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Well, good morning. Thank you.
If you have your Bibles, please open and turn with me to Acts
chapter 1. We will be looking at verses
6 through 14 this morning. Acts chapter 1, verses 6 through
14. This is the word of the Lord.
So when they had 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 or seasons that the father has
fixed by his own 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. And when he had said these things,
as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and 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 has taken up from you into heaven, will come
in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. Then they returned
to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem,
a Sabbath day's journey away. And when they had entered, they
went up to the upper room where they were staying. Peter and
John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew,
James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the
son of James. All these with one accord were
devoting themselves to prayer together with the women and Mary,
the mother of Jesus and his brothers. Let's pray. Father, we thank
you for your word. We thank you that it is living
and active. We pray for its transforming
power within our hearts, minds, and lives this morning. Give
us ears to hear and eyes to see, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. A few months back, I was reading
an article about the importance of a certain substance to the
existence of life on Earth. Now, I don't know how valid this
scientific article was, but you can judge. But if you remember
from science class in school, there's a balance between plant
life absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen, and us
breathing in oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide. Well, it is estimated
that up to 70% of the oxygen that we breathe comes from marine
plants, in specific, a marine plant called phytoplankton. What
this article explained is that recent scientific evidence has
proven a connection between a certain substance and the growth of phytoplankton. Apparently, phytoplankton lives
on the surface of the ocean, while whales will often dive
deep below the surface to feed, and then carry vital nutrients
to the surface where they expel these out as fertilizer for the
plankton. Without these nutrients being
carried from the depths of the ocean to the surface by whales,
phytoplankton would not flourish nor produce the amount of oxygen
that we depend on to survive. Whale expulsion apparently plays
a very important role in life on this planet. Now, if I'm honest,
it makes sense. I get it. But I just don't think
about the importance of this process to my life on a day-to-day
basis. Unfortunately, I think for many
of us, that's how we treat the Holy Spirit as well. When we
think about it, sure, we realize how vital He is to our life as
Christians, but most of us just don't think about Him much. In
our passage, however, Jesus impresses the importance of the Spirit
to God's mission in the world and our lives as Christ followers. Here, the disciples gather at
Jesus' command, and they ask about the significance of the
resurrection. All of the Gospels end with an
account of Jesus' crucifixion, death, burial, and historic bodily
resurrection from the dead, which we remember and gather to celebrate
every Sunday. But why do we make such a big
deal over the resurrection? Why do we celebrate a man coming
back to life 2,000 years ago in the Middle East? So what?
And that's the same question the disciples ask here as the
book of Acts picks up where the gospel accounts leave off. Jesus
had spent the better part of three years teaching and preaching,
healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, raising the dead,
casting out demons, walking on water, calming storms, performing
many signs and wonders. And he lived the majority of
that time with 12 men that he loved, discipled, and taught. Among the things that he taught
them was that he would be betrayed into the hands of the chief priests
who would reject and condemn him to death. They would turn
him over to the Romans to be mocked and flogged and crucified. The disciples themselves would
all desert him, but on the third day he would rise again from
the dead. And it had all come true, every
last word of it. And for forty days after His
resurrection, He had appeared to them. He spoke and walked
with them. He ate meals with them. He appeared
to over five hundred of them at one time, had them stick fingers
and hands in nail holes in His side. Why? to prove beyond a
shadow of a doubt that it was true, that the resurrection had
happened. And here the disciples want to
know, what is the significance of all this? What does it mean? Does it mean you're at this time
going to restore the kingdom to Israel? It's a good question. What does the resurrection mean?
What is the significance of Christ's resurrection to human history
for them then and for us now? What does it mean for your life
today? What should you do about it?
Have you answered that question? Have you even asked it? The disciples
do. And Jesus tells them the significance
is the outpouring of the Spirit. Jesus does not directly outright
correct them here. He doesn't say, I'm not restoring
the kingdom to Israel at this time, but instead, which is very
Jesus-like and very patient, I might add, He redirects them. He says, that's not yours or
for you. The times and epics are the Father's. They are His to be decided and
concerned about. Yours is something else. First,
it is the receiving of power by the outpouring of the Spirit.
The same Spirit that had been hovering over the deep in Genesis
1 and at God's Word had brought forth the world out of nothing,
He creates life within the dead, cold, fallen, evil heart of man. It's called regeneration, recreation,
or new creation. That's why Paul calls us new
creations in Christ. Regeneration is a supernatural
work of God's Spirit alone, one we don't instigate or participate
in. The Spirit takes up residence
in our hearts and brings life out of death. The Spirit then
creates faith by which we lay hold of Christ and are united
to Him. Romans says we are united to
Him in His death and His resurrection. Just as Jesus was resurrected
from the dead, not only do we have the promise of our own bodily
resurrections from the dead, but we also have resurrection
life now. The Spirit dwelling in our hearts,
sanctifying us more and more. The Westminster Catechism says
it this way, the Spirit enables us to die unto sin and live unto
righteousness. See the resurrection metaphor
there? The Spirit and resurrection are
tied together. It is by the Spirit that we walk
in newness of life, Romans 6, 4. And the indwelling Spirit,
this resurrection life, is the down payment guaranteeing our
eternal inheritance in Christ, eternal life. Now, we've tried
to explain some of these things to our younger kids, but the
significance of the resurrection is really about Easter for them,
about Easter baskets, egg hunts, bunnies, specifically for my
kids, chocolate bunnies. And that's our fault, I mean,
but it's fun, you know. But the significance of Easter
or the resurrection for them is not yet the outpouring of
the Spirit. The meaning of the resurrection
for the disciples was something different as well. Why were they
concerned about the kingdom being restored to Israel? Well, their
interactions throughout the Gospels reveal that it probably had a
tad bit to do with power, prestige, and glory. They were constantly
arguing over who would be the greatest in the kingdom. The
significance of the resurrection for them was probably tied to
a need for comfort, security, stability, and ease associated
with the blessing of their nation. I'm not so sure our understanding
of the significance of the resurrection for our lives today is all that
dissimilar. How many today view Christianity,
the resurrection, as being about making our lives easier? more
comfortable, more stable and secure. Is the great blessing
of the gospel my own personal peace and affluence? My needs
for relationship and community being met, being equipped to
be a better person, having my best life now?" The disciples
asked, will you be giving us our best life now? And Jesus
said, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon
you. And the Spirit would be power for missions. Look with
me again at verse 8. but you will receive power when
the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses
in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of
the earth. Jesus says here, to the end of
the earth. Today, we can travel to the end
of the earth by plane in a matter of days, or communicate a message
basically anywhere in the world via internet instantly with a
stroke of a key. I've talked face to face over
Skype with a friend of mine while I was in Jeannette, Pennsylvania,
and he was in Accra, Ghana, Africa. The end of the earth means nothing
to us. But to them, even if they had sent a letter, someone had
to carry it. And Paul, who probably traveled
the greatest distance of all of the apostles, struggled sorely
for it, shipwrecked, and so on. The end of the earth was no small
task, and yet it was the very purpose for the pouring out of
the Spirit, so that they might be his witnesses to the end of
the earth. You see, the Spirit is power
for impossible missions. The Spirit is power for impossible
missions. Jesus, after being raised from
the dead on Sunday says, and Jesus came and said to them,
all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go
therefore and make disciples of all nations, Matthew 28. And
here in our passage, he says the power for that mission is
the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is a missionary spirit. You cannot have the Spirit and
not be on mission at some level. Jesus said, follow me and I will
make you fishers of men. But not only is the Spirit power
to us for missions, it's the Spirit's work of converting the
lost. We can't reach into anyone's
heart. We can't argue anyone into heaven. The conversion of even one sinner
to Christ is a supernatural miracle of God likened unto the power
exerted at the creation of the world. 2 Corinthians 4, 6, for
God who said, let light shine out of darkness. When did He
say that? at creation, has shown in our
hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Christ. But the Spirit does this through
the gospel, His word through us as witnesses on mission. And so a greater outpouring of
the Spirit means greater revival of missions and conversions.
Is this how you view God's Holy Spirit? as a missionary spirit? When we pray for God to fill
us with His Spirit, when we celebrate the resurrection, this is the
implication. Missions, witness, evangelism,
disciple-making. It's why we're here, I believe,
and God does not immediately translate us to heaven upon conversion. And so the question this morning
is, will you go? Jesus told them the resurrection
meant spirit-empowered missions, and then he floated away. Jesus
ascended into heaven. Here the disciples are. They've
gathered at the Mount of Olives, the place they had gone with
Jesus on the night he was betrayed, although this was probably happened
on the backside near Bethany. And they ask him what it all
means. And he tells them he will pour out his spirit from heaven,
and then he floats away, like a balloon when someone lets go
of the string. And the disciples just stand there, looking up,
gazing intently, the text says. But why? What are they looking
for? Are they expecting something
more? I mean, that's it. That's the grand finale, the
great, no great fireworks show, no rending of the sky, no bright,
spectacular lights. And so two angels appear and
stand among them and ask, what are you guys doing? Maybe they
were wondering where he was going. Where was he going? Well, believe
it or not, we have an answer in the Old Testament, a picture
in the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. On the Day of Atonement,
as the high priest entered into the Holy of Holies, bearing upon
his chest the names of the 12 tribes to sprinkle blood and
atone for the people's sins, Hebrews 8 speaks of this earthly
tabernacle as a picture of the heavenly one. And Hebrews 9 mentions
Yom Kippur and then says, but when Christ appeared as a high
priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater
and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is not of this
creation, he entered once for all into the holy places. That's
where Christ went. And in doing that, he purified
us. He bore our names, as it were, on his chest into the heavenly
tabernacle. And then rather than leave as
the Old Testament high priest did, he sat down at the right
hand of the majesty on high until all things would be brought into
submission under his feet. And then he poured out his spirit
for that very purpose. And the result? Revival. Peter gets up and preaches a
sermon and 3,000 come to faith at one time. The great truths
of scripture that Jesus has ascended to heaven, that he is our great
high priest interceding on our behalf, that he is seated at
the right hand of God, that he's enthroned with all authority
in heaven and on earth, is that he is bringing all things into
submission under his feet. Pittsburgh, Jeanette, the United
States, Africa, all. Resurrection means the submission
of all things to the Son by the gospel going forth by the power
of the Spirit through His people on mission. Jesus tells them
this, floats away, and how do they respond? They gather together
to pray. The response of the disciples
to the great truths that we just looked at. And Jesus' promise
to pour out His Spirit, His ascension into heaven to be enthroned and
bring all things into submission under His feet, was to withdraw
together and pray. Why? Because they knew they couldn't
do it. They knew they were insufficient
for such a task. They knew that if God didn't
do something, if he didn't cause all of this to happen, nothing
would happen. The disciples don't withdraw
to the upper room to strategize and plan. They don't meet to
figure out what resources they have and how best to disperse
them to reach the end of the earth. Okay, Peter, you stay
here in Jerusalem. James, you take a boat to Spain.
Thomas, you've got Great Britain and Russia. Anybody want Russia?
No, they said, we can't do this. Peter, you're a coward. Thomas,
you doubt. James and John, you're a bunch
of hotheads, and we're all uneducated Galileans. But God, you're God,
and you can do anything you want, in any way you want, with anyone
you want. This is what you said you want.
You do it, please. Prayer is a humble reliance upon
God to fulfill that which he has promised because we are helpless
and hopeless on our own. Spurgeon once wrote, the sweetest
prayers God ever hears are the groans and sighs of those who
have no hope in anything but his love. Psalm 102, 17, he regards
the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer.
And so why don't we pray as we ought? We don't think we're destitute. We think we can do this on our
own. By not praying, we say, I got this, God. I can love my
wife without your help. I can raise these kids. I can
solve this problem. I can live the Christian life.
I can resist temptation, serve like Jesus, reach my neighbors,
fix this church, fix this community, plant other churches, make your
kingdom come, bring about your will on earth as it is in heaven. I got this, God. I don't need
you. Lord, have mercy on us. Lord,
make us a praying people. Pray for God to pour out his
spirit. In 1859, it is recorded that
revival broke out in Ulster, Ireland. Historians record that
in this revival, whole towns were awakened. One minister wrote,
the problem used to be getting people into the church. Then
the problem became getting people out. The benediction would be
pronounced over and over again, but each time people would break
forth anew in praise, and the weeping of the penitent would
be heard. One historian wrote, the churches could not even contain
all the people coming to pray. Even the large buildings began
to be insufficient space, and so they met in the highways and
the open fields. They record that 20,000 gathered
at the Botanic Gardens at one time. People would crowd into
churches at all hours of the day and then send someone to
hunt down a minister and have him dragged from whatever he
was doing and come and lead a service. They record that ministers would
often wake to crowds of people in their homes each morning begging
to hear the gospel. And who is the man whose preaching
sparked such a revival? No one. It was the Holy Spirit. It began by a handful of people
gathering to pray for revival. One historian writes, there was
an absence of great names connected with this revival. Lay people
in prayer were the prime instrument used by God in awakening the
people. There are records of one humble Christian woman leading
20 prostitutes to Christ, and it is estimated that over 100,000
people came to faith in Ulster alone. You can't make this happen. No one can. But God can. Is God less willing to hear the
cries of His people today than He was in 1859? What is the significance
of the resurrection for us today? Is it comfort, ease, prestige,
or glory, security, and personal peace? Do we stand together looking
up into heaven, waiting for something more, waiting for Christ to return? Or is it Spirit-empowered missions
and prayer for revival, for God to pour out His Spirit? Let your
voices ring in the ears of God. To be a church on mission, we
must be a church on our knees. God can do more in one instant
than we can do in centuries of planning. I don't know how you,
who are parents, feel about sleep training, about letting your
children cry it out until they learn to self-soothe and put
themselves to sleep on their own, but honestly, I hate it.
It works, but I hate it. But after a couple weeks of our
second-born son, Uriah, fighting us at bedtime, waking up six
times a night, and spending entire nights in a rocking chair, fighting
to stay awake, fighting his squirms and his kicks and his cries,
we decided it was necessary for his health and maturity and for
our sanity. And so we went through bedtime
routine, bath, diaper, jammies, feed, rock. And then we laid
him down, awake, and left the room. A few seconds later, the
whimpering began, then the crying, and then the blood-curdling screams.
If you've heard it, you know. We tried it a few times, and
it wasn't long before my wife Amber and I would start fidgeting.
And then one of us would stand up and start pacing the floor
while the other one tried to talk them down. You know this
is necessary. This is for his good. We have
to do this. But there's something about the
cry of your own child. You hear the anguish, and you
cannot resist for long. God is a better Father than you
and I. But for some reason, we've lost
the persistent determination of our childhood. We give up.
We don't let our anguished cries for God's Spirit ring in the
Father's ears till he can resist no longer. The disciples wanted
to know the significance of the resurrection. Jesus told them
it was the outpouring of the Spirit for missions, and they
cried out for it. Cry like Uriah until he responds. Pray he would make Pittsburgh
or wherever you're from like Ulster. Let's pray right now
that he would do that very thing. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
we thank you that Christ you came and died for our sins. and that on the third day you
were resurrected for our justification, that you ascended into heaven
where you are now enthroned until all things be brought into submission
under your feet, and that, Holy Spirit, you are poured out that
we might be your witnesses to the end of the earth. We pray,
send laborers. We pray, pour out your spirit.
We pray for revival here and abroad. We pray, Lord God, help
us to be witnesses, ambassadors on mission, and we ask it in
Jesus' name, amen.
Spirit Outpoured
Series Chapel Sermon
| Sermon ID | 32124036533682 |
| Duration | 23:26 |
| Date | |
| Category | Chapel Service |
| Bible Text | Acts 1:1-14 |
| Language | English |
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