13. And at that point, so much in my life changed. I was still Brad, but man, I got rid of my glasses. I used to wear glasses. No shade on people that wore glasses. Got rid of my glasses. I got braces. I changed my name from Bradley to Brad and my last name changed. Like, so much about my identity changed at that point. And I think some of us as Christians still live as if we're in the old self.
[00:31:09] Like, we still live as if we're in Adam.
[00:31:13] We think that way, right? We think that way about many things. And as the longer I walk with Jesus, the more I realize that things when I first became a Christian at 21, that were not a big deal to me at all in terms of temptations. Like, I had big, quote, unquote, big things in my life that I needed the Lord Jesus to rescue me from.
[00:31:35] But the longer I walk with Jesus, the more I realize it's not necessarily those big, massive things anymore. It's little things. It's what the Song of Solomon talks about, like foxes in the vineyard.
[00:31:46] Maybe they're not necessarily, like, overtly sinful things, maybe they're not these big, massive things, but they're distracting.
[00:31:53] And if I'm not careful, I will find myself easily being swayed back into living like I used to live when I was apart from Christ and in Adam.
[00:32:05] And we need to be reminded that by the grace of God, he's delivered you out of that place. He's delivered you out of that kingdom.
[00:32:12] He set you on your feet. He's filled you with his spirit. He's given you a new name and a new identity. And one of the aspects of that identity, in addition to all of what I just mentioned, is a wonderful responsibility that you and I are called to be witnesses.
[00:32:27] Witnesses to the resurrected Jesus.
[00:32:32] What do you need to give up, man, this year? I'm not just talking to the men when I say man. That's a filler word. What do you. What do you need to give up this year to more exclusively focus on who you are in Jesus, that you might have more of him and that you might leverage your life for the sake of his kingdom as a witness. What do you need to give up?
[00:32:56] And it could be a variety of things. And none of these things, like I said, are overtly sinful.
[00:33:01] Like, maybe you need to give up playing video games.
[00:33:05] It's just too much time.
[00:33:08] It's too distracting.
[00:33:11] I mean, maybe some of us need to put our phone away. Maybe some of us need to get rid of our smartphone and get a dumb phone. Maybe some of us. I mean, maybe some of us, again, there could be a variety of things. Some of us need to give up. Alcohol could be a variety of things that aren't necessarily in and of themselves bad, but they've distracted us so much from our calling to be witnesses, empowered and filled by the spirit of God, to leverage the few moments we have on this side of heaven as witnesses of the risen Jesus.
[00:33:48] We have so little time.
[00:33:50] And this is not to say don't have fun. It's not to say, don't enjoy life. You should enjoy life. You should have fun to the glory of God. But don't do it at the expense of one of the primary reasons you're here.
[00:34:01] To be a witness to Jesus, Empowered by the Spirit of God. Not on the basis of your own strength, not on the basis of your own intellect.
[00:34:14] Because we are, as Paul said, we're jars of clay.
[00:34:19] That's what we are.
[00:34:21] We have nothing in and of ourselves to accomplish this task, as we'll see as we study the book of Acts. This is all. This is all from God, not about the apostles.
[00:34:32] It's all from God. As it is for you and I today and in the midst of living as witnesses, if you and I will take up this mantle, this is it. I've got two minutes.
[00:34:44] As you and I take up this mantle, if you will, if you'll heed this invitation, come to Jesus. Remind yourself that you've been empowered and filled by the Holy Spirit to live as a witness to the resurrected Jesus. If you'll take up this mantle, I promise you this. There will be opposition.
[00:35:03] It might not be physical opposition in the same way that our brothers and sisters in Nigeria are experiencing now. It might not be like that.
[00:35:13] It could be spiritual opposition, certainly will be. That could be emotional difficulty. That feels like opposition, circumstantial opposition. It could be person on person opposition.
[00:35:25] If and when you share the gospel or try to share the gospel with somebody, call somebody to repentance and faith, there will be opposition. Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:12. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
[00:35:41] So it is not normal for the Christian to go through life very comfortable.
[00:35:45] Like, that's not it. You look at the history of the church. That's not the way things typically are with people who get serious about following Jesus.
[00:35:54] Everybody likes him all the time. Nobody ever says anything bad about him. Nobody ever critiques them. That's not. If you're living by the grace of God as a witness to the resurrected Jesus, there will be opposition. And so our hope in the midst of that opposition comes from verses 9 through 11. And this is what we'll close with today, verses 9 through 11.
[00:36:17] When Jesus had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight.
[00:36:25] And while they were gazing into heaven, as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?
[00:36:35] This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven. Listen to this. Circle this, think about this will come.
[00:36:45] He will come in the same way that you saw him go into heaven. This is the hope for the Christian.
[00:36:52] In the same way that Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father in heaven, before their eyes, as they sat gazing stupefied at the fact that Jesus had flown away into heaven, angels appear and they say, hey, why are you looking into heaven? You've got a job to do.
[00:37:07] You've got things to do.
[00:37:08] You've got purpose.
[00:37:10] Your purpose is so much bigger and grander than you could ever fully comprehend.
[00:37:14] It's so much bigger than your phone.
[00:37:17] It's so much bigger than just living for your life, for your little existence. Like you've been called into a kingdom for a glorious and grand purpose. You've been liberated from your sin, you've been forgiven, you've been adopted into the family of God, and you've been called to be a witness to Christ. And as you experience opposition, remember this, that. That Jesus, who you saw go into heaven, will come in the same way that you saw him go. The trumpet will blast, the sky will split. Jesus will come. He'll judge the living and the dead. He'll establish his kingdom on earth and all will be well.
[00:37:50] And so Randy Alcorn says, the best of life on earth is a glimpse of heaven.
[00:37:55] The worst of life is a glimpse of hell.
[00:37:59] For Christians, this present life is the closest they will come to hell.
[00:38:07] It only gets better.
[00:38:09] For those who say yes to Jesus, let's pray together.
