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This morning, and this has been a scheduled thing. We about four or five weeks ago, we finished up the study of the gospel of John, and it's always been I mean, when I was going through we like to think about it. We like to dwell on it. So I'm gonna introducing acts. I wanna talk about it first of all, it's just a great historical document.
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Luke, I mentioned three years ago here as a as an intern, and I did a series from Luke for the first time I've ever done a series of preaching on anything about the today passages in Luke where today is born and say they are savior. And then today you'll be with me in paradise. There are several places where Luke says something like that but he also gives you know Corinneus was governor of this and Tiberius to see that. He's got all kinds of geographical and political names and none of them have ever been disproved. He's a really good story.
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If today you wanted to tell history, you could get on, you know, we're good at and look around, you could get on the internet, you could go to the library, you could do your research, but imagine how hard that was for him, he had to personally track and down and what he he says is eyewitnesses did a really really good job as far as historic authenticity goes. From him, he slumped a little more each year. He did not retire. He's been teaching since he's been teaching at that same seminary since I was four months old, and he's just a great, great man. He has written this book on Acts.
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He is one of the world's foremost scholar on Luke. In fact, if you look at the New Living translation of the Bible that we use in here, the red ones are NIV but the blue ones are New Living and if you look at that, he's the one who they got to translate from the manuscripts, Greek for the book of Acts and so I'm going with this. I know that Acts can be Baptist preachers don't like preaching Acts. I don't know about this because the Pentecostal denomination, Pentecostal movement, all of that. When you hear the word Pentecost, you for some reason, fact, we just wanna avoid that.
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I don't know why. There's something about unleashing the Holy Spirit that seems like, oh, this might get scary. He might jump up you. He might do something weird. He might blow up up up.
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Something might come out of his mouth that we don't understand. I'm gonna try my best to throw up just straight down the center of the plate just as it's written. For him to to do that and of course the apartheid, there were other guys look over his shoulder but that's what I would like to do this morning. So I wanna look at acts one one. It starts off in my first book I told you Theopolis about everything Jesus began to do and to teach.
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That began is very very important. This is all that Jesus began to do and teach and he's referring to the book of Luke, the Gospel of Luke. In Luke one one through four his very introduction to Theophilus, that book is many people set up to write accounts about the events that have been fulfilled among us. They used the eyewitness reports circulating among us from the early disciples having carefully investigated everything from the beginning I also have decided to write a careful account an orderly account for you most honorable theopolis so you can be certain of the truth of everything that you were taught. That is where we're going to start from.
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We're going to treat this as if it is what it is. It is true, not this. So that's the way we're going do the study of Acts. We're starting today and I just wanna go through the first the first chapter. That sounds like a lot, but if you will listen to it, I don't want you to be afraid of acts.
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I think that it's a really, really, really good book. The very first mission trip that that I went on was a week long mission trip to Mexico. And when I was on the plane on the way home, three weeks later, God really arrested me and got a hold of me and said, this is something that is amazing. And it's just the way that faith grows, it's the way that the church grows, it's the way that the spirit moves. So what we're gonna look for is preparing for any great move of the spirit.
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This was gonna be in chapter two. We're gonna see the day of Pentecost where the Holy Spirit came in a different way than he ever had before and he made himself and God obvious through his disciples that he did it in a special way. Today we're going to look at preparing for any great women of the spirit, a time to obey, a time to be together or fellowship, a time to pray, a time to study. Would you listen to me and we'll ask God a blessing on the readings. Great reading of his word.
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This is from the New Living Translation. In my first book, told you theopolis about everything Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up to heaven after giving his chosen apostles further instructions through the Holy Spirit. During the forty days after his crucifixion, 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. Once, when he was eating with him, he maddened them, do not leave Jerusalem until the father sends you the gift he promised as I told you before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
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So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking, Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom? He replied, father alone is the authority to set those dates and times, and they're not for you to know. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses telling people about me everywhere, in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Went to the upstairs room of the house where they were saying, here are the names of those who are present. This is a very real thing.
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You hear this historical account here? He's telling you what happened. In a lot of religions, if you remove the founder from the teachings, you still have the religion. If you remove Jesus from Christianity, you have nothing. It is about what happened.
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It is actual facts that really happened in real life, in real time, in real space. It's not something made up. It's not something that's just lost people, ethereal. It's something that really happened. These are the real guys that were really there.
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Here are the ones that you are present. Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James, the son of August, the scriptures had to be fulfilled concerning Judas who guided those who arrested Jesus. This was predicted long ago by the Holy Spirit speaking through King David. Judas was one of us and he shared in the ministry with us. He was numbered with us, a lot of translations say.
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And this is following up what Luke has said in his book of Luke. Luke that Jesus was numbered with the transgressors, and Judas, the transgressor, was numbered with them. He was one of us. He shared the ministry with us. He goes into a parenthesis there and explained what happened to Judas.
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I'm gonna skip to verse 20. Peter continued. This was written in the book of Psalms where it says, let his home become desolate Jesus. Jesus. And Then they all prayed, oh Lord, you know every heart.
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Show us which of these men you have chosen. As an apostle to replace Judas in this ministry, for he has deserted us and gone where he belongs. Then the cast lots and Matthias was selected to become apostle for the other love. God, would you please bless the reading of your word? God, I pray that you will bless each of us as we read through this book over the next few weeks, that you will bless your word to our hearts that you'll show us the significance for our lives today.
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Exactly what it is that you would have us to do, Lord. And as we consider what to do to prepare for a great move of your spirit, we ask that you would be preparing us. We're praying for it. We would like to see you move forward a mighty way here in this valley. In Jesus name.
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Amen. So a time to obey first. We look at verse four. Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, do not leave Jerusalem until the father sends you the gift he promised. I capitalized the g there because that's the Holy Spirit.
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That's what Jesus had talked to them about. First 12, we see then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the Mount Of Olives, which is where they camped out, most of them. A distance of a half a mile. When they were out, they went upstairs to room in the house where they were saved. This was a time for them to obey.
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He told them exactly what to do, gave them their mandate, That is not a command chance. He's not saying, you be my witnesses. That It's a pro it's a prophetic statement, but it's also a statement. This is gonna come to pass. Jesus says that, you will be my witnesses.
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You got it. Y'all are at plan a. There's no plan b. You will be my witnesses. So it's a time to obey.
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We go, it's a time to be together. I've changed this from fellowship because this is just jarring to me. A lot of times we mentioned fellowship. We mentioned we have a fellowship hall, but you ever hear of anywhere else that has a fellowship hall except for church? No.
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Not many places. It's a time to be together, to enjoy one of those company. It is a time for fellowship. That is a good word, but I just wanted to say that it's about being together. Here are the names of ones I told you this.
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They all met together, and they were constantly united in prayer. They're constantly can go either direction right there. They all were constantly together, and they were united in prayer along with Mary, the mother of Jesus, several other women, the brothers of Jesus. Other one, the the It was more than just that little 12. That little man had gathered and gathered and gathered and got bigger.
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It's a time to pray. Verse 14 says, they all met together and were constantly united in prayer. They knew what to be looking for because Jesus had told them. The father's gonna give you a gift. He's gonna give you gifts to the Holy Spirit.
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They knew what to be looking for, so they were praying for that. They were united in prayer, but they didn't know what it was gonna look like. And then in verse 24, then they all prayed. You just see that this is what they're occupying their time doing. It's a time to be obedient.
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It's a time to be together, and it's a time to pray. Then Peter stood up. It's a time to study and proclaim God's word. Now Peter has been blasted for this because Peter picks up a verse here from Psalms, another one from over here and where he picks these verses up, modern day scholars sometimes question his hermeneutics. They question his ability to understand and apply the Bible.
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I don't I think it's inspired scripture for one thing, but he is looking and he is studying. He is calming God's word and he's seeing the traitor Judas that he needs to be replaced and he picks it up in a couple of different places. Brothers he said the scriptures had to be fulfilled concerning Judas who guided those who arrested Jesus. This was predicted long ago by the Holy Spirit speaking through King David. Next slide please.
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Judas was one of us. This was written in the book of Psalms where it says, let his home become desolate. Now that parenthetic expression I skipped a little while ago, the parenthesis there was he was explaining exactly what happened to Judas and nobody wanted to deal with that land. Nobody wanted to be around that. But his home become desolate.
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He picks it up with no one but him. And he also said, let someone else take his position. Peter was shown some leadership among this group, and he knew what he was expecting was a gift from God. He knew that it would be the Holy Spirit, but he did not know exactly how it's gonna come. But he still had a process.
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Now I went over this up until about Thursday of this week, maybe even Friday of this week, I had two points to this message. One of them was persistent united prayer precedes any move of the Holy Spirit. And process, the process of leadership, the processes by which we do church. What we're gonna see over and over and over and over again in the book of acts is not Jesus's gospel that's just being stagnant. It's just what it is.
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And Luke claims what it is. The gospel is that Jesus lived a perfect life, died a perfect death, suffered, led, died, buried, resurrected, and still live. That's the gospel and Luke states it in several different places. It's not stagnant though. It's showing how that gospel affects real people's lives and it's showing the progress, how the gospel gets through circumstances and obstacles and gets over and it keeps on doing that over and over.
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We'll see that throughout the book of Acts. So preparing for any great move of the spirit, there are those things. There's a time for obedience, there is a time for being together for fellowship, for prayer, There's a time for studying and proclaiming God's word, and Peter picks that up. I wanna go into that where he picks it up and they they do kinda make fun of him that, were you just pulling that out of thin air? No.
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He's pulling that out of So So there's one more thing, one more thing in this past that this passage really highlights and this one might make us uncomfortable too. It's a time for recognizing and appointing leaders. So now we must choose a replacement for Judas. He said this, he stepped out on a limb here because it was not Jesus' specific thing that says, and now while you're waiting on the Holy Spirit, you do this, this, and this, and this. He didn't say that.
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Peter and the leadership of this man took it upon themselves. And so Peter says, we must not choose replacement for Jews. And he sets up a process. It needs to be somebody, and it's not just Peter. I think that they've worked this process out together.
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They agreed. It should be somebody who's been with us the whole time. Should have seen the spirit of God descend like a dove on Jesus. The voice of God the father almighty. And somebody who had been a witness to the resurrection.
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Somebody who had seen Jesus afterwards. So it's not just his earthly life before that he might be convinced otherwise later. No. We want somebody that could not be convinced that Jesus was not alive. So that was the process.
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So they nominated two men. They came up with a couple of guys, Joseph and Matthias, and then they all prayed. This was what I'm talking about. It's a time for consistent, persistent, united prayer. Oh Lord, you know every heart, show us which of these men you've chosen to replace Jews.
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Then they cast lots and Matthias was selected to become an apostle with the other one. Oh, everyone of those things in the acts casting lots. So, that is an old testament concept but if you pay close attention to what's going on to the rest of the New Testament, you will not ever hear of any Christian group casting lots or anything. This is the last time in scripture we have that the New Testament church ever cast lots for anything. Why do think that this is a chapter one of Acts?
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Well, chapter two of Acts comes next. Chapter two of Acts is where God poured out his spirit upon us as his church. Those who believe in Jesus Christ have living within our hearts, the Holy Spirit. And if he lives within us and there is one Holy Spirit, then we should, as Christian brothers and sisters, be able to get together and agree. Because there's one, Holy Spirit.
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If he's doubting our decisions and we disagree, chances are one of us is not listening or both of us are not listening. That's the possibility. But there's one, Holy Spirit. And probably because he's done that. We don't hear from Simon Barbie as much as we did when they were here.
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Right? But they're still working for the kingdoms. The Holy Spirit is still gathering. Alright. So so Do we really wanna see a great move of the Holy Spirit?
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And if we do, then next slide so I can remember my sentence. We need to take the time to be obedient to Jesus' instructions. And what are those instructions specifically? This church church has chosen for its motto. I mentioned this almost every week.
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That we are to be loved with all that we are. Loving God and loving people through Christ. Those are the instructions that he gives us to love God and love people through Christ. So we need to be following obedient to Jesus' instructions. The last thing he told you to do, keep on doing that till he tells you to do something else.
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That's easy enough. Right? Fellowship with one another. That Hebrews passage about not forsaking the assembling of the yourself together, not to shame people for not coming to church. It's so that we won't actually per se, we won't turn our backs on getting together there is strength in the community for the body of Christ unite ourselves in persistent prayer and several weeks ago we were praying was asking for those of you who would commit to pray for the youth of this valley.
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That's what I would like for all of us all to be praying right now about is unite ourselves in persistent prayer about how the youth of this community will be served by this church. Unite ourselves in persistent prayer. We should study and proclaim God's word, apply entire situation, and we need to recognize and appoint leadership to be in the place that God moves. This spoke to me because I told you we are in the process of deciding who will be in charge of the youth and we're working on that. And we feel like we've got a really, really good idea of what I'm gonna ask you again for just persistent prayer.
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They would come together and we get together on this. And I'm gonna mention who it is. Oh, Axe is uncomfortable. Renzi and Kale was talking up for just a sec. Renzi has been serving here with music ministry and y'all know that.
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And we're praying through the process of Rinsey and Kale kind of taking over as youth leaders. We have not appointed them yet, we have not swung the pot around and their name popped out exactly but it has risen to the top and in the spirit, we really do feel like these are the folks that God is gonna use in this community through this church to be able to call many to himself. That's what we wanna see happen. Conversions among the young people
