you Good morning. Am I on? Good morning. All right. Some of you are looking at me like, who is this guy? Some of you know me well. I'm Tim Challey. I'm the director of Rocky Southwest Bible Church Extension. This is our home and sending church. And I'll just say it is an absolute privilege and joy and honor for Nancy and I to be a missionary sent out from Liberty. And so thank you for this morning. Let's stand. I'd like to begin with a call to worship from Psalm 117, verses one through two. The psalmist writes, praise the Lord, all nations. Sing his praises, all peoples, for his mercy toward us is great, and the truth of the Lord is everlasting. Praise the Lord. Let's begin this morning with a great hymn of the faith. We'll sing all four verses. All hail the power of Jesus' name. We're going to greet one another, then we'll sing. All right, now we're gonna sing. ♪ All hail the power of Jesus' name ♪ Let angels prostrate fall ♪ Bring forth the royal diadem ♪ And crown him Lord of all ♪ Bring forth the royal diadem Be chosen seed of Israel's grace, ye ransomed from the fall. Hail Him who saved you by His grace, and crown Him Lord of all. Hail Him who saved you by His grace, and crown Let every children, every tribe, on this terrestrial wall, to Him all majesty ascribe, and crown Him Lord of all. To Him all majesty ascribe, we'll join the everlasting Amen, you may be seated. I mentioned before, it's a joy for Nancy and I to be here. Thank you for, I can't tell you the privilege it is to be sent out by this church. You know, when I moved to Colorado and Nancy and I began to serve as the director of the mission, I started attending a church. Your pastor was here, my pastor was here last October. And about two years into our going there, he says, Tim, all you ever talk about is liberty, liberty, liberty. I sound like a commercial, right? But I said, well, God has blessed that church, blessed the ministry, blessed the people, and they're obedient servants of the Lord. And so for us to be part of the ministry of liberty is a great honor. And so forgive me for proclaiming the goodness of God's work here at Liberty Bible Church, but that's what it was. We're looking forward to tonight. I would encourage you and ask you to come back. We're going to be sharing our work for the last really almost year and a half, almost two years. What God has been doing. how God has answered prayer, and then how we continue to pray as we serve churches in the Southwest United States, plant churches, help in revitalization, and there's a lot there. So I'd like to, I'm looking over here in this wing, I'm gonna say there's maybe 100 people here, maybe 150 right here. We have six RSVC churches. This morning, if I was to go through and be in all of our churches and add up all the people in those churches, there's about 150 people in six churches. That's the scope and size of the ministry out west in a lot of the far-flung places. Last week, Nancy and I were in Dattle, New Mexico, way down in the southwest corner of New Mexico, and I preached in one of our churches there and with the people. And I love these mountain Churches in Dattle, New Mexico, if you come in with anything but Wrangler jeans, boots with no manure, a snap shirt, and a cowboy hat, you are out of sync. And so that's me. So this past week, I went on Amazon. I bought a pair of Wrangler jeans with a little brass tacks. Because the next time I go to Dattle, New Mexico, these great people there, I want to share that. If you visit our table back there, we have some cards and some information. And there's a bag. This is for the kids. It says Psalm 119, 127, and inside of here is a nugget of gold. Wrong, it's fool's gold. But it says, therefore, I love your commandments and gold, yes, above pure gold. And you know, it's not real known, but really the gold rush actually started in Colorado as they came west to find gold. But we're looking forward to being with you tonight and sharing tonight. Thank you. Mike, where are you? There you are, brother. Thank you, it's good to be with you. And for those of you who are visiting with us this morning, I'd ask you to not feel obligated to give during our offering time. That's for our church body. For those of you who are in our church body and are not on our prayer chain, you can contact Pastor Tom. He'll get you on that prayer chain. We also have some prayer guides in the back of the church for you. Let's pray. Lord God, we are. I'm thankful to be able to gather here together as a church family this morning to worship you. I'm thankful for the beautiful day that you've given us and the sweet fellowship we had this morning over breakfast with much of our church family. Lord, I pray that you'll be with us this morning during our service. Help us to have open ears and open hearts to your word. Be with Tom as he preaches your word this morning. help him effectively communicate to us what you would have us individually hear. We're thankful, Lord, to see the Challies here with us this morning. Such a wonderful couple. We miss them greatly when they're not here. We're thankful for their heart of service to you and for their willingness to, in retirement, start a whole new ministry. We pray for them as they travel throughout the West. We pray for RSBCE and that they would grow and prosper. We pray, Lord, that you would lift up men to lead their churches and convict those in those churches to be men and women after your own heart. I pray also, Lord, for those here in our congregation who might be hurting or suffering with physical ailments. Especially this morning, Lord, for Sarah Fleck as she's undergoing surgery this week. I pray, Lord, for peace and comfort for her as she undergoes that procedure. I pray for her doctors. Please give them wisdom and a sure hand. Be with Chad and the family as they're without her, both during that surgery and then during the recovery time. I pray, Lord, that you'll allow us as a church family to step up and serve them in any way we can through that. And again, Lord, I pray that you're with us individually this morning, each and every one of us. Help us to focus on you, to set aside our worldly cares, and listen to what you would speak to our hearts. In your name we pray, amen. He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crossed for our sins. The punishment that brought us peace, it was upon Him. And by His wounds, by His He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our sins. The punishment that brought us peace, it was upon Him. And by His wounds, by His wounds we are healed. by your sacrifice and the life that you gave. We are healed for you paid the price. He was pierced for our transgressions He was crushed for our sins The punishment that brought us peace, it was upon Him And by His wounds, by His wounds We are healed by your sacrifice and the life that you gave. We are healed for you paid the price and by your grace we are saved. ♪ He was pierced for our transgressions ♪ ♪ He was crossed for our sins ♪ ♪ The punishment that brought us peace, it was upon Him ♪ ♪ And by His wounds, by His wounds we are healed ♪ ♪ And by His wounds, by His wounds we are healed ♪ What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Today's scripture reading is in Acts, chapter 1, verses 6 through 11. Acts, chapter 1, verses 6 through 11. Please stand for the reading of God's word. Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him, saying, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Now when he had spoken these things while they watched, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven." May God add a blessing to the reading of His word. Please remain standing. We're going to sing one of my favorite hymns, and I know one of Pastor Tom's favorite hymns. Wonderful Grace of Jesus, sing with us this morning. Wonderful grace of Jesus, greater than all my sin. How shall my tongue describe it? Where shall its grace begin? setting my spirit free, for the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me. Wonderful the majestic grace of Jesus, Brought me like no possible solution, praise for Him in me. Broader than the scope of my transgressions, Greater far than all my sin and shame, O magnify the precious name of Jesus, praise His name! of Jesus preaching to all the laws. Rites have been parted, saved to the uttermost. Canes have been torn asunder, giving me liberty, for the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me. Wonderful the matchless grace of Jesus, vibrant and almighty, God is like a fossil fish, and for him and me. Broader than the scope of my transgressions, greater far than all my sin and shame. O magnify the precious name of Jesus, praise His name. Wonderful grace of Jesus, great kingdom most divine. By His treasuring power, making Him God's dear child, purchasing peace and heaven. for all eternity, for the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me. Wonderful, the matchless grace of Jesus, deeper than the mighty rolling sea, ♪ Fulfill the grace of salvation ♪ ♪ Fulfill the grace of salvation ♪ ♪ Fulfill the grace of salvation ♪ ♪ Fulfill the grace of salvation ♪ ♪ Fulfill the grace of salvation ♪ ♪ Fulfill the grace of salvation ♪ ♪ Fulfill the grace of salvation ♪ ♪ Fulfill the grace of salvation ♪ ♪ Fulfill the grace of salvation ♪ ♪ Fulfill the grace of salvation ♪ ♪ Fulfill the grace of salvation ♪ Well, good morning. Pastor Tim mentioned that. That's not one of my favorite hymns, that is my favorite hymn. Has been since I was in Bible college. The first time I ever heard it sung was at Calvary when I was in school, and there was about 400 students in the chapel, and I'd never heard this song before, and we were still holding hymn books back in those days, and they all seemed to know their part, and they sang those parts, and they sounded a lot like you sounded today. Sounded pretty good. So, it just has such a wonderful message about the grace of our Lord, which we're going to celebrate right now with the Lord's Supper. If you'd like to partake of the Lord's Supper today, I think I do have one. If you don't have a cup, a set, they have some in the back. Raise your hand up if you want to partake. John, all the way down here, there's some down in front. Just keep your hands up, we got you covered. They'll work their way down and get you all. As they're doing that, we practice an open Lord's table here at Liberty, so that means you don't have to be a member of our church, but you should be a member of the universal church. Meaning you have put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins that you've experienced that That grace that we just sang about in that song Jesus died shed his blood He rose again from the dead so that all who put their faith and trust in him might have eternal life and every time we partake of these elements of It's a memorial. We remember that. We never want to forget that. We never want to not put proper emphasis on that. reminded consistently of what Jesus has done for us. So we remember his physical sacrifice and we remember the spiritual sacrifice. So we offer no special graces today. We're just simply as believers in Christ, uniting our hearts together and remembering our Lord's sacrifice. We do always take time for silent prayer so that we can reflect upon our lives. The Apostle Paul warned in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 that some were there at the church in Corinth were taking the Lord's Supper improperly and were leaving some out. Some were doing it with unconfessed sin. Some were even drunk when they did it. And they were warned that if they did this consistently, sickness could result, death could even result. Some had even died because of that. So we always just take time to just sit back and listen to God. And if you're a believer and you have the Holy Spirit, God can speak loudly to you without it being audible. You know it in your heart as he speaks to you. If he speaks to you and you hear his voice in your heart and you know that there's something you need to confess, then we rely upon 1 John 1, 9, that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And then we can partake of these elements in a way that has united fellowship with the Lord and united fellowship with those around us. Perhaps the Lord will remind you that, hey, you've got a relationship that you need to work on, or maybe you need to go to your spouse and apologize for something, or your parents, or whatever God says in your heart, you commit to doing that, you ask for forgiveness, and then follow the Lord in obeying that. So with that, let's just go ahead and start with silent prayer, and then I'll pray audibly, and then we'll partake of these elements together. Let's pray. Lord, what a blessing it is to have the hope of salvation, to know that Jesus Christ is our savior because of his sacrifice and our faith in him, to know that when these lives end, we will enter into your presence, to know that you give us guidance and conviction and challenge, whatever we need in life, you give us through your Holy Spirit Perhaps some right now as we prayed silently to you that your Holy Spirit was active among us and you convicted some hearts. Lord, we pray that they would rely upon the great promise of 1 John 1, 9, that if we confess our sins, you are faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, from all of those things that we do to offend you that we aren't even made aware of because They are so many, yet we're covered by the blood and you cleanse us because you know it's our desire to be in a relationship with you. So thank you for that. Thank you for your purity. Thank you for making us able to stand in your presence. Thank you for giving us the privilege of being able to come boldly before the throne of grace. And Lord, today as we celebrate this ordinance that you've given the church, the Lord's Supper, We're reminded of that night when Jesus instituted it among his disciples and referenced the breaking of the bread and the third cup of the Passover dinner that night for them, that he gave it new meaning. It now causes us to reflect not upon your great deliverance from Egypt of your people, but we reflect upon your son, the Messiah, the deliverer, the one that gave his life as a ransom for us, the one that shed his blood to be the perfect sacrificial lamb for the sins of the world. We think about him today. And so, Lord, as we partake of these elements, we pray that you would move among us, stir our hearts for love for you, for thanks for you, and for Just the commitment of willing to follow you in whatever it is you lead us to do, Father. Help us to deny ourselves, to trust solely upon you, to make you the center of our lives. And we'll give you the praise in Jesus' name, amen. So if you'll just tear off the little thin top of your set there, you'll expose the wafer. The wafer is the representation of the bread, the body of Christ. This represents Jesus coming to this world in a physical form, being born of a virgin, carrying no sin in his body, living a human life, demonstrating for us how we can live, how we should live in following God and serving him. And then being rejected as Messiah, being ridiculed by his own family, by his own people, being rejected, being persecuted and punished, and then nailed to the cross for us. That was for us. His physical pain was for us. A crown pushed into his brow, and nails in his hands, and a spear in his side. He suffered physical pain. physical torment for us. And so this bread represents his physical coming and our remembrance of that and the punishment that he took for us. When he took that bread after supper, he said, this is my body, which is broken for you. As often as you eat this, do it in remembrance of me. And then the wine, the juice, for us, represents the blood of Christ, the third cup of the Passover that represented the lamb's blood that was spread on the doors of the houses of the Israelites when they left Egypt during the 10th plague and the death of the firstborn. Instead of remembering that lamb and that blood on that night of the Passover, Jesus gave it new meaning. when he passed it to the disciples on that night before his arrest and his crucifixion, he said, this cup now is a new covenant. This is a new covenant in my blood. No longer would the followers of God be following the law, they would be following Christ. And through this blood, we have the deliverance from death. The death of the firstborn was meted out upon all those who did not have the blood on the doorposts of their homes, the Egyptians. But for us, for humanity today, for all that have the blood of Christ on the doorposts of their hearts, as it were, because of their faith in Christ, they will not suffer the death of those that reject God will. They will pass into eternal life. and spend eternity in the presence of God, having victory over the grave, victory over sin in this life. Lord, we're so grateful for this. As we take this cup today, Father, we pray that you would instill in our hearts and minds the need for this to affect our lives every day. Lord, we're so grateful for the blood of Jesus. We're so grateful every time we attend a funeral or go by a cemetery that we know that our eternity will not be spent in the grave or in the lake of fire or anywhere but in your presence. As you promised to be absent from this body is to be present with you. Thank you for that great promise. In your name we pray, amen. So he took that cup and he said, this is the new covenant in my blood, as often as you drink it, do it in remembrance of me. Amen. Thank you, thank you. We'll have one more song before the message. Children and their teachers can be dismissed at Children's Church now. I was made to walk with Him, yet I look for worldly treasure. and forsake the King of kings. Mine is hope in my Redeemer, though I fall, His love is sure, for Christ has paid for every failing. I am His forevermore. our tears in times of sorrow, darkness not yet understood. Through the valley I must travel, where I see no earthly good. But mine is peace that flows from heaven, ♪ And the strength in times of need ♪ I know my pain will not be wasted ♪ Christ completes His work in me ♪ Mine are days the pilgrims on a narrow way. One with Christ I will encounter, harm and hatred for his name. But mine is honor for this battle, strong enough And He has said He will deliver Safely to the golden shore Zion City, where beside the King I walk, for there my heart has found its treasure, Christ is mine forevermore. Come rejoice now, O my soul For His love is my reward Fear is gone and hope is sure Christ is mine forevermore Come rejoice now, O my soul For His love is my reward Christ is my forevermore Come rejoice now, O my soul For His love is my reward Fear is gone and hope is sure Christ is mine forevermore our keys to Zion City where beside the King I walk for there my heart has found its treasure Christ is mine forevermore Christ is mine forevermore Christ is mine forevermore Thank you, maybe seated. Nice to have you here. It's nice to have you here today. It's like flashbacks. For those of you that are newer to our church, Tim and I were together in ministry for over 30 years. And so it's great. It's great to have him back. We love Dustin, of course. He does a great job, but it's good to have Tim and Nancy back today. I'd encourage you to come back tonight, hear about their ministry. It's amazing. He is the guy that retired from Caterpillar and wasn't content. He wants to go into ministry. He gets his Bible education. We hired him here at the church. He served here for five years, maybe five or six years, seven years. And then the Lord called him out west, and he's working for the Southwest Bible Church, Church Extension or whatever. There's a lot of letters in that one, but come back tonight and hear about that work. So, the top 100 movie sequels of all time. So I, there's all kinds of websites you can go to to find this. I went to Rotten Tomatoes. They tend to be kind of a popular movie critic website thing. And so number one, the number one sequel of all time is Paddington Bear. I was shocked. I've never even seen it. I didn't even know it was a movie. But I was also kind of shocked, I've seen all three of these, that in the top ten, holding spots number two, five, and nine were Toy Story. 2, 3, and 4. All three of those sequels were in there. As I perused the top 100, they were ahead of some real classics, like Rocky II didn't even make the top 10. A couple of the Star Trek series were in there, but the older ones that I really liked from the 70s, those weren't there. The new Planet of the Apes were there, but the old ones that I watched when I was a kid with Charlton Heston, remember Moses? So like Moses and Planet of the Apes. He goes all directions. I remember one day I went to the Pekin Movie Theater and watched three Planet of the Apes movies in a row, starting at 12 and going till six. My mom dropped me off. We were just there watching movies and throwing popcorn all afternoon at the Pekin Theater. Today, as we finish the Gospel of Luke, very few realize that Luke has a sequel. Did you know that? The Gospel of Luke has a sequel, and no, it's not John MacArthur's commentary on the Gospel of Luke. It comes from the Bible. Do you know what book it is? It's the book of Acts, that's correct. The book of Acts is the sequel to the Gospel of Luke. So as we finish Luke, we're also gonna look at the beginning of the book of Acts, and you will see that the end here is really just the beginning of something bigger that the disciples could not even begin to imagine what God was going to do. I wanna flip over before we even get going here in Luke and read the first three verses of Acts. Acts chapter 1, so you can see how they're tied together. So Luke is writing the book of Acts to Theophilus, who is some Greek person. We don't know a lot of details of who he is. But he says, the first account, O Theophilus, that I composed, what's the first account that Luke composed? It's Luke, it's the gospel of Luke. So the first account that I composed about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when He was taken up to heaven, and after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many convincing proves, appearing to them over 40 days and speaking about the things concerning the kingdom of God." So that's just kind of a really brief overview of what Luke's all about. Luke's all about the beginning of Christ. It's about his ministry. It's about all the things he taught. It's about the disciples. It's about what he gave them to do that they were going to be able to do by the power of the Holy Spirit. So that you can see the transition between the two books here very clearly. Now, if the first account, the gospel of Luke, is about Christ, and the second account, which you'll see, is about the church, then who are the stars of the sequel? It's us. It's us. We are the stars of the sequel of the Gospel of Luke, and it's called the Book of Acts, the Acts of the Apostles. The beginning of the church, the planting of the church, the history of the church is all in the Book of Acts. what part you will have, whether you'll just be an extra in the background where you get one scene and you say, oh, there I am, there I am, back there, that's me, or whether you're a main character at the fore depends upon you. depends upon how much you want to engage with God in the process of building the church. So let's see what this looks like, to the disciples at least, as we finish Luke and begin in the book of Acts, and then kind of see where our place might be in that sequel. So if you haven't already, open your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke chapter 24, and put a finger in Acts chapter one, because we're gonna kind of flip back and forth on those two passages today. And we're going to see the end of Jesus's earthly ministry and how this affects his followers. Lord, thank you for the gospel of Luke. Thank you for the truth that's there about the life of Christ. Thank you for the book of Acts that gives us the history of the beginning of the church, the growth of the church, the spreading of the church, and the continuation of the church of which we are part. And Lord, we pray today that you would ignite all of our hearts to see what a place we can have in the building of the church, for it is not finished, and it won't be finished until the rapture. And you need us all to take our place, to take our part in that. And so, Father, I pray that you would guide us today as we conclude this great gospel and as we learn how that can affect us as we move forward in our lives. In Christ's name, amen. So as we talk about the Ascension, Luke, who was not a witness, ironically, speaks more about the Ascension than any other gospel writer. Matthew speaks about the Great Commission, but if you read that closely and get the background, the Great Commission took place in Galilee and was not part of the ending of the earthly ministry, the 40 days of ministry that Christ had after the resurrection. Mark gives only a passing mention in one verse to the ascension. But if you couple Luke With Acts chapter one, you see some detail of what those final moments were like for Jesus with his disciples. As he leaves the earth, he leaves his followers with two truths, two really important truths that will guide them throughout their lives and their ministries. The first truth is this, Jesus gives hope. Jesus gives hope. This is from the American Psychological Association. Quote. It's easy to feel discouraged about the persistent onslaught of difficulties in the world today, whether these be personal circumstances or social issues. Psychologists, some of whom have a close-up view of the suffering these difficulties inflict, may find it especially difficult to stay positive about the future. Yet a growing body of research suggests that if you want to cultivate positive change in yourself, others, or society, restoring hope is a vital first step. Start by understanding what hope is and what hope isn't. Hope is sometimes equated with burying your head in the sand and ignoring reality or sitting idly by waiting for things to get better. In reality, hope is more nuanced, cognitive process that involves a well-known psychological concept, such as goal setting. agency and cognitive restructuring. Hope isn't a denial of what is, but a belief that the current situation is not all that it can be. That was Thema Bryant, who is a PhD with the American Psychological Association and past president. She goes on and says this, you can recognize something's wrong, but also that it's not the end of the story. Now, I don't know if you listen to that very well. I had to read it about six times to grasp all the concepts she's trying to communicate. But that process that she is encouraging there is a dead end for finding hope. Those that desire hope for something better than this world will need more than goal setting and cognitive restructuring. They need a new life. and they need the Holy Spirit of God, and that's why Jesus came. He came to offer mankind salvation, new life, and hope, something this world cannot give. Jesus and his promises offer something that we can hang on to that will make this life much more tolerable and meaningful and the next life much more enjoyable. So let's begin talking about Jesus' hope with the blessings of Jesus in verse 50 of Luke 24 as He prepares to leave. And He led them out as far as Bethany. Now I want to go with that. I want to read from Acts chapter 1 and verse 4. Right at the beginning it says, And gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem. So they were gathered together in Jerusalem, but as they got ready for the ascension, he didn't ascend from the upper room, he didn't ascend from the middle of the city, he took them towards the east, out the eastern gate, up to the Mount of Olives, toward Bethany. They were gathered together after 40 days so he could give his last words of hope. He leads them out across the Mount of Olives, toward Bethany. And back in chapter 24, verse 50 of Luke, he says, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them. This would have been a benediction of sorts. It's kind of like our time together here is over. I'm leaving you with the final benediction, the final thought as he prepared to leave their physical presence. Now we know that he would be with them after this with the coming of the Holy Spirit. He promised that. I will never leave you nor forsake you. But that was not to be quite yet. But that promise was coming, as he says in Acts chapter 4 going on. He took them out, but he said, but 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 he had mentioned the Holy Spirit several times. He had mentioned this gift from the Father that would come and be with them in his absent. But it must be getting really close because he's telling them to stay in Jerusalem. Don't start wandering like you did after the resurrection. And they did. They wandered quite a bit during the time of Christ's traveling on the earth during those 40 days. But he said, I want you to stay in Jerusalem. It's getting close. The time of the Spirit's coming is getting very close. But they still, it's interesting, after all of this time, and all that they had witnessed, and all that they had seen after the resurrection of Christ, they still had so much to learn. Look what they ask in Acts chapter 1, verse 6. So when they all came together, they were asking him, saying, Lord, is it at this time you were restoring the kingdom to Israel? Is it now? I mean, they thought it was for three years. They thought it was going to happen. When he rode triumphantly into Jerusalem, it was going to happen. And then everything kind of blew up when he was betrayed by Judas and he was crucified. Then he rose from the dead. And so now, This must be the time that you're going to restore the kingdom. Is it now that you're going to restore the kingdom to Israel? But he said to them in verse seven, it is not for you to know times or seasons which the father has set by his own authority. It wasn't time yet. You're gonna get the spirit, you're gonna start to understand you're gonna see the church, you're gonna be involved in so much more than you ever imagined. But he never told them ahead of time. He never told them any of this. You would have think he would have given them the New Testament before. He just said, you got a helper coming. That's all he said. You've got a helper and he's coming. And that gets us to the second part of hope. is the promised return of Jesus in verse 51. In Luke 24, and it happened that while he was blessing them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. So he's giving this final blessing, and right before their very eyes, he's carried up into heaven. In verse 9 of Acts 1, it says, And after he had said these things, he was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received him out of their sight. He ascends into the sky. Mark tells us in Mark 16, verse 19, to sit at the right hand of God. That was the only time Mark mentioned the ascension was verse 19, where it says, after he had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. So just picture this. He is, he's speaking, he's giving the benediction, and then he just rises. He rises. And there, I mean, they've seen a lot with Jesus, right? So they couldn't be too shocked, but yeah, they still are shocked. As they watch him go up, and all of a sudden, he disappears in the clouds. He's gone. And so what do they do? They keep staring. They just keep staring up. Because they thought, that can't be all. He still has so much to do. He's certainly going to come back down. And so as they stared at the sky, verse 10 of Acts 1 says, and as they were gazing intently into the sky, while he was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. And they said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking toward heaven? This Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched him go into heaven. That's a really big hope that we have right there because the kingdom is still coming and he's going to come back in the same way. He'll kind of come slowly back again. so the whole world can see him descending. I wanna read that to you. It's such a great passage in Revelation 19. Turn there with me because we're all part of this. Remember, we're in the sequel, right? So, sequel's right here. This is part of it. So, when we get to Revelation 19, the rapture's already taken place. So in the rapture, we kind of get bleeped out of the planet, right? We disappear in a moment in the twinkling of an eye where we meet the Lord in the air. But that's not the second coming. People get confused with the rapture and the second coming. The rapture might be called stage one of the second coming, but it's not the second coming until Jesus comes back and institutes the kingdom. So there's the rapture, Then there's the great tribulation period, which brings Israel to its knees and they finally recognize the Messiah, but they don't recognize him until Revelation 19, when he comes back in the same way that he exited in Acts chapter one. So begin reading in verse 11. So we're at the end of the tribulation now. Just previous to this in chapter 19 is the marriage supper of the Lamb. We're all prepared to go now after having been to that and celebrated with our bridegroom Christ. It says, then I saw heaven open and behold a white horse. And he who sits on it is called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, having a name written on him which no one knows except himself. And being clothed with a garment dipped in blood, his name is also called the Word of God." So who is this? Who's the Word of God? This is Jesus, okay? This is very clearly the Lord. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following him on white horses." That's us. That's us coming back with the Lord. And from his mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it he may strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. And he treads the winepress of the wrath of the rage of God the Almighty. And he has on his garment and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords." So as Jesus comes back, notice what he's coming, when he came first time, he came as a babe in a manger. because he came here as the suffering servant to die on the cross for the sins of the world. That's how he came the first time. The second time, look how he comes in verse 15. He comes with a sharp sword so that with it he may strike down the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron and he treads the winepress of the wrath of the rage of God. He's coming back the second time in judgment and to reign in the kingdom. Then I saw an angel standing in the sun and he cried out with a loud voice saying to all the birds which fly in mid heaven, come assemble for the great supper of God so that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of commanders, the flesh of strong men and the flesh of horses and those who sit on them and the flesh of men, both free men and slaves and small and great. And then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war with him who sits on the horse and with his army." So I want you to picture this. At the end of the tribulation period, there's going to be, the Antichrist is going to deceive the nations into coming back to attack and finally destroy the Jews. So even though the Jews are hated today and people are threatening to blow them up and all that stuff, they're not going to be eliminated. The world thinks they can eliminate them, they can't. They cannot eliminate them. And so, at the end of the tribulation period, all the armies of the earth are gonna gather, thinking they're going to attack Jerusalem, and guess what's gonna happen? Jesus is gonna come up and kill them all. He's going to kill them all. See, the devil deceived them into coming there, thinking they're gonna do one thing, and they're facing the king of heaven, coming back to set up his kingdom on this earth. And in verse 20, and the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who did the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast, and those who worshiped his image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire, which burns with brimstone. And so that's the false prophet and the antichrist. So those are two bad guys that we know about in the tribulation period. And actually, if we went down into verse 20, it's where he binds Satan, who is the head of the unholy trinity, and he casts him in the abyss for the thousand-year kingdom, the millennial kingdom. And then it says in verse 21, and the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of him who sits on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh. So that's all the armies of the earth that are gathered there to attack and destroy Jerusalem. And instead, Jesus comes back, and how does he kill them? With his word. with His Word. It's all He needs is His Word. They have violated His Word, and they're going to be destroyed because of that. And so they're smote with the Word of God. Their flesh and carcasses are still spread across the valley of Armageddon outside of Jerusalem, and they're destroyed. So it kind of makes you wonder, so why does He come back with armies of heaven? What's the point of him bringing armies of heaven back if he can smolt them by himself? He brings us back because we have the privilege of reigning with him in his kingdom. We reign with Christ in his kingdom on this earth. If you went into verse 20, after he binds Satan, it begins to talk about, if you read the first 15 verses there, Six times it mentions the thousand-year reign of Christ. A thousand years, a thousand years, a thousand years. Don't ever let anybody tell you that that's all symbolic. It's a thousand years. When God says a thousand years, it's a thousand years. There's a thousand-year kingdom. Christ reigns. We reign along with Him in a thousand years. To give you just a little bit more detail before we go on from this, in Zechariah 14, This gives some more detail of this same event. In Zechariah 14, beginning in verse 1, Behold, a day is coming for Yahweh when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you. Indeed, I will gather all nations against Jerusalem. This is where I'm getting that information from, Zechariah 14. I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle. and the city will be captured, the house is plundered, the women ravished, and half of the city will go forth in exile, but those left of the people will not be cut off from the city. Those are things that are happening during the tribulation period. Israel's really persecuted. The time of Jacob's trouble, that second half of the tribulation, it's gonna be horrible. They're gonna have to flee and hide from the Antichrist. Then Yahweh will go forth and fight against those nations. We just read that, Revelation 19. as the day when he fights on a day of battle. And in that day, when that happens, look at verse four, in that day, his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. That is the second coming of Christ, that. when he sets down on the Mount of Olives, and we're fulfilling what we just saw in Acts chapter one, where the angels told them, this same Jesus, who was taken up from you, will come back in the same way that you watched him go. That's our hope. That is the blessed hope of the church. Our king is coming back and he's setting up his kingdom. So I'm trying to picture it. So you picture his slow rise into the clouds and his slow descent with the armies of heaven, and they can see him coming. As the earth rotates under him, the world will be glowing. Uh-oh. We're in trouble now. They're gonna see him coming back at that moment in time. Oh, I could talk forever about this, so we need to move on. This is good stuff. This is stuff we need to know. This is where, when we get depressed, this is where we turn. We turn to Zechariah, we turn to Revelation, we turn to Acts 1, we turn to Luke 21 or 24, and we see all these wonderful things that God has done, these wonderful things that God is yet going to do, and we're gonna be part of that. as the body of Christ, as those who have trusted in Christ. So let's move on. Jesus gives us hope. Secondly, Jesus gives us help. And we'll move through this very quickly here. Have you ever had anybody promise you to help you with something, and then in the last moment they don't show up because something came up, or they couldn't come, or they had a cold? something. God doesn't do that. When he says, I'm going to help you, he's going to help you. She's never going to leave you in the lurch. She's never going to leave you alone. He's never going to leave you trying to do something that you don't have the ability or the resources to do. And so in Acts chapter one, verse eight, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth. The Holy Spirit's coming. He came ten days later in Acts 2. We looked at that last week, Acts 2, the birth of the church when the Holy Spirit came. With the Holy In his help, the church will take the gospel to the whole world. And the disciples have done that, and we continue to do that. As new people are born, new fields are opened up, we have the opportunity to continue to take the gospel to the whole world. And that help is available to every believer. As we yield to the power of the Spirit and utilize our spiritual gifts, we have the promised help of God. And so what was the response of the disciples back in Luke 24, in verse 52, and they, after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy. They returned to Jerusalem because He said, stay in Jerusalem. And so they do. They worship Him right there, and then they return in a much different place than they were when Jesus left them the last time in the garden with uncertainty and fear and running for their lives. They returned confidently to Jerusalem worshiping Christ. Look at verse 53, and they were continually in the temple blessing God. no more wandering around, no more fishing, no more going back to their old lives, wondering what was going to happen. They knew that their lives were going to be different. They knew that God was going to be at the center. They just didn't know quite how yet. Just like us, when we come to Christ, we know God's gonna use us, we just don't know how yet. We just don't know. He doesn't tell us. It's coming though. And it can be wonderful. if we submit to him. The Bible knowledge commentary in this little section of Luke, it says this, Luke ends his story where he began, in the temple. It is a temple that's doomed to destruction, but it has its spiritual successor. So think about that. You are a spiritual successor to the temple of the living God in Jerusalem. Living stones. holy priests, living sacrifices. They are praising God in His courts. And that's what they were doing in verse 53. 1 Peter expands on that. He says in 1 Peter 2, verse 5, you also as living stones. He's talking to us now. It's not just the apostles, it's us. It's all of us. It's believers in Christ. You are living stones. You're built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. We are the temple of the living God. That's why we're called to holiness. We are the temple of the living God. The hope that we have is that Christ will return, and the help is that we have the Holy Spirit. And that causes worship, even to people with an uncertain future, which the disciples had. They had a very uncertain future. So when Jesus leaves, he leaves the disciples with a big task, but he leaves them with the hope that he's coming back to set up the kingdom and help for whatever he has the disciples doing in the in-between. We know that to be the church, which is us, and it's still in process. We are still building the church with his help and with hope that soon this mad world will be changed with Jesus sitting on the throne, amen? That's, I mean, I, yeah, I get discouraged when I look at this world. It's insane. People are absolutely, literally insane. But Jesus is coming back. He's going to put it all in order and everything will be right and we'll be right there with him. And when you feel that frustration and that anger, you know what that is? That's the Holy Spirit, that's righteous anger. But righteous anger should motivate us to holy living and more building of the church. Let it motivate you for good, not for evil, that's what the world does. It motivates them to evil, we're motivated to goodness and truth. So how does that look? We need to be like the disciples, number one here, we need to be like the disciples engaging in worship, engaging in worship. When we know these things, we should say, thank you, God. We worship God. We have so much to look forward to. This should happen personally in your own personal life as you read the scriptures and as you pray. And it happens corporately as we come together and worship God. Thank you, God. Thank you, God, that we've got hope. Thank you that you've given us help because we can't do any of this on our own. And so, it puts us in a mindset of worship. We should worship more than on Sunday mornings. We should worship every day, individually and corporately when we come together as the church. Secondly, like the disciples, our lives should revolve around God, not vice versa. And I think sometimes today in our busy world, we, instead of having God at the center and we're like revolving around him in our activities in life, We've got God out here like we're the sun and he's like Pluto out there. Like, I hope I get time to get in there where some heat is in your life because I know you're super busy. And we kind of like, yeah, I can't be at that because I got this and this and this. And we kind of push God away. Very innocently we do it. We don't do it on purpose. We wouldn't say, yeah, I'm putting God out of my life. But that's what we're doing. When we do that, we just kind of nudge him back just a little bit. And the more we do it, the more we nudge him, and then the colder our relationship becomes because we're not circling around him. He's kind of circling around us, and we're kind of in that Revelation 320 thing where he's like, I'm out here knocking on the door. Who's going to answer? Anybody going to answer or let me in? I'll come in with him and sup with him and he with me. But we just keep pushing him out, thinking we know better, and we don't know better. We don't know better than God in following Him. Thirdly, like the disciples, we should use our gifts to build His church. We should use our gifts to build His church. If you're born again, if you've trusted Christ as your Savior, then you have a spiritual gift. And it's important. And you can be a main character even if you have one of those gifts that never puts you up front. You don't have to be upfront to be a main character for God. If you're a servant, you have servant gifts, and they're the people like, hey, I don't like to be in front of people, just give me a job to do. I wanna do a job. I know a lot of you are like that, and you're just like, hey, I'll clean the toilets, I'll do whatever you need me to do, I'll mow the yard, I'll run a weed eater, just don't put me in front of people, I don't like to do that. And so we think, well, the guys up here, they're the most important. We're gonna be the main characters in the church, right? That's not true with God. What's true with God is every character is important. Doesn't matter how many people see it, He sees every move you make. He sees everything you do. And He's keeping track. He's keeping score. He knows how faithful you are. He knows nobody knows, but He knows. God knows. We might be surprised when we get to heaven someday and we see those preachers we thought were so famous in the back row somewhere, because their motivation was wrong. It's all about fulfilling what God gives us to do, and when we do, we help build the church. So that's it for the Gospel of Luke. We started on Valentine's Day 2021. And so a little over three years later, we are finished. So here's my file of my Luke notes. So I've got over 350 pages here of Luke notes. And I'll add these two pages I have here to this stack. And if anybody wants to put this in book form, this will be my commentary on the gospel of Luke. Anybody want to do that? Oh, yeah, OK. We got a volunteer down here. I do have it digitally, too. I'm just kidding. I don't want to write any books. than other people read them and they criticize you and you feel bad, so I don't want to do that. There's a lot more smart people out there than me. Anyway, all kidding aside, I pray that we as individuals and as a church will continue on as the books of Luke and Acts end. And let me just read you those endings so you can see how there's no finality. The finality comes in Revelation. There's no finality here. You write the next chapter. You make something special to be included. Verse 52 of Luke 24, and they after worshiping him returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple blessing God. And then Acts ends like this with a description of the apostle Paul. He stayed two years in his own rented quarters and was welcoming all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence unhindered. And the church just went on, and we just go on until Jesus stops it, and He will stop it at the rapture. So that's it. That's the gospel of Luke. So a lot of people have asked me where are we going next in our studies on Sunday mornings. I've bantered about several different books in my mind thinking about where I want to go where we need to go as a church and we'll all find out on June 2nd because that's the next time we're going to be where I'm gonna be preaching from my normal exegetical studies. Next Sunday I'll be here. We're gonna honor our moms next week, and then the next two weeks after that I won't be here. And so you'll find out June 2nd where we're going next in our studies. But I hope you enjoyed our study of the Gospel of Luke, and that you were encouraged and challenged by it as well as I was. Lord, thank you for the Gospels that you've given us, all four written. especially for different audiences by different men with different gifts and abilities and your Holy Spirit used them to communicate exactly what you wanted communicated. And Lord, we're so grateful for Luke's faithfulness and his ability to learn from the apostles and then communicate to the Greeks the need for salvation in Christ. Lord, I pray as a church that we would be stirred and motivated to continue to grow the Church of Jesus Christ, to see it blossom, not just here, but around the world as we support missionaries, send people out, and continue to grow our church through evangelism and the teaching of your word. And Lord, in the end, when Jesus returns or when we're raptured home and those gifts are given out at the judgment seat of Christ, you receive all the glory, because it was your help that work through us to enable us to do anything, and it gives us great hope, knowing that one day you will return. Help us to be faithful in the meantime, and continuing to serve you, in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. I think you know this one. As Jesus returns, all eyes will see him. Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim In light of His glory and grace. to a new sight where justice and mercy embrace. There the Son of God gave His life for us, and our measureless debt was erased. Jesus, our glory and our prize. We adore you, behold you, our Savior ever true. Oh, Jesus, we turn our eyes to you. What a glorious dawn! Fear of death is gone, For we carry His life in our ways. Jesus, to you we lift our eyes. Jesus, our glory and our pride. We adore you, behold you, our Savior ever true. O Jesus, we turn our eyes to you. Our King will return for His own Every knee will bow, every tongue will shout All glory to Jesus alone Jesus, to you we lift our eyes. Jesus, our glory and our prize. We adore you, behold you, our Savior ever true. Oh, Jesus, we turn our eyes to you. Sing that chorus again. Jesus, to you we lift our eyes. Jesus, our glory and our pride. We adore you, behold you, our Savior ever true. Oh, Jesus, we turn our eyes to you. O Jesus, we turn our eyes to you. Just a few announcements as we finish up this morning. Tonight at 5.15 there will be a Women's Ministry Leaders Meeting, and at 6.30, Tim and Nancy will be presenting on their ministry with RSBCE, and I would encourage you to attend that and learn more about their ministry. Tomorrow night at 8 p.m., the Liberty Black team is playing softball at the Lower Lake. On Tuesday morning, the Life Club is having breakfast here at 8.30 a.m. Wednesday, we have the Kids Club Carnival from 6.30 to 8 p.m. I believe that is the last. Kids club this year, kids club meeting, and there is no Bible study or prayer on Wednesday night. Saturday night there is a youth hangout at Jason and Kate Miller's home at 5.30 p.m. and next Sunday, as a reminder, we have no evening service. You all have an insert in your bulletin today for the mission of the month, or missionary of the month, and this month it is the missions team that is going to Albania in July, so I encourage you to read that. And we will have a special offering for that team on Sunday, May 19th. And if you are going on the trip and you're here today, we're going to have a video conference with the Loftquists at noon. So we'll be up in the upper balcony. So please come to that right after church. Thanks. Also, if you'd like to become more involved at Liberty, we do have a service opportunity. We are in need of three children's church teachers, pre-K and K. For those of you who might be interested, know that materials are provided. You would teach approximately twice a quarter, so two times every 13 weeks. And if you are interested, please talk to Pastor Spencer or to Bethany about that. Please take note of all the other announcements in the bulletin, and as always, elders will be available in the prayer room, which is directly across the hallway, after the service to answer questions or pray with you. As we're dismissed, let's stand. I'm going to read from Numbers chapter 6, verses 24 through 26. Familiar greeting, familiar benediction. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord cause His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance towards you and give you peace. Let's pray. Father, we go now rejoicing in Christ. We look to you. We look to you because your word says to. We look in your word, we look through the truth of your word, and we anticipate your coming in eternity with you. Thank you. We rejoice now. May we continue the work until you come again. We give you praise in the name of our Savior. Amen. You are dismissed.