Sermon Tone Analysis

We are continuing in our series “God’s Story, My Story” [3 weeks left, counting today]… we are learning to find our place in God’s unfolding story of salvation through Jesus Christ...

We are seeing that OUR stories… the stories of our lives… are not ultimately about us…

they are about God… and the work that he has been doing since he created the universe.

Just think about the POWER that God demonstrates in creating and sustaining everything in the universe for all of time...

This is a cluster of stars known as the Pleaiades… [show picture]

I did a little stargazing on my way in to the church building… from my car in the parking lot, I was able to find this constellation just above the church building… just Northeast of Orion… it looked like tiny little specks of dust…

They are over 2,604 TRILLION miles away from the earth… to our naked eye they look like a group of 7 stars (if you can see all of them)… but in reality there are over 3000 stars in that star cluster,

At one point in the scriptures, God asks one of his servants named Job, “Can you tie up the stars of the Pleaiades?”

That would be hard enough if it were 7 stars… but then we realize that God is saying… “Can you harness the power of over 3000 stars that are over 2,604 trillion miles away from you?…

I can!”

In other words, God is saying… “Can you harness the power of over 3000 stars that are over 2,604 trillion miles away from you?…

I can!”

God CREATED all of that power and HARNESSES all of that power… ALONG with the power of the rest of the galaxies in the universe… to keep them in perfect order...

Now consider the power God demonstrated in creating humanity… [pick up dust pan]

Genesis tells us that he formed man of the dust, and he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life… and the man became a living creature.

That’s power...

Like… if any one of us takes the dust in this dust pan here and breathes on it… the only thing we are getting is a mess.

Now consider the power of God a little further in the story… in the Temple...

The most Holy Place was filled with what is called the Shekinah glory of God...

The evident presence of God among his people…

And God’s presence was so powerful that he split the red sea in two and held off the entire Egyptian army while the Israelites walked between the water on dry ground.

And to dedicate the thing, they lined up 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep

It was described as an All-Consuming Fire...

Or think about the resurrection...

God’s glory consumed burnt sacrifices without lighting a match...

The Bible says over and over that God RAISED Jesus from the dead by the working of his great power…

God’s glory killed people who didn’t treat him reverently enough...

There are so many other examples of the power of God that we could point to… but what I want you to understand today is that the same power that was at work since the beginning of time… is available to you and I today through faith in Jesus Christ.

We call him THE HOLY SPIRIT.

When a person puts their trust in Jesus Christ for salvation...

When they admit that HE is the only Savior from their sin… and HE is the only Lord of all the earth… when they surrender their lives to follow him… in THAT MOMENT, what is happening is that the SPIRIT OF GOD HIMSELF is working POWERFULLY to make spiritually dead people come to life...

We have to understand that in that moment the SPIRIT OF GOD is working POWERFULLY to make spiritually dead people come to life...

The same Spirit who was hovering over the waters in …

The same Spirit who was hovering over the waters in …

the same Spirit or “breath” of life that filled the lungs of Adam…

the same Spirit who was leading the Israelites through the wilderness…

The same Spirit who anointed the kings of Israel to win great victories and lead God’s people in righteousness… and departed from them when they rejected God..

The same Spirit who came upon the returned exiles to fill them with power to finish the work of the Lord in building the temple…

The same Spirit who led Jesus out into the wilderness as he was tempted through 40 days of fasting by the devil...

The same Spirit who was in the most Holy Place of the Temple… and tore the temple curtain open at the crucifixion of Christ…

The same Spirit who raised Jesus Christ our Lord from the dead…

That same Spirit indwells every true follower of Jesus Christ in the present age.

- You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.

Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

(ESV)

Do you believe that?

I mean… not just in your mind… but in the way you live your life… has that reality BLOWN your mind recently???

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.

Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

(ESV)

That through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, you get to have God himself who orders the heavens... uniquely dwelling inside you???

You must believe that your sin deserved eternal separation from God…

But that Jesus… the Son of God... died in your place to free you from the curse of that sin… that he paid the price of eternal death that you owed..

And that he rose again to give you a whole new life…

And if you truly believe THAT… then you realize that the new life he gives is the life of the Holy Spirit in you.

It’s not just life after you die… it’s the power of God at work in you NOW to change EVERYTHING about your life...

That if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, then God has given you the fullness of the same power that raised Jesus from the dead...

Your purpose… your priorities… your power over sin…

The curtain of the temple was torn… the glory of God departed… and then 50 days later, that same glory entered into God’s people and started the church.

The sacrifice had been made… total access to God’s presence had been purchased… now God’s people could live as they were intended to live…

Consumed by the power of God.

Do you believe that?

When you consider the sin that must be overcome in your life… do you believe that?

There is no sin so small that God doesn’t care about and no sin so big that he cannot overcome by the power of his Holy Spirit!

When you consider the service to the church that God has called you to do… maybe it’s teaching a kids class or leading a Gospel Community prayer time...

Do you think about the POWER that is immediately ready to get the job done?

When you consider the forgiveness and unity God has called you to maintain in the church… do you believe that the Spirit can do that work in your heart?

When you consider the person that God has put in your life to share the gospel with… do you believe the Spirit of God is with you to give you the words to say and to open their hearts?

God’s story is a story of the POWER of the Holy Spirit from beginning to end… and I SOOOO long for us to experience that…

Big Idea: Take hold of the power of the Spirit to be a witness for Jesus.

Big Idea: Participate in God's mission through God's Spirit as God's witness.

Context: Your Bibles are open to the book of Acts: 2nd volume written by Luke…

Acts tells the story of how the church first came into existence and how it expanded...

Really, the New Testament story wouldn’t really be much of a story if it weren’t for Acts...

The New Testament doesn’t have any shape… any historical context… and backbone of narrative… if we don’t have the book of Acts.

Most of the New Testament is a series of letters to young churches telling them what they need to believe and do...

Acts gives us the structure for how we should un

Acts tells us generally how those churches came to be churches in the first place...

We usually just call the book “Acts” based on it’s traditional title, “The Acts of the Apostles”… but many have rightly suggested it is better called, “The Acts of the Holy Spirit...” or “The Acts of Jesus THROUGH the Holy Spirit and his Apostles” (that would be a mouthful…)

But Luke says that in the first book (which we know as the Gospel of Luke), he wrote concerning all the things Jesus BEGAN to do and teach…

He says that in the first book (which we know as the Gospel of Luke), he wrote concerning all the things Jesus BEGAN to do and teach…

That means that Acts is the things that Jesus CONTINUED to do and teach…

But Jesus physically leaves the picture in chapter 1… and the rest of his work is carried out by the Holy Spirit at work through his body... the church.

So even though we are only in chapter 1 today, we are peering into the final physical appearance of Jesus to his disciples on the Mount of Olives…

And now 120 of them are gathered there… and we pick up the scene in v. 6…

And now 120 of them are gathered with Jesus on the Mount of Olives… this is the last interaction with Jesus before he ascends into heaven...

Read

You’ll remember that during Jesus’ life and ministry, he identified himself as the Promised Anointed King… the Messiah or the word we use more often… the Christ… and he preached, “The Kingdom of God is at hand… REPENT and believe in the gospel.”

Many people in Jesus’ day… including his disciples... were waiting for a political Messiah… (rescue from Roman oppression… bring back the scattered Israelites from the foreign nations… reestablish the throne of David)

And so his followers are like, “OK… NOW you have done what you said you would do… you died and rose again… is NOW the time???”

And we read in the Gospels that Jesus was constantly redirecting them to the true nature of his Kingdom...

One day in the future he would return to establish a physical kingdom on earth...

But it was not yet time for that… his mission in his first coming was not to restore the kingdom to Israel...

He had a different mission… to restore people from ALL nations to God.

The Kingdom… while it came THROUGH Israel… was to bless ALL nations.

It was ALL of God’s people… in God’s place… experiencing God’s power and presence.