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Right. So we're looking at the book of Acts and here I've encouraged you guys to turn there and I haven't turn there myself. What am I what am I continuing points of confusion is why the book of Acts is separated from the Gospel of Luke, right? If you're if you're turning in your Bible you're in your new testament and you're flipping through you come to the Book of Luke and then you read through that and then you come next to the Book of John and then you get to ask but act 1 indicates that first off this is not intended to be a standalone work. It was written to be a part of the Gospel of Luke. And so when you're looking at acts just understand diving into what is the second part of a work that has already been discussed. So we're going to be looking at acts but we did this is Lux second volume. Why do we call it asks? Why do we call the book acts? This is not I want you to understand when Luke wrote this he didn't write. Acts at the top of it like on the title page and he didn't write chapter 1 and chapter 2 and chapter 3, he wrote the book in its entirety as the church was wrestling with the tax and as they were looking at this and they began to understand it more. They said hey, we're going to call this the book of Acts that came from a fuller title that will used to be called The Acts of the Apostles The Acts of the Apostles. And so then we just shortened it down as we do with everything else. I mean, have you seen a text message lately? Like the English language is utterly unrecognizable via text. We've got emoticons. We've got like LOLs and all of that other stuff and it doesn't look like it. Well, this is not new. We've always shortened things used to be the Acts of the Apostles now, it's just contacts, but even that brought her title. Is not perfectly accurate instead. We need to understand it as the second part of the Book of Luke and Luke is the one who wrote this. Luke was most likely had never met. Jesus was likely from Antioch down there where the gospel first went there in the first century. He likely was one of the early Converse there. Perhaps it even been led to the Lord by the the man we call Paul but it's not something he walked around with Jesus like the 12 disciples. And so he resources he talked to different people and his goal was to sit down and orderly account of the Life of Christ and then an ax we see he's picking up this and look at verse one with me in the first book o the awfullest. I have dealt with all that just began to do and teach So he's starting out by saying look in the first book, which we know is the Gospel of Luke. I dealt with all that Jesus began the implication being that now the second book is going to continue talking about what Jesus is doing and teaching the book of Acts is less The Acts of the Apostles and more the acts of Christ through his people and the presence of the holy spirit's this is about Jesus. The book of Acts is about this Christ who is King he left the Earth, but he's continuing to work through his followers at the power and direction of the Holy Spirit night. So that is a brief introduction to the book of Acts. And if you don't believe me that was brief brief, you should read some of the commentaries on this book. Because they will take pages and pages and pages to give you the background. But that's free. If you want more information, there's a wall full of books in my office. You're welcome to read through chapter one. We're going to look particularly starting in verse for to do that. We understand that in the Gospel of Luke we read about the Life of Christ in the birth of Jesus growing up his ministry and then his death and then his resurrection after his resurrection. Jesus sat and talked with his this I believe walk to the me talking to me a date with them for 40 days 40 days of Jesus being alive from the dead his disciples there. And he was teaching them about the kingdom of God verse 3. It says he was teaching them about taking his teaching them all of this, but he was telling him as well. I'm going to be going away naturally pick up in verse 4. And while staying with him, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father 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 when they come together, they asked him Lord will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? He said to them it is not for you to know times are seasons that the father has fixed by his authority 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 end of the Earth when you said these things as they were looking on he was lifted up in a cloud took him out of their sight 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? This Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go in to heaven.

There's a word in here that I want us to zoom in and if you guys were paying attention to beginning it was it was the title for the message anybody remember? Wait, wait, not Saint Denis is where English just boggles my mind not weight. Which is something all of us will begin to be concerned about as we head into Thanksgiving and Christmas time, but wait wait, and I put an! In there. Why?

Because waiting is not something we do naturally. Alright kids. I want you to look up from your bulletin for just a second. What happens on December 25th? Christmas

parents. What do you have to tell your kids the closer you get to December 25th. Just wait. Kids, how hard is that? Yes, it is hard to wait for something you're excited about and that is the point. You're the reason I put an exclamation point is we need to understand the disciples were ecstatic at the resurrection. We sometimes lose sight of this if you've been in church for a while like it's easy to get bored by the truth of the Resurrection. It's easy to kind of Jesus rose from the dead. You know. moving on they weren't moving on from that. This is still mind-blowing to the disciples remind there like okay, this is happening. This is the thing that we waited for because we know that Jesus didn't just show up on the scene kind of denovo, right? Jesus did not just show up one day and it was like, okay, that's what we're waiting for know. He showed up to the Jewish people people who for centuries have been waiting for a messiah somebody who would come and deliver them from their enemies somebody who would come and bring freedom to than they've been in bondage for centuries. He was going to come and he was going to set them free until you get the picture here the disciples there. They're chomping at the bit. They're ready to go. Christmas is just around the corner. When do we get there? Is this the time that you'll be restoring the kingdom digital know Jesus says wait, Like a parent to a child wait, I know you're excited. I know you're looking forward to this, but you've got to wait why? Why why in the world did the disciples have to wait they were waiting for the Holy Spirit. They're waiting for this one that Jesus said the promise of the father. They were waiting for this one who was going to come in and power them to be his Witnesses. They were waiting for something that was incredible and this another fight. We're just like the resurrection we kind of get used to this idea in the church. We talk about the Holy Spirit, but it's kind of you know, we got the Holy Spirit. I want us to understand more about the Holy Spirit. And so this is a video from the Bible project. I'd highly encourage you to check out some of the resources on their website. This one is particularly helpful to get us in mind of why the coming of the Holy Spirit meant so much to the church done. If you've ever heard the phrase the Holy Spirit and you want to know what it means, where do you start you have to start on page one of the Bible where the uncreated world is depicted at the start a out of place. But then above the chaos God spirit. Is there hovering ready to bring about life in order and Beauty? Okay, but what is God's spirit? The spirit is present. The Hebrew word is ruach ruwa at the end. So what is it can refer to a number of different things but what they all have in common with its energy energy house. So there's an invisible energy that makes the clouds move or the tree Prentice way, right? So in Hebrew, that's who I know ya the air will specifically energy Vitality in your body that you get from breathing deeply that too is this is the same word used in the Bible. Describe God's personal presence just like wind and dresser invisible God spirit is invisible wind is powerful is so God spirit is powerful and just as breath Keeps Us Alive. So God's spirit sustain all of life as we continue on in the story of the Bible. We see God's ruach giving special empowerment two people for specific tasks the first person in the Bible that happens to is Joseph God Spirit enables him to understand and interpret dreams. And then it happens to this guy. He's given creative genius to make beautiful things in the Tabernacle in power of group of people called The Prophet they're able to see what's happening in history from God's point of view. That's exactly right. And here's the problem as a prophet thought. Well does Rudolph have created a really good World humans have given in zvox. They Unleashed chaos into it through Injustice the new type of disorder and the prophet said the spirit would, just like in Genesis 1 to transform the human heart of God and others. How will this new Act of God Spirit happened centuries past and we are introduced to Jesus and it's the beginning of his mission beautiful scene where Jesus is being baptized in the waters of the Jordan River. Yeah, the sky opens up and got Spirit comes and recs on him like a bird. The God's spirit is the new creation and we see this happening with the heels people or forgive their sins. He's creating life with her once was death Israel religious leaders opposed Jesus and they eventually have them killed God's spirit is at work. The earliest Disciples of Jesus who saw him alive from the dead said it was God's energizing spirit that raised Jesus is the beginning of new create. Yes, and it's still going when Jesus appeared to his closest followers. He breathed on them and said receive the Holy Spirit and soon after that Spirit powerfully comes on all of his disciples so that they could become a part of this new creation and share the good news and learn how to live by the energy and influence of God's spirit. And so today the spirit is still hovering in dark places for them. So they can love God and others and the Christian hope is that the spirit is going to finish the job the story of the Bible ends with a vision of a new Humanity living in the new world that has permeated with God love and life giving spirit.

So, I hope that that gives you just a little bit of a perspective the disciples they grew up with his understanding of the spirit of God present at creation the spirit of God empowering people throughout history to do what God had called them to do and now the disciples are sitting here and there on the brink the kingdom of God has been teaching about it for three years. He died. They were distraught he's resurrected in because I tell them this is the kingdom of God this what I'm doing and creating a new people and new people got this is the kingdom of God and so they're excited. Okay. So this must be the moment where everything is restored. But he says wait because you can't do this on your own. You can't do this just by trying to be good enough. You can't love God and love others unless the Holy Spirit has empowered you the disciples needed to understand what Jesus already knew, the disciples were incapable incapable of being the kind of people take the good news into the world who would transform it by living these radical lives of love. He knew they could not do that on their own. They needed the power of the spirit and very soon as in next week. We're going to get there in our study of the book of Acts. But right now I want us to understand Wait, it's good. What's getting ready to happen? They coming of the Kingdom? That's good, but you got to wait for the Holy Spirit. What does that mean for us today? We live this side of the spirit empowering the people of God. So this command to wait does that apply to us at all? Do we have to wait I would submit to you that we do I believe that every single person who is honestly seeking to follow Christ. Everyone who has been transformed and is being transformed into the image of Christ is filled with the Holy Spirit, but there are still times where God says to us wait there are times when here's the need and we see it. We're ready to go do it and God says wait not yet. We need to learn like the disciples did patients. What are the key things that we're waiting for is the same thing the disciples were waiting for they wanted to see the kingdom established. They wanted to see Jesus crowned as king of kings and Lord of lords. They were ready for that to happen in Jesus says to them. Wait. Well, guess what? 2000 years later we're still waiting. We're still waiting for Christ. What we now know as his second coming. We're still waiting for the second coming of Jesus. We're still in this time of even though the holy spirit's here and we've got work to do. We're still waiting for the ultimate fulfillment of the Kingdom. What do we do while we wait? So I love this passage and I was talking this week with a Pastor Dan and he asked me like, are you all set for Sunday? Like yeah, man, I'm all set and here's my message. And then he said well, this is kind of cuz he's preaching the same text up at Panguitch Valley Christian her sister's up there. He's preaching up there this morning from the same sex.

I stole Dan's thoughts here or I should say I was helped by Dan's thoughts on this to recognize it while there is this moment of waiting while we're waiting for Christ to come we're supposed to wait in a very particular way to understand this what he says to the disciples don't depart from Jerusalem wait for the promise of the spirits and then he leaves he ascends into heaven and the disciples are left thinking. Wait a second verse 6 it says when they come together to ask him Lord, where you at now at this time restore the Kingdom's is really said them it's not for you to know the times or seasons of the father has fixed by his own authority. Like Now's the Time. He says wait wait.

And what's your focus and then look at it? Look at verse 9 with me and when he had said these things so they're thinking he's establishing the kingdom Winnie and said that he was lifted up and a cloud took them out of their sight. 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? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him. Go to heaven. What's the life of waiting there supposed to be living? What's the life of waiting that the disciples? There's they're ready for the second coming. They fully expected Jesus to return any day after they saw him go but they standing there just looking up and two men clothing white stop and say What are you doing? Why are you just standing there looking up into the sky? Here's the thing waiting is hard for people and we frequently will misuse our time of waiting. We're going to waste our time. We're going to worry and that's what we see the disciples doing. They just were caught off-guard so to speak. Staring up into the sky. We don't do that today. Write how many of you how many of you? Spend most of your day. Just outside looking up at the sky saying when's Jesus coming back. Why? Why don't you do that? It's been two thousand years. It's been two thousand years and Jesus has not come back we start to worry and when we're in a year like 20 20, we start to think old man. It's got to be close. I'm going to say this just as it is Kylie as I can. I don't know how many more YouTube videos I can watch in 2020. Because it seems like everybody's got an idea on when Jesus is coming back will this happen? So Jesus is coming back what this happen. So Jesus is coming back. One of my favorite things as a pastor is church history, right? I love church history and you know the cool thing about church history you start looking at church history and every generation has said, oh things can't get much worse than this. Jesus is surely coming back now. 8070 right. This is this is just several years after Jesus's Ascension the disciples not for sure. Jesus was coming back. They destroyed the temple. Jesus is coming back now. Nope. 8500 this is my favorite one. There were three theologians who got together in the early church, and they said you know, what based on the dimensions of Noah's Ark Jesus is coming back in 500 AD. Not be frank with you. I still don't follow this logic how the dimensions of Noah's ark relate to Jesus coming back, but they said Jesus is coming back in 8500. Guess what? He didn't come back. AD 1000 a nice round number and this was people who said what Jesus was born in 08 in their mind and so a thousand years later that would account for the Millennium in Revelation. So Jesus is coming back in ad-1000 AD 1000 came and went guess what Jesus didn't come back from Jesus's dad. So they said it's 80 1033. Guess what 80 1033 came and went and Jesus did not return a 1844 specifically October 22nd. Does anybody know what's significant about October 22nd 1844 That was the day that William Miller predicted. Jesus would return he didn't know the hour scripture. He didn't know what our but he knew it was going to be October 22nd 1844. Guess what didn't happen that is known in church history as the great disappointment. I'll say He had convinced of hundreds of people Jesus coming back in 1844 October 22nd. The Diary of one of these guys said I waited all day Tuesday and just in case until lunch Wednesday. Didn't happen. Jesus didn't come back. He revised that prediction to several other dates and it never happened recently ad 2015 September 28th. Did you know that Jesus was supposed to come back September 28th 2015 according to the Blood Moon Prophecy. Guess what? Didn't happen did it or if it did somebody forgot to tell me and all of you apparently. Right. Why? Do Christians keep making these predictions? Why are we so obsessed with the calendar which is to come back here know Jesus is coming back here and coming back here. Because we're not very good at waiting. Jesus is coming back the conclusion to draw from all of these failed prophecies. If not, I guess Jesus isn't coming back the conclusion. We ought to ask Christ followers draw from this reality is this Oh, yeah, that's not what we're supposed to be focused on. Oh, yeah, that's not what it's about. Jesus told several different Parables about this. He talked in tight entire chapters of the Book of Matthew are about quit worrying about when I'm returning when I return you can't miss it. Until I come back do what I told you to do. Until I return don't focus on the sky focus on those around you focus on taking the gospel of love and grace serving others put the calendar down.

And go talk to your neighbors. quit watching YouTube

invite somebody over for dinner. Engage the real people around you. What were the disciples to do love God and love others and make disciples love God love others make disciples. That was the command not stand there. Look at the sky. Hoping that Jesus is coming back. Now when you said he was we've got it all backwards Church. We've got it all backwards. The point is not to figure out this heavenly time frame. The point is to be faithful to what Jesus already told us to do. Love God love others and make disciples. So you'll notice that I skipped a verse in the midst of all of that, right? The disciples are worried. Is it now Jesus leaves are like

so much so that two angels have to show up and say he told you what to do go do it. Go wait in Jerusalem. Verse 8 wait in Jerusalem, 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. Once the Holy Spirit comes the primary task of Jesus people. East Point others to Jesus until he returns that's it. You don't need to charge a timeline a whiteboard nothing. Point others to Jesus until Jesus comes back. Where are you going to do that you going to do that in Jerusalem you going to do that in Judea and Samaria and you're going to go to the ends of the Earth Church. Where do we live in relation to do DS Samaria and Jerusalem? We are the ends of the Earth. Has the gospel gone to all the ends of the Earth? No. No, it has not I looked this week because this number is ever-changing but there are currently 3012 unreached unengaged people groups. These are groups of people with a unique culture or language that separates them from the cultures around them 3012 of those people groups have not only not heard the gospel, but have nobody who is trying to take the gospel to them 274 million people represented by those unreached unengaged people groups. And you got the church. entrusted with the gospel

doing what? Looking at the calendar trying to figure out what Jesus is coming back.

Quit looking at the sky. Why do you stand there staring at the clouds? The Holy Spirit has come. He's filled his church. Our task is to take the gospel to the ends of the Earth. My understanding of the of the New Testament says that when that task is complete. Jesus is going to return. Now that doesn't mean that he's got to return on the moments that the last people group is reached with the gospel. But until we finished what he's told us to do. He's not coming back.

Do we understand that our task is not to watch the sky our task is to go to those who are lost without the hope of the Gospel. That's it. We witness now. Here's the question. How do you do that? Because you guys are sitting here in your like will you're the preacher you do it? Don't we pay you for anyways?

Or you think man? I can barely speak English how in the world am I going to learn another language? Especially one that nobody is ever translated because nobody's ever engage these people groups. How can I do that? Here's the thing. I want you to understand about this commission and then Powerman of the spirit. He empowers us for Mission. Not just you for Mission. You are not responsible for reaching 3012 unreached unengaged people groups. The church is responsible for reaching and they are going to be some who are gifted linguistically who are called to go there going to be some who aren't because of their life circumstances more readily able to go and take the gospel to those. I'm resending age people. You know why they're unreasoning engaged? Is it hard to get to? We already went all the easy places right did not take a really strong recruitment push to get somebody to go share the gospel in Hawaii like Tropical Paradise. Sweet sign me up. Look the people that are unreasoning gave now they're not living in tropical paradises. They're living it Sable harshest places on Earth. They are hostile many of them to Outsiders coming in. It's going to be difficult, but that's not all on you. Some of you are called to go some of you are supposed to learn that language and take the gospel into Put Yourself In Harm's Way, some of you were called to pray fervently for those who go some of you have been gifted with financial resources that are intended. To send others not to just stay in your pocketbook. Are we all have a part to play but the point is we're going to have to get busy. We're going to have to focus our attention on that reality. So whether you're going praying sending whatever you have a part to play but there's another thing that the New Testament says we do as the church to witness to the reality of Christ's return. You know what that is. The Lord's Supper that we take once a month this supper and I and I'll encourage you to go ahead and take the elements if you're a Christ follower. You're welcome to join us in this. If you didn't get a chance to get the elements are back at the next steps table, you can grab those two stairs to cup stack together.

It seems like I'm just going to be as blunt as I can.

This seems silly. Sometimes to call this a supper.

To call this little Chiclet whatever it is styrofoam bread. To call this a meal.

This isn't the meal. These are the symbols that point us to the reality. And this is what those things are supposed to point to they are supposed to wear told in the New Testament that is often as we do this. We Proclaim Christ death and by implication his resurrection until he returns. This is an act of gospel Proclamation. But not if we're just eating the chiclet and drinking the cup of juice. The gospel Proclamation comes when we recognize what this is actually symbolizing when we take this bread. We are remembering the Christ body was broken for us. plural the Christ blood was shed for us plural that these things took place to build something new. Let's be frank with one another if it weren't for the gospel. We wouldn't hang out. right Some of you guys like me, I don't know why. Others have you given a choice outside of the Gospel would say not hanging out with that dude. He's weird.

You know, it's true GIF. Come on, man.

You look around Houston. I have nothing in common with these people. That person's more successful than I am that person's Rich that person's poor that persons from a different country that person speaks a different language. What do I have in common with them?

The body and blood of Christ. We're told in the New Testament. Did it is in this act? We are proclaiming the unity of the saints were proclaiming that we together are the body of Christ the body that was broken the body that was resurrected is still very much in action here and the church. We are the body of Christ to the world and then we take this meal. We're not it's not just me communing with God. It's us doing this to get together and sing together by the lives of love for God and love for others that we live by the unity we have with one another.

We're showing the truth of Christ and we're committing ourselves to proclaiming his death until he returns not committing ourselves to looking up at the sky until he returns committing ourselves proclaiming the truth of the Gospel until Christ comes back Church. The body of Christ was broken for us. The blood of Christ was shed for us. So Christ follower. Take the bread. But look around you. This is what the body of Christ purchased.

Christ follower look at the cup. The blood of Christ that was shed for us. Look around. And Proclaim with your brothers and sisters the death of Christ until he returns.

Because it's often as we eat the bread and drink the cup. We are proclaiming Christ. We all have a task in front of us Church. The task is not to nail down the date of Christ's return. The task is not to bemoan the sorry state of the world around us to gather into our little holy Huddle's. Lament the fact that the world around us is going to hell in a handbasket. the point of the Gospel if not to bring us together on a Sunday morning. To sing some songs that make us feel good. To drink a little bit of juice and eat a little bit of bread. The point of the Gospel is for us to be Christ witnesses to be Christ ambassadors everyday in our homes to our families on our street to our neighbors in our workplace to our co-workers with our friends on Friday night. With our church family on Sunday morning to say Jesus died for my sins. Jesus rose again, and Jesus is coming again. And I want to live through the power of His spirit. Proclaiming these truths by loving God loving others and making disciples church. That's our task. That's really our only nothing else. Let's keep the main thing the main thing wait. Jesus is coming. Don't worry. Don't freak out. No matter what happens in this world. Our task is to be faithful Witnesses until the day when Christ returns, would you pray?

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